RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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can only feel the 'unison in separateness' with her.
With
another man he should 'meet and mingle' as with Gerald in the
ritualistic wrestling.
It is almost as if he depended on this
persistent idea to go on living as he depended for a long time
on the 'spiritual mess' of Hermione.
Thus the book ends with
an unfinished discussion between husband and wife.
This sense
of suspended discussion is perhaps a hint that they will keep on
arguing for a long time till one finds a way to convince the
other.
We do not know whether it will be Birkin or Ursula but
certainly the answer to his search for a man-friend will be
developed in the leadership novels.
One final question must be asked: do Birkin and Ursula
really succeed in their search for a new world?
Some ideas must
be recalled in order to answer it:
first of all, it seems that
Lawrence has used as the basic plan for his nov^l the device:
"take two couples and develop their relationships" (Moore, 1981:
102) . One of the couples may succeed and the other may fail.
The formula is simple.
If we take Gerald and Gudrun we know that
they have virtually failed.
But, although Gerald is dead, Gudrun
is still alive and apparently has found a substitute for him in
the corrupt Loerke.
As for Birkin and Ursula, they have somehow
succeeded because they have broken their old relationships, quit
their jobs, and have started a new life.
However, the shadow of
the past is still haunting them: his need for a man-friend is
with him till his last sentence; they have returned to the old
world and what seems worse: they are at the Mill, where Hermione
has a deep influence over Birkin as symbolized by the rug she
gave him.
There is also the idea that Ursula is not the 'rose
of happiness' she thinks she is.
She, too, has within herself
traces of the old corrupt world, as exemplified by the exchange