RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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be sure that she will put an end to the question of 'male
supremacy' to live self-conscious in an environment that could
allow her to express herself not as a robotized body but as a
human being integrated with her femaleness.
What I intend to develop in relation to this novella will
be traced by means of -emphasizing the unconscious desire of
March's search for femaleness and its implications, i.e., the
process of transforming her 'male self' and behaviour into a
female one.
This process has two important contributions:
Banford's and Henry's who help her in different but decisive
ways.
There are in this novella at least three ideas which I
intend to work.
The first one is brought out in the first page
of the story: "March was more robust.
She learned carpentry,and
joinery at the evening classes in Islington.
man about the place" (p.85 - My underlining).
She would be the
It seems clear to
me that Lawrence is intentionally presenting March, who is near
thirty, with 'virtues' that are attributed especially to men.
There must be a reasonable explanation for this: March is a girl
who lives with a friend, Banford.
There is nothing unusual up
to here. Girls can live with other girls. But the way the
story presents the two girls leads one to think that they are
more than simple friends.
Banford, also near thirty, is
described as being "a small, thin, delicate thing with spectacles"
(ibid).
Furthermore, the girls work differently in the farm
they run. Banford does the lighter work at home whereas
"March had four-fifths of the work to do" (p.87).
This is
certainly not very common.
The way the girls are presented
implies that they are like husband and wife, and that March,
being the strongest, man-like, is the husband.
Banford of course