RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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'honest' so as not to 'hurt' her.
In their return to the house March's face looks different:
she "had a delicate look on her face; she wanted to hide her
face, to screen it, to let it not be seen" (p.140).
(Is there
a suggestion of a: veil like an Arabian woman, submissive to her
male?).
To be with a man makes her now feel pleased:
She wished she could stay with him. She wished
she had married him already, and it was all over.
For oh, she felt suddenly so safe with him. She
felt so strangely safe and peaceful in his
presence. If she only could sleep in his shelter,
not with Jill... (p^l41).
She rejects the repressive Banford and "she wanted the boy to
save her" (ibid).
The following day Henry returns to his camp in Salisbury
Plain.
His marriage with March is arranged for Christmas.
However, nine days after his leave, March writes him a letter
breaking the engagement.
Banford has got March back to her:
"... when I am along with Jill I seem to come to my own senses
and realize what a fool I am making of myself, and how I am
treating you unfairly ... I don't see on what grounds I am going
to marry you..." (pp.142-3).
March seems sure that she has much
more in common with Banford who "is ten times more real to me.
I know her and I'm awfully fond of her... We have a life together.
And even if it can't last for ever, it is a life while it does
last" (p.143).
Banford is her choice because with her March
feels free whereas with Henry she cannot see any of the prospects
she has with Banford.
She chooses Banford because with her, the
world is familiar.
Here we have again the battle between an
old and familiar self versus the new unknown self.
The dark
part of herself - her femaleness - shrinks from this
acknowledgement.
Being manly near Banford is much more familiar