RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

371
both in the thick of their Quetzalcoatl mood, with
their manly breasts uncovered, she was not eager
to begin. They made her feel like an intruder.
She did not pause to realise that she was one (P-
486) .
The very fact that Kate is seen as an intruder makes it clear
that in the relation between the men there is no place for any
woman, neither Teresa, nor Kate, nor anyone else. And this makes
Kate rebel against her new self and against both men. Also, the
fact that she has come to the men to make 'a sort of submission'
does not imply the entire surrender of the woman to the men.
In
seeing Kate as an 'intruder' between Ramon and Cipriano,
Lawrence is only asserting one thing: that he really does not
know whether to make Kate stay and submit or to make her go
away and free herself from the prison these two men represent in
her life.
The way the narrative develops shows a stubborn persistence
of Kate's conflict — to go or to stay (and this was the problem
early is the novel too) — - implying Lawrence's indécision.
Because of this the language is full of ambiguity.
The author,
thus, makes Kate enter into a game in which the chief idea is
to see how important she is to both men.
She is forced to ask
for confirmation more on Ramon's part whom she secretly loves,
than on her husband's.
Kate starts by using a negative
statement: "'I don't really want to go away from you'" (p.486 -
My underlining), implying her indecision.
Lawrence uses the
pronoun 'you' but the reader does not know whether Kate is
directing her speech to both men or whether she is only
addressing Ramon (who is Kate's most likely 'addressee since
she answers him and not her husband).
And the answer she gets
from Ramôn does not reflect any confirmation or negation.
It is
simply a return of what Kate has previously said: "'I know you