RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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have the answer but it has the seeds of the problem.
It is
possible that here is evidence that Lawrence too latently 'knows*
that his mother is not so good, nor his father so bad
as he had
supposed.
Another point that anticipates the failure of Paul and
Clara's affair lies in the fact that while having tea in a cottage,
Clara takes her wedding ring off and starts playing with it on
the table and Paul watches her fascinated.
The anticipation I
refer to is that, despite being separated from her husband, Clara
still keeps her ring which means that she is somehow tied to
Baxter and that, Paul being a puritan, he will never feel free or
guiltless in having an affair with a still legally married woman.
And for the moment he pretends "he believed in simple friendship"
(p.337). He also feels he is still bound to Miriam. These mixed
feelings disturb him, but the idea of having Clara as a female
only haunts him.
The second point of their relationship is that Clara, being
much more experienced in life, is able to 'teach' Paul to define
more clearly his concept of failure.
This occurs when they talk
about Miriam.
Paul tells Clara why he has broken with the girl.
Clara cannot accept Paul's arguments. For one thing: how can
Paul predict the failure in his relationship with Miriam if all
they had was a relation of mind? How can he be so sure of the
failure of his relationship (mind and body) if he has only been
able to feel Miriam as a 'mind-eater'?
Like an obedient son, Paul goes again to Miriam to
'experience'what is lacking in their relation.
The big mistake
in Paul's return is that now he goes straight to Miriam's body,
forgetting her mind.
He takes her just as an object with which