Women in Love: the Male / Female Relationships

160 黃 埔 學 報 第 五 十 一 期 民 國 九 十 五 年
the invaluable privileges of balanced love.
Ursula’s marriage with Birkin seems a
model of domestic bliss in contrast to the
relationship of Gudrun and Gerald. It is
when her openness to star equilibrium grows
steadily, Ursula “had learned at last to be
still and perfect” (307). After they exchange
tender emotions in the quaint atmosphere of
a local inn, they embark on a refreshing
drive through the dark woods of Sherwood
Forest. Both lovers seem to have experience
of profound change. Yet the indeterminate
ending where Birkin suggests he needs a
relationship with a man to be satisfied leaves
the question of marriage as a route to
self-fulfillment open. Barthes notes: “To
interpret a text is not to give it a (more or
less justified, more or less free) meaning,
but on the contrary to appreciate what plural
constitutes it. . . . [an ideal text contains] a
galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of
signifieds” (5). What Barthes said echoes
Lawrence’s assertion that “the novel most of
all demands the trembling and oscillating of
the balance” (“Morality” 173). Although
Birkin and Ursula reconcile their intimate
relationship, they are not brilliantly
counterbalanced, nor do they achieve what
Birkin emphasizes the star equilibrium,
drawn together by their gravity (love) and
repulsed by their inherent polarity (utter
singleness). The real balance of male /
female relationship is thus left incomplete.
The incomplete becomes an integral part of
Lawrence’s artistry.
Notes
1 D. H. Lawrence, Women in Love. New
York; penguin Books, 1980, p. 1.
Subsequent textual
citations are to this edition with page
number in the parentheses
Works Cited
[1] Barthes, Roland. S/Z. Trans. Richard
Miller. New York: Hill and Wang,
1974.
[2] DiBattista, Maria. “Women in Love: D. H.
Lawrence’s Judgment Book.” D.
H.Lawrence: A Centenary Consideration,
edited by Peter Balbert and Philip L.
Marcus. Ithaca: Cornell UP, (1985):
67-90.
[3] Dorbad Leo J. Sexually Balanced
Relationships in the Novels of D. H.
Lawrence. New York: Peter Lang, 1991.
[4] Kelsey, Nigal. D. H. Lawrence: Sexual
Crisis. London: Macmillan, 1991.
[5] Kermode, Frank. “D. H. Lawrence and
the Apocalyptic Types,” Continuities,
New York: Random House, (1968):
122-51.
[6] Lamgbaum, Robert. The Mysteries of
Identity: A Theme in Modern Literature.
New York: Oxford UP, 1977.
[7] Lawrence, D. H. “Morality and the
Novel.” Study of Thomas Hardy and
Other Essays. Ed. Bruce Steele.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1985:
171-76.
[8] ---The Collected letters of D. H.
Lawrence. Ed. Harry T. Moore. 2 vols.
New York: Viking, 1962.
[9] Mike, Stephen. Toward Women in Love:
The Emergence of a Lawrentian
Aesthetic. New Haven: Yale UP. 1971.
[10] Perkins, Wendy. “Reading Lawrence’s
Frames: Chapter Division in Women in
Love” The D. H. Lawrence Review. ( 3
Fall 1992): 229-246.
[11] Ross, Charles L. Women in Love: A