Contrasts

The most interesting aspect of Lawrence’s Women in Love thus far for me has been the severity and range of emotional interaction between characters. Hermione and Birkin offer the most obvious example of this phenomenon; though they have been lovers for years, both characters alternate between spite and cordiality almost too rapidly to follow. Birkin and Crich’s encounter on the train to London in “In the Train” contains the same sort of back-and-forth. While consistently being described as friends over the course of the story (and specifically within the chapter), Edmund openly articulates his momentary hatred of Gerald in middle of a heated conversation. This slight is swiftly forgotten, but it returns later in the novel. Even Ursula and Gudrun experience these quick movements between temporary hatred and sisterly affection. The levels of complexity that exist in the relationships between Lawrence’s characters is what makes this novel most compelling.