Control in Perspective

Today in class, we briefly discussed the desire of characters to control in Women in Love. Hermione wants to control Birkin, Gerald feels control over The Pussum, The Pussum feels some level of control over Gerald, and on page 122, even Gudrun admits her control over Gerald. It is a specific kind of control, one that is highly-sexualized and always attached to one form or another of romance.

I'm fascinated by how the not-actually-but-sort-of omniscient perspective plays into these power dynamics. At first, it seems that Gerald has complete control over The Pussum because, his perspective assures us, he is just that hot (64). His control is a cruel domination, of master and slave (67). He enjoys his control of the situation, which he believes he could terminate whenever he wants. Then the narrator moves into The Pussum's mind and we realize she is playing her own game. She even describes it like a political strategy: "Her alliance for the time was with Gerald, and she did not know how far this was admitted by any of the men. She was considering how she should carry off the situation" (74). Just because she is not asserting her control so aggressively - I guess we could call it her "feminine wiles" - she still retains her free will to sleep with Gerald or not to.

This is what I'm wondering in short: why does Lawrence want the reader to see both perspectives? What does it reveal about relationships that he wants the reader to discover?