Sexual Relations in D.H. Lawrence

In The Fox, it is has been proposed that if Henry is a manifestation of the fox, which is elucidated to in the text. Likewise, March can be equated as a hare, hunted, with the "helpless, fascinated rabbit look" (The Fox, p. 170) and Banford resembles various types of birds, a weak and timid sparrow, a prudish hen and perhaps a goose when she is killed, as the way she is struck on the back of the neck and it is described how she "flew into the village on her bicycle" (The Fox, p. 120). This usage of archetypal animal association employed by Lawrence enables the reader to interpret the relations of the three characters like that of the hunter and hunted predator and prey. The effect of this is two-fold as it both simplifies the interactions and reduces the intent and will of the three people to the basic animalistic instincts, relating to the sub-conscious.
             Similarly, Lawrence sets up a tripartite in The Ladybird, based on figures from Classical Greek mythology. Here, the Freudian concept of opposing Dionysian and Apollonian virtues are played out beside the character of Daphne. Count Dionys, obviously representing the Dionysian is depicted as a bohemian, small, dark, with black beard and eyes and "fired with a keen male energy" (The Ladybird, p.159). A wounded soldier from the enemy side, like the ancient god Dionysus, he represents the exterior forces of nature, even an element of the uncivilised barbarism feared by man. The Count also reveals powers of a hypnotic, wooing style, similar to those, which affected maenads, women of the cult of Dionysus. Major Apsley, Basil on the contrary, represents many of the virtues defined by the god Apollo. A god of culture, Apollo was depicted with fine stature, beauty and talent who according to legend, fell in love with the nymph Daphne, a romance short lived due to unsatisfied desires. As an allegorical device, this characterisation introduces the notions of primitive ideals of civilisation and nature and the notions of freedom of the consciousness, later linked to sexual relations.