Gerald’s death

Gerald’s death, as discussed in Simone de Beauvoir’s account of D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love, concludes a relationship in which domination and resistance have made genuine communion impossible. His end is attributed to both Gudrun and himself: their conflict is inseparable from the barriers Gerald erects around his own self.

Background to the Conflict

Gerald’s relationships are shaped by his desire to master rather than meet another person as an equal. The account contrasts his struggle with Gudrun with the possibility of mutual connection found in other relationships in Lawrence’s fiction. Gerald’s arrogance, however, provokes resistance rather than reciprocity, turning intimacy into a contest neither can resolve.

His connection with Gudrun is further shadowed by his treatment of others. Gudrun is disturbed by his domination of a frightened mare, and hears from Gerald’s former wet nurse that she used to pinch him as a child. The episode links his present desire for control with a history of force and counterforce, without making their conflict reducible to a single cause.

A Moment of Apparent Communion

After a death leaves Gerald unhappy and shattered, he abandons himself to Gudrun’s comfort. For a moment, he experiences her as a source of life and healing, and senses the kind of communion with a woman that had eluded him. The scene marks a possible reversal: the man who had sought mastery briefly accepts dependence and consolation.

That opening does not become reconciliation. Gudrun lets Gerald sleep on her shoulder, but she remains awake, impatient, and emotionally apart. His moment of closeness therefore exposes the distance between physical proximity and mutual presence. The comfort he receives cannot undo the accumulated conflict or establish a shared relationship.

Death and Significance

The account presents Gerald’s death as the consequence of a destructive relation in which each remains caught in isolation. Gudrun is implicated, but Gerald is also described as his own prey: in protecting himself behind barriers, he has made connection with the other impossible. His end is thus neither a simple victory for Gudrun nor an outcome caused by her alone.

The death completes the contrast between domination and communion. Gerald briefly recognizes the possibility of a different relation, but recognition comes too late, when Gudrun is no longer truly with him. His fate gives the failed relationship its final form: the attempt to possess another person leaves him unable to reach her, and ultimately alone.