The Role Of Sexuality In The Fox By D. H. Lawrence

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Much of the research concerning D.H. Lawrence’s The Fox has to do with the sexuality which the story contains. For instance, three of the articles specifically focus on homosexuality within The Fox, and the focus is largely male homosexuality, despite the more prominent relationship between March and Banford, two women living together and leading a domestic life. When discussing sexuality within the novella, many authors either largely ignored the interactions between March and Banford, or otherwise merely used them as a foil by which to examine male homosexuality and Henry’s connection to the fox. The fox’s tale as a phallic symbol was a feature of almost every source, though different author’s assigned to it different meanings. A common …show more content…

Ruderman makes comparisons between the first and second drafts, which really only differed in word count by about 650 words. One change which she explores is the development of March’s character, especially in relation to the fox; in Lawrence’s first draft, he makes March simply more entranced by the fox, while in the second version her interest is more combative, as she wants to conquer the fox. Ruderman makes the argument that Lawrence’s revisions give March much more agency, rather than simply being a passive object over which Henry and Banford fight. After these changes, Lawrence wrote yet another, longer draft of The Fox in which the character of March is once again expanded on as she gains even more resistance to Henry, though her fascination with the fox does not wane. Henry, too, grows in character, becoming more and more cunning and deliberate in his treatment of March. Ultimately, Ruderman claims that the development of The Fox constitutes a shift away from the domestic sphere. Squires, Michael. “Modernism and the Contours of Violence in D. H. Lawrence’s

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