It is perhaps the physical imbalance between men and women that injects a truth that men are more... more It is perhaps the physical imbalance between men and women that injects a truth that men are more compatible with other men in love, since they share the same masculine drive for sex. Birkin’s desire for Gerald is justified considering Lawrence’s portrayal of the female stereotype, ‘so horrible and clutching, she had such lust for possession, a greed of self-importance in love.’ (Women in Love, Lawrence: 1998: 844). There is a real breakthrough in terms of male compatibility as Birkin ‘proposes to Gerald that they should wear a Blutbrudershaft. He makes the proposal when he realises that he must face ‘the problem of love and eternal conjunction between two men’, and when he first admits to himself that ‘to love a man purely and fully’ has been ‘a necessity inside him all his life’. (Daleski, 1969: 161). The ‘necessity’ that Birkin feels implies that his love for Gerald cannot be ignored. What these two men achieve in this ‘eternal conjunction’ is a love that exceeds expectations; goes beyond the conventions of marriage, and focuses on a mutual respect and intellectual connection that survives.
A film adaption of the Odyssey, ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ (2000) attempts to display the bat... more A film adaption of the Odyssey, ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ (2000) attempts to display the bathing rituals that are described in Homer’s poem. The film presents the mundane rituals of the maids in Homer’s Nausicaa chapter as a highly erotised image; we see a vision of wet, attractive women – the Sirens, bathing in the river, singing in seductive union as they caress their perfectly formed bodies. It is their vocal unison of sultry, feminine tones that work alongside their womanly figures to seduce the male protagonists, creating a feeling of mutual pleasure and female sensuality. In terms of modern sexuality, the idea of females engaging in a mutually pleasurable activity is complementary to male arousal. Although these women are not technically engaging in anything overtly sexual, their sultry actions hazes the men into a fantasy experience, a place where their senses are heightened as they take in the mere physical beauty and soft, low toned vocals of these women, all at the same time. It is then that they are interrupted by sexually hungry men, who do not hesitate, through their body language and facial expressions, to conceal their sexual desire for these women; as they are led by the Sirens into to act. There is a sexual demand - an expectancy about these men that contrasts so heavily from Odysseus, who despite his sexual arousal does not allow himself to appear desperate and consumed by their sex appeal.
It is perhaps the physical imbalance between men and women that injects a truth that men are more... more It is perhaps the physical imbalance between men and women that injects a truth that men are more compatible with other men in love, since they share the same masculine drive for sex. Birkin’s desire for Gerald is justified considering Lawrence’s portrayal of the female stereotype, ‘so horrible and clutching, she had such lust for possession, a greed of self-importance in love.’ (Women in Love, Lawrence: 1998: 844). There is a real breakthrough in terms of male compatibility as Birkin ‘proposes to Gerald that they should wear a Blutbrudershaft. He makes the proposal when he realises that he must face ‘the problem of love and eternal conjunction between two men’, and when he first admits to himself that ‘to love a man purely and fully’ has been ‘a necessity inside him all his life’. (Daleski, 1969: 161). The ‘necessity’ that Birkin feels implies that his love for Gerald cannot be ignored. What these two men achieve in this ‘eternal conjunction’ is a love that exceeds expectations; goes beyond the conventions of marriage, and focuses on a mutual respect and intellectual connection that survives.
A film adaption of the Odyssey, ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ (2000) attempts to display the bat... more A film adaption of the Odyssey, ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ (2000) attempts to display the bathing rituals that are described in Homer’s poem. The film presents the mundane rituals of the maids in Homer’s Nausicaa chapter as a highly erotised image; we see a vision of wet, attractive women – the Sirens, bathing in the river, singing in seductive union as they caress their perfectly formed bodies. It is their vocal unison of sultry, feminine tones that work alongside their womanly figures to seduce the male protagonists, creating a feeling of mutual pleasure and female sensuality. In terms of modern sexuality, the idea of females engaging in a mutually pleasurable activity is complementary to male arousal. Although these women are not technically engaging in anything overtly sexual, their sultry actions hazes the men into a fantasy experience, a place where their senses are heightened as they take in the mere physical beauty and soft, low toned vocals of these women, all at the same time. It is then that they are interrupted by sexually hungry men, who do not hesitate, through their body language and facial expressions, to conceal their sexual desire for these women; as they are led by the Sirens into to act. There is a sexual demand - an expectancy about these men that contrasts so heavily from Odysseus, who despite his sexual arousal does not allow himself to appear desperate and consumed by their sex appeal.
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