Point of View

Women in Love is told by an omniscient narrator, who can tell people's feelings, and watch their internal states. This narrator does not inject himself very much, in the narrative, but there are a few places where it seems like the author himself is speaking through the characters. Birkin in particular seems like the mouthpiece for certain types of ideas that are dear to the heart of the novel, but like the characters themselves, the book has an antagonistic relationship with the ideas it puts forward, and no single idea is wholeheartedly endorsed. Even Birkin's idea about the ultimate marriage between men and women is complicated by Ursula's ideas about the self-sufficiency of woman in her love with a man. Gerald wants to have complete possession of a woman, but Gudrun is not content to be dominated. She also has to stand aloof. These points of...