Women in Love · Chapter
X: Sketchbook explained
The Brangwen sisters sketch by Willey Water.
What happens
The Brangwen sisters sketch by Willey Water. Gudrun, absorbed in the water-plants, is interrupted by a boat carrying Hermione and Gerald. Hermione insists on seeing Gudrun's sketchbook, and a tense exchange leads to the book falling into the water. Gerald retrieves it, and a silent, powerful bond forms between him and Gudrun, excluding Hermione.
Themes in this chapter
Male-Female Polarity and Power
The power dynamics between Gerald and Gudrun are established through silent, intense looks and a sense of diabolic freemasonry, while Hermione's attempt to assert control fails.
Nature vs. Civilization
The natural setting of Willey Water contrasts with the artificial social maneuvering of the characters; Gudrun's absorption in the mud and water-plants represents a raw, elemental connection.
Characters to notice
- Ursula Brangwen
Present but detached; watches butterflies and drifts away, unconscious like them.
- Gudrun Brangwen
Sketching water-plants; experiences a trance-like absorption and a powerful, silent connection with Gerald.
- Hermione Roddice
Arrives in the boat with Gerald; insists on seeing the sketchbook, causing it to fall in the water, and feels nullified by the bond between Gerald and Gudrun.
- Gerald Crich
Rows the boat; retrieves the sketchbook; establishes a diabolic freemasonry with Gudrun, feeling compelled by her.
Key passages
“She could feel their turgid fleshy structure as in a sensuous vision, she knew how they rose out of the mud, she knew how they thrust out from themselves, how they stood stiff and succulent against the air.”
Gudrun experiences the water-plants with a vivid, almost physical empathy, sensing their growth from the mud and their firm, fleshy presence.
Highlights Gudrun's intense, sensuous perception of nature.
“The exchange of feeling between them was strong and apart from their consciousness. And as if in a spell, Gudrun was aware of his body, stretching and surging like the marsh-fire, stretching towards her, his hand coming straight forward like a stem.”
An unconscious, powerful connection forms between Gudrun and Gerald, as she perceives his body reaching toward her with a natural, elemental force.
Illustrates the primal, unspoken bond between Gudrun and Gerald.
“In her tone, she made the understanding clear—they were of the same kind, he and she, a sort of diabolic freemasonry subsisted between them.”
Gudrun's tone communicates to Gerald that they share a secret, almost sinister kinship, binding them together.
Establishes the theme of male-female polarity and secret alliance.