Feminism In The Horse Dealer's Daughter

Contrary the idea of total feminine oppression, Taylor overlooks the fact that, even though she failed, she attempts to regain control over patriarchal society in the niches of her life. As Taylor argues that Mabel is a character symbolic of women who “internalizes the norms and values of social constructionism,” she states,”she has been socially programmed to depend on men for fulfillment and financial survival” (Taylor). However, even though Mabel is supposedly “programmed” to immediately “jumps to the conclusion that [Jack] loves her," she does not take into account that Mabel has control over Jack during their sexual encounter. During their intercourse, Lawrence details Jack’s ongoing struggle to submit by writing,”It was horrible to have her there embracing his …show more content…
It was horrible. He revolted from it, violently. And yet — and yet — he had not the power to break away” (Lawrence). Despite the smallness of her feminine weapons, Mabel apparently uses her body and primal instinct against Jack. Consequently, as Shigley states in “Jerking the Leading Rope: sexism and phallocentrism perpetuated through D.H. Lawrence’s The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,"” Mabel exercises this power upon Jack, ultimately seducing him and taking advantage of his weakness for her. Upon doing this, Mabel capitalizes upon her dominant sexual position of being superior to a man[...]” (Shigley). As Shigley critically suggests, Mabel’s capitalization of her sexual dominance towards Jack causes her to be “superior towards men.” By allowing the character to evolve to a more dominant position, she temporarily gains control over herself. While women can gain a small amount of power over men during the period, they were underneath the thumb of patriarchal society. However, it is important to note that women still attempted gain dominance over