Shall lodge thee. The Posthumous Papers of D.H. Lawrence , ed Edward D. Macdonald. Woman is seen as a pure manifestation of the elemental forces of nature. Woman gives but doesn't receive. Man is seen as a bridling or redirecting of those forces into higher expressions.
Man takes and redirects force into higher expressions.
Angel is seen as sacrificing his womanhood by denying the bodily nature of man and attempting to recreate it as an ethereal ideal. Alec is seen as sacrificing his manhood by refusing to redirect the force and energy he gets from woman into higher expressions and into giving to others. Tess's attraction to Alec is explained by the fact that he most deeply acknowledges and draws out the force and bodily vitality that is at the source of her nature.