How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #13
Two blankets, one pink, one grey, smuggled from her home by a woman who in the last hour has probably bathed and powdered and anointed herself in readiness; who has, for all he knows, been powdering and anointing herself every Sunday, and storing blankets in the cabinet, just in case. Who thinks, because he comes from the big city, because there is scandal attached to his name, that he makes love to many women and expects to be made love to by every woman who crosses his path. […] Bev. Never did he dream he would sleep with a Bev. (17.26-27)
Well, we don't actually know if what David thinks about Bev's preparations is actually true – maybe she hasn't been holding out to have sex with him all this time – but we'll also never know that. What we do get here, though, is David's perspective on the sexual image he puts forth. It seems part cocky and part insecure – he wants to think that others see him as a mysterious Don Juan from the big city, but at the same time, he seems not to want to be boxed in just like that.
Quote #14
"When it comes to men and sex, David, nothing surprises me any more. Maybe, for men, hating the woman makes sex more exciting. You are a man, you ought to know. When you have sex with someone strange – when you trap her, hold her down, get her under you, put all your weight on her – isn't it a bit like killing? Pushing the knife in; exiting afterwards, leaving the body behind covered in blood – doesn't it feel like murder, like getting away with murder?" (18.96)
One of the major ways that we encounter sex in Disgrace is as a tool of violence and domination. Lucy gives David a really unsettling image of what sex can be like from a woman's perspective, and it seems pretty clear at this point that David hasn't spent a whole lot of time thinking about it in this way.