The fox’s characterization from a denotative level:

“She took her gun again and went to look for the fox. For he had lifted his eyes upon her, and his knowing look seemed to have entered her brain. She did not so much think of him: she was possessed by him. She saw his dark, shrewd, unabashed eye looking into her, knowing her. She felt him invisibly master her spirit. She knew the way he lowered his chin as he looked up, she knew his muzzle, the golden brown, and the greyish white. And again she saw him glance over his shoulder at her, half inviting, half contemptuous and cunning.”

When one day the citizens are granted the permission to kill the foxes, the two women seems to finally solve the most serious of their problems: the Fox. So every night, Banford and March guard the henhouse, They are certain of being able to kill the dangerous animal. And then one night, when March is on duty, the unexpected happens: the fox’s behavior is arrogant and valiantly attempted . March is petrified, finally she faces the fox. But she doesn’t shoot him, March remains to fix the fox. He has beautiful red hair, his eyes are bright and fluorescent, his body is thin and sinuous. The fox has an extraordinary fascination, he is  inexplicably sensual to March: she is completely subjugated. After a while the fox runs, he knows that March will not shot him. He returns back in the woods.

Why is the Fox much more than an a simple animal?

 If we read the need of March psychologically then it becomes clear that she needed a man figure and so she simply recognizes it as a male figure. The fox here serves as a totem of man figure. Here the fox is as fuel to the development of her psychological need of sex.

Thus the fox serves as a male substitute for March. And this enchantment remains for long as said in the novella “So the month passed. She still looked for him (the fox) unconsciously whenever she went towards the wood. He had become a settled effect in her spirit, a state permanently established, not continuous, but always recurring.”(Lawrence, The Fox p-12) And when Henry arrives in between March and Banford, Banford soon recognizes him as merely a man figure and calls him as her younger brother but March recognizes him with the fox. It is not that Banford was in no need of sexual relationship but March may have served that purpose because Lawrence describes her as more manly than Banford.

March’s characterization from a denotative level:

 March is a woman who lives in a farm with Banford, she has a masculine behavior, indeed she usually wear male clothes and she usually do the typical activity made by men. She has a particular relationship with Branford, indeed it isn’t clear if they look each other as sisters or  something more. Banford seems to be attracted by March while March seems to consider Banford as a sister.

 March is also the name of a month: the month of March is particular because in this period starts the spring, flowers birth.