Academic literature on the topic 'Sons and lovers (Lawrence)'

D.H. Lawrence’s novel Sons and Lovers, written in 1913 is an autobiographical novel that captures the Morel’s disharmonious family situation. Critics have many times looked at Mr. Morel and his behavior to offer an explanation for the disharmony. However, by applying a historical and socioeconomic, gender and psychoanalytical perspective to an analysis of Mrs. Morel this analysis will focus on her many actions and behavior in an attempt to offer another explanation for the disharmony in the narrative. The analysis will mainly focus on her relationship with her sons, especially Paul. The conclusion of the analysis shows that Mrs. Morel through her over attached relationship with Paul led to three main consequences: his mental downfall, his incapability to have normal relationships, and the collapse of his individuality.

碩士<br>淡江大學<br>西洋語文研究所<br>84<br>This thesis aims to rectify the general understanding that the mother (Mrs. Morel) is the culprit responsible for the sons' dependence upon her, and to argue that she is not to blame for the two sons' tragic fates. In terms of the first son William' s death, besides the physical cause, the character's mental problem is a matter between between Mrs. Morel and Lily. The leading character Paul's (the second son) final turn toward life is not a hopeful ending, but a temporary triumph of reason; and his ingrained dependence upon his mother is due primarily to his own congenital melancholy, not to Mrs. Morel's lavish affection. However, the argument that the mother is not to blame for the two sons' fates is in part a result of the editor's reduction. In the Cambridge edition that includes all the deleted passages, only William's tragedy proves to involve the mother factor; on Paul's part, Mrs. Morel is still not the main cause of his crippled spirit. Through a close-reading and elaborate analysis of a few less noticed passages, some significant findings necessary for serving as a corrective to the dominant opinion, are put forth. The first chapter is composed of three parts: Part I centers on the physical cause; Part II utilizes Lawrence's thematic summary and raises three questions to draw the conclusion that William is not spiritually dependent upon Mrs. Morel; Part III is an explication of the first son's independent character. In Chapter Two, Paul's inherent character and the effect of Mrs. Morel's affection, promised to Paul but not delivered, are the most important points for discussion. In the Conclusion, a comparison and contrast between the two brothers in terms of character and fate is made. Although the novel normally referred is a revised production by the editor, this thesis attempts to demonstrate that it still presents a unique portrait of the two sons.

碩士<br>國立中興大學<br>外國語文學系<br>92<br>It is generally consented that D. H. Lawrence is one of the most prominent writers in the early twentieth century, and, among all his earlier novels, Sons and Lovers is undoubtedly the most discussed one. Most critics believe that Sons and Lovers is the semi- autobiographical novel that is written by Lawrence on the basis of his real life, and, therefore, psychoanalytic or Marxist theories are often applied to the exegesis of this novel so as to examine the Oedipal complex or class conflict revealed in it. My elaboration on this novel, yet, would adopt the New Historicist ideas to inspect the intersection of the text and history, the historicism of Lawrence himself, and the implied historical truth in the superficially biographical form, in the hope of having a broader sociohistoical point of view. Though Lawrence wrote and achieved his fame both in the twentieth century, the time setting of Sons and Lovers was situated in his most familiar child and youth age, that is, at the turn of Victorian and early modern period. At this transitional point, Lawrence, through his brilliant skill, creates a vivid picture on the family life of the Morels, and further implicitly expresses his thoughts about the shift of contemporary history and power. Seeing how Mrs. Morel gains control over the whole household and establishes her position as the queen, we are meanwhile observing how the burgeoning middle-classes affect people of all classes with the aid of the Ideological State Apparatuses, defeating other competing forces, and then seize the domination over the state. Mrs. Morel instills her ideas and values into her sons through the most basic institute, the family-school couple, and grasps them firmly in her hands; similarly, the state makes use of exactly the same mechanism to hail individuals into subjects who would act submissively without doubt and dissidence. However, as Raymond Williams has argued, in addition to the dominant, there must exist at the same time the residual and the emergent cultures that could be trying to oppose and even threaten the dominance of the ruling class. After Mrs. Morel successfully excludes Mr. Morel from the family life, the so-called threats to her are the girls who attempt to cut the connection between her and her sons. Eventually, the mother and the sons under her influence join hand by hand exorcising these heretical aliens, and preserve the divine territorial integrity of the family as well as the state. Since everyone must meet his or her doom, does the irremediable illness and death of Mrs. Morel mean that she is gradually withdrawing from her son, Paul’s mind and gives back his due freedom? Or, does her death simply signify the physical departure and, one the other hand, leave her son the acute grief and a stronger emotional bond? This is also the most contentious question that is being vehemently debated among scholars of different disciplines in the New Historicism: Is there a genuine opposition? The concluding chapter of Sons and Lovers demonstrates that though seemingly able to accept the death of his mother and ready to set about a new life of his own, Paul, as a closer reading shows, is still struggling under the overwhelming authority and gigantic shadow of his mother, for his new life is actually the extension of Mrs. Morel’s will. The possibility of genuine and effective subversion, under the domination of the omnipresent and omnipotent Mother and State, is completely eradicated.

碩士<br>中國文化大學<br>英國語文學研究所<br>92<br>This thesis applies Simone de Beauvoir's concept of feminism to D. H. Lawrence's three novels─Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover. De Beauvoir's feminist theory can be understood in her work─The Second Sex, which mainly explores the history and situation of women. The works of Lawrence have focused on the sexual relationship and roles between men and women. This work discusses the position of women in those relations with men according to Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist theory. The first chapter explains the change in woman's traditional position and introduces Lawrence's novels as seen by de Beauvoir's feminist position. The second chapter explores the ambivalent relationships between Mrs. Morel, Miriam and Clara as found in one of those novels─Sons and Lovers. Paul's excessive attachment to his mother results in his incapacity to establish good relations with Miriam and Clara. The relationship between him and Miriam lies in a spiritual level, while Clara's relationship with him rests on the physical one. Hence, these two women cannot achieve a balance of body and mind with Paul. The third chapter analyzes love and exploration of life through the relationship between man and woman in Women in Love. Ursula's relationship with Birkin conveys the philosophy of Lawrence─equilibrium. Gudrun's alienation from others prevents the establishment of close intimacy with Gerald who attempts to fill up his dead and void soul by contact with her. The relationship between them is doomed to be a failure. Hermione is a third type of woman who always expresses her superiority over people but has a void mind. The fourth chapter represents the mental freedom and the physical harmony between Connie and Mellors in Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The conclusion of this thesis compares the relationship between men and women and conveys Lawrence's philosophy of equilibrium for readers and judges it by Simone de Beauvoir’s theory.