D.H. Lawrence was one of the major novelists of the twentieth century English tradition of novel writing. He was an important but controversial writer of contemporary times. The most important element of his writing apart from the innovations he brought to the English novel is his own philosophy concerning sex.
D.H. Lawrence made the important contribution to the form of the English novel by bringing new subject matter and by giving the reader instantaneous observation, slackening the puppet strings usually held by the author. Like the Russians, he subordinates the plot to life. He is really interested in the workings of the elemental life impulse and in showing how the unconscious vital forces control the conscious life. His characters move and compel because he makes us instantaneously share their hours in the miner’s cottage, in the factory, and in the farm.
All the novels of Lawrence are more or less autobiographical. But Sons and Lovers is almost a carbon copy of the author’s life. The principal characters of the novel and the central situations are drawn from Lawrence’s early life. Like Paul Morel’s father, Lawrence’s father was a miner, uncultured and drunk. Like Paul’s mother, Lawrence’s mother was her husband’s direct opposite. A triangular relationship grew between Lawrence, Jessie and his mother and that become the theme of Sons and Lovers which remains the most compelling account of the Oedipus complex in Literature.
Lawrence used Freudian theories and might have given Paul Morel an Oedipus complex. The writer himself experienced such feeling in his life. Lawrence’s theory of life as it should be lived was strongly influenced by the works of Freud. Indeed, it is not too much to say that Freud formed it. It was from ...
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...ffection of Gertrude falls on Paul who lives with his mother. Because of his deepest love for his mother, Paul did not marry anybody. This misplaced affection led Paul to mental suffering at the end.
The attraction of young boys for their mother is known as Oedipus complex, which is presented in Sons and Lovers. In the novel, the central emphasis is on the conflict between the physical world and elemental man. The ending is ambiguous but most readers would agree that it is optimistic rather that pessimistic.
Primary Source
Lawrence D.H., Sons and Lovers, NewDelhi: Ubs Publishers, 2003.
Secondary Source
Andres, W.R,. Critics on D.H.Lawrence, London : George Allen and Unwin Ltd. 1971.
Draper.R.P, Profiles in Literature D.H.Lawrence , London : Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, 1969.
Malaui, Hiran, D.H.Lawrence(A Study of his Play), New Delhi : Gulab Vazirani, 1982.
Shakespeare’s sinful woman in the tragedy Hamlet is named Gertrude. Wife of Claudius and mother of the prince, she is not selected by the ghost for vengeance by the protagonist. Let’s consider her story in this essay.
Oedipus’s tale of patricide and incest is fixed in the public consciousness, having been immortalized in the present era by Freud’s concept of the Oedipus Complex. Before Freud, however, much of the fame of Oedipus was due to a series of plays by the great Greek tragedian Sophocles. Instead of capturing the public’s attention with a salacious psychoanalytical concept, Sophocles enthralled theater audiences with the story of a man and his fight and ultimate failure to avoid fate. In Oedipus the King, according to Rudnytsky, the question of free will versus determinism plays a central role but is ultimately left up to the audience as the play shows both sides (108). Sophocles
These two men typify the thematic essence of father and son, and in doing so, they destroy the preconceived notions left in the wake of Telemachus and Odysseus. No longer is the bond of father and son to be understood as a bloodthirsty quest for familial vengeance. No, it is replaced with a pair so opposite that they have nothing to discuss but the weather. Not even the violation of Bloom's marriage bed could bring these two to arms.
Lawrence writes his criticism with choppy syntax to convey his ideas in a pithy manner. His use of choppy syntax is evident throughout his entire argument. For instance, Lawrence achieves straightforward prose when he calls Hester, “Adulteress. Alpha. Abel. Adam. A. America” (Lawrence).
Both men had tragic outcomes; however, Oedipus' ending was by far the most heartrending. The tragedy of him being a "son, And a husband, to the woman who bore him; father-killer, And father-s...
The term “Oedipus complex” (or, less commonly, Oedipal complex), explains the strong emotions and ideas that the mind keeps deep within the unconscious of where a child, most notably male, is attracted to his own mother in a sexual nature. In society, incest is looked down upon because it crosses the forbidden zone, the desire for sexual relations, which deviates from the traditional parent-to-child relationship. This term was coined after the ancient Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King. The original script was first written around 429 B.C, by Sophocles. He was most famously known to be one of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived to this day. Knowing that he is a playwright who specializes in writing about the human condition
Lipking, Lawrence I, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
In the beginning of the story, Paul seems to be a typical teenage boy: in trouble for causing problems in the classroom. As the story progresses, the reader can infer that Paul is rather withdrawn. He would rather live in his fantasy world than face reality. Paul dreaded returning home after the Carnegie Hall performances. He loathed his "ugly sleeping chamber with the yellow walls," but most of all, he feared his father. This is the first sign that he has a troubled homelife. Next, the reader learns that Paul has no mother, and that his father holds a neighbor boy up to Paul as "a model" . The lack of affection that Paul received at home caused him to look elsewhere for the attention that he craved.
By disposition, Gertrude turns to the positive side of life and can’t bear to face pain. The pain she felt after her adultery with Claudius may have been what motivated Claudius to murder her husband. When the conditions were right for her to marry her lover, she was most happy and wished for the difficulties of the past be forgotten.
middle of paper ... ... Gertrude betrays Hamlet as a mother, she does not believe in him or trust him, she goes behind his back and blocks out Hamlet and his feelings and marries Claudius which really hurts Hamlet. Gertrude as a wife and mother, hurts the people she most loved, her family. The Shakespearean play of Hamlet captures the audience with many suspenseful and devastating themes, including betrayal. Some of the most loved characters get betrayed by those who they thought loved them most.
Lawrence uses liberation as a central idea to write the story. The three elements of fiction use by the author facilitate the reader to recognize the unfulfilled life that Mrs. Bates is leaving with her husband. However, the reader can also appreciate how Mrs. Bates still fills respect for him no matter the circumstances; one of the reasons is because he is the father of her children. It also identifies how her husband is not part of their life anymore, because they are living people and he is not.
The transitory of the Oedipus complex can be attained if the child develops the "castration anxiety" obviously by seeing the sexual organ of the opposite sex. In a boy's mind, the genitals of girls' have been almost castrated. He is anxious of having the same chance. Owning to the castration concern, both his sexual yearning towards his mother and aggression towards his father will be damaged or depressed. Finally, the Oedipus complex will slowly pass off. This is the most significant and critical factor affecting the transient of the Oedipus
Many authors are recognized by a reoccurring theme found throughout their works. The author D.H. Lawrence can be classified into this group. He is well known for his reoccurring theme that romantic love is psychologically redeeming. He wrote “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” , a short story that exemplifies this theme quite accurately, in 1922 (Sagar 12). Through excellent use of symbolism in “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”, Lawrence renders his theme of romantic love being psychologically redeeming through the emotional development of the two main characters, Mabel and Dr. Fergusson.
Panichas, George A. "Voyage of Oblivion." Critics on D.H. Lawrence. Ed. W. T. Andrews. Coral Gables: University of Miami Press, 1971. 121-123.
As a twentieth century novelist, essayist, and poet, David Herbert Lawrence brought the subjects of sex, psychology, and religion to the forefront of literature. One of the most widely read novels of the twentieth century, Sons and Lovers, which Lawrence wrote in 1913, produces a sense of Bildungsroman1, where the novelist re-creates his own personal experiences through the protagonist in (Niven 115). Lawrence uses Paul Morel, the protagonist in Sons and Lovers, for this form of fiction. With his mother of critical importance, Lawrence uses Freud’s Oedipus complex, creating many analyses for critics. Alfred Booth Kuttner states the Oedipus complex as: “the struggle of a man to emancipate himself from his maternal allegiance and to transfer his affections to a woman who stands outside the family circle” (277). Paul’s compromising situations with Miram Leivers and Clara Dawes, as well as the death of his ...