Women in Love - D. H. Lawrence: the complexity of characters and of love relationships

Thèmes abordés

D. H. Lawrence, Women in Love, love relationships, ursula-Rupert, dominant-dominated relationship

Résumé du document

In Women in Love, the emphasis is put on characters' love relationships, especially on the couples Ursula-Rupert, Gudrun-Gerald, Hermione-Rupert, and Loerke-Gudrun. Each pair has its own characterization and individuality. With this novel, Lawrence exposes to the reader the complexity of love and humankind. He also gives the reader his advised type of relationship. Characters are well known because of their complexity and their tastes for sadomasochism. They are always seeking to dominate or to be dominated by the other. Self-destruction is the result of the dominant-dominated relationship that exists between Gudrun Brangwen and Gerald Crich. On the contrary, Ursula Brangwen and Rupert Birkin reach equilibrium in a strange "conjunction" in which the integrity of each one's self is preserved.

Extraits

[...] Southern Humanities Review (Jun 1991): 207-9. Gallix, François, ed. Bouchouchi, Fella. ‘La Guerre des Sexes dans Women in Love'. Women in Love, D. H. Lawrence. Paris: Ellipse 57-58. Golden, Kenneth L. ‘Birkin and Ursula, Anima/ Animus and Self: Jungian Reflections on Lawrence's Women in Love'. The Midwest Quarterly (June 1991): 408-14. Hochman, Baruch. Another Ego, the Changing View of the Self and Society in the Work of D. [...]

[...] Impacts of the industrial society: 6. Evolution of women's place in society: 6. Education shaping individuals: 7. Influences of social origins: 8. Gerald and Gudrun: Depiction of Gerald and Gudrun's sadomasochistic characteristics: 8. Motivations to this relationship: 9. Analysis of Gudrun and Gerald: 9. Psychoanalytical grounds for their behaviour and failure: 10. Vampirism: Two vampires: 10. Consequences of vampirism: 11. Gudrun, a better vampire than Gerald?: 11. Roots of vampirism: 12. Positive outcomes of submission: Pleasure: 12. [...]

[...] He desires to make her intellectuality come down to a physical relationship. What may appear strange when reading Women in Love is the mingling of attraction and repulsion. In the two main couples, these two feelings are noticeable. For instance, Ursula , in the chapter is at the same time attracted by Birkin and disgusted by him when he argues with Hermione. Lawrence wants here to prove that it is normal and necessary: if there is only attraction, love will not last. [...]

[...] Lawrence clearly advises a type of love that originates from the senses. He highlights it through the device of opposition: Gerald and Gudrun's couple, whose love comes from knowledge and ends up by a dramatic failure. On the other side, Ursula and Birkin attain equilibrium. They marry and seem happy, whereas Gudrun is unfaithful and Gerald kills himself. The distinction between knowledge and senses is echoed in Hochman's book under the terms ‘blood'/ ‘mind', ‘and ‘flesh'/ ‘spirit'. Lawrence's vision of love is quite difficult to understand and vague. [...]

[...] Lawrence does not completely condemn submission. In his writing, he shows how dangerous domination and submission are, but he also highlights the gains they provide. What he plans us to grasp is that submission is good but as far as it is physical, as opposed to a destructive alienation of the mind. Edwards well succeeds in resolving the question of submission in Women in Love: Yes, he [Lawrence] does believe in the need for people – both men and women – to submit to something at times and knows, too, that by submitting they become vulnerable and may be hurt. [...]