In his bildungsroman Sons and Lovers, published in 1913, D. H. Lawrence portrays the disharmonious life conditions of the coal-mining communities in England at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. While the main focus of the novel is the mother’s excessive love towards one of the sons, the reader also encounters the father of the family, Walter Morel. Mr. Morel is perceived as a brutal, vain and ignorant man. The readership might imply this description to be accurate in terms of Morel’s behavior. However, this essay argues that there are underlying reasons for his extreme attitudes and actions. Thus, the aim of this essay is to identify and explain the underlying reasons as to why Mr. Morel behaves in such a neurotic way in the presence of his family. The close reading of the novel and the use of Freudian psychoanalysis illustrated with the help of the Neurotic Fear Principle, provide evidence that there is a correlation between Mr. Morel’s attitude and the social and economic conditions in the coal-mining community. Consequently, this essay presents Morel as the embodiment of the severe consequences of industrialism, and how deeply they impact his relationship to his family.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hig-44468 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Pavlidou, Eirini |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för humaniora |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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