The thesis explores the various aspects of the love death
theme in the parent-child, man-man, and man-woman
relationships in four of D. H. Lawrence's early novels:
The White Peacock, Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, and
Women in Love.
However, before this theme can be examined, it is
necessary to establish, in detail, what Lawrence considers
to be the underlying cultural factor determining
the destructiveness in the love relationships: the
Christian teaching of self-denial. Christianity has led
the individual to deny his Self, his distinct personality,
his instinctive individuality. He becomes a "sacrificed,"
"selfless" creature. Lawrence sees modern industrialism,
nationalism and education as secular extensions of Christianity:
in all of them,the individual no longer counts.
He becomes a mere unit in the great machinery of industrialism,
in the impersonal institution of nationalism, and
in the education system with its falsified Truths and
"vulgar authority." A "dissociation of sensibility"
has taken place. Individuals have lost the capacity to
respond spontaneously with the "whole" man. They have
become "not me" creatures.
Because modern man has denied Selfhood, the love
between man and woman, which should receive first place,
is frequently replaced by parent-child love. The woman
cannot love and respect the weak man with the destroyed
Self. In her desperate attempt to find the fulfillment
that she cannot find with her husband, she turns to her
children. They become the substitute lovers to which
she "sacrifices" herself. By turning to her children,
she humiliates her husband and thus further destroys
him, as well as herself. And the children, too, become
"crippled" as the result of such a parent-child relationship
they feel obligated to return the sacrificial love
to the parent and thereby rob themselves of love that should
find expression elsewhere. Not only does the weak man fail to maintain the love
and respect of the woman, but also he frequently fails to
establish a wholesome relationship with other men. According to Lawrence, a man must unite with other men for
the "purposive, creative activity" of building a world.
The weakling has no distinct Selfhood to bring to this
man-to-man friendship.
In the four novels examined, the love between the
man and woman is usually destructive: a form of death
occurs for either the man or woman, or both. Frequently
they bring a destroyed Self to the relationship and a
further destruction takes place. Occasionally, the destruction in the man-woman relationship is a purgation through
which the individual becomes free; through destruction he
experiences are birth to a capacity for a new, spontaneous love. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41724 |
| Date | January 1968 |
| Creators | Falk, Linda Margaret |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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