1.Introduction
In his foreword for Sons and Lovers, Lawrence compares the relationship between men and women with bees and hives. He introduces an idea at the end of that text that describes one of the most essential statements about the book and about what he has apparently learned.
He says that when a man is too different from a woman and does not respect her, the woman can deport the man “as a drone”1. If she does not find a better man now, they are both ruined:
“And she, either her surplus shall wear away her flesh, in sickness, or in lighting up and illuminating
old dead Words, or she shall spend it in fighting with her man to make him take her, or she shall turn
to her son, and say,
‘Be you my Go-between.‘
But the man who is the go-between from Woman to Production is the lover of that woman. And if
that Woman be his mother, then is he her lover in part only: he carries for her, but is never received
unto her for his confirmation and renewal, and so wastes himself away in the flesh. The old son-lover
was Œdipus. The name of the new one is legion. And if a son-lover takes a wife, then is she not his
wife, she is only his bed. And his life will be torn in twain, and his wife in her despair shall hope for
sons, that she may have her lover in her hour.”2
In my analysis I will describe how the main character of this book, Paul Morel, grows up to become such a son-lover of his mother’s and how this affects his love and life.
As one can see from this foreword, Lawrence knew about the story of Oedipus which describes a phenomenon Freud’s psychoanalytic approach about the relationship between mothers and sons referred to. He called this the “Oedipus complex”. Lawrence states that a man who is like Oedipus can not have a proper marriage. His wife cannot be a full part of his love, because the husband is not able to transfer the feeling of love from his mother to his wife. During his life, Paul experiences the difficulties in the contact with women he feels attracted to and whom he has relationships with.
1 Helen and Carl Baron, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers (Cambridge, 1994): 472. (im Weiteren als SL zitiert).
2 SL, 473.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. The problematic complex
2.1. The perennial motherly love
2.2. Acquired lack of independence
3. Responsibility and shortcomings
3.1. The masculine factor
3.2. Finances and envy
4. Competitors
4.1. Number one: Miriam Leivers
4.2. Number two: Clara Dawes
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
- Quote paper
- Julia Woltermann (Author), 2006, The failure of Paul Morel, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/200935
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