Sons Lovers Essay Example For Students

Sons Lovers Essay Sons Lovers. A Short Summary. The first part of the novelfocuses on Mrs. Morel and her unhappy marriage to a drinking miner. She hasmany arguments with her husband, some of which have painful results: onseparate occasions, she is locked out of the house and hit on the head with adrawer. Estranged from her husband, Mrs. Morel takes comfort in her fourchildren, especially her sons. Her oldest son, William, is her favorite, andshe is very upset when he takes a job in London and moves away from the family. When William sickens and dies a few years later, she is crushed, not evennoticing the rest of her children until she almost loses Paul, her second son,as well. From that point on, Paul becomes the focus of her life, and the twoseem to live for each other. Paul falls in love with Miriam Leivers, who liveson a farm not too far from the Morel family. They carry on a very intimate, butpurely platonic, relationship for many years. Mrs. Morel does not approve ofMiriam, and this may be the main reason that Paul does not marry her. Heconstantly wavers in his feelings toward her. Paul meets Clara Dawes, a suffragette who isseparated from her husband, through Miriam. As he becomes closer with Clara andthey begin to discuss his relationship with Miriam, she tells him that heshould consider consummating their love and he returns to Miriam to see how shefeels. Paul and Miriam reconcile and are briefly happy,but shortly afterward, Paul decides that he does not want to marry Miriam, andso he breaks off with her. She still feels that his soul belongs to her, and,in part agrees reluctantly. He realizes that he loves his mother most, however. After breaking off his relationship with Miriam,Paul begins to spend more time with Clara and they begin an extremelypassionate affair. However, she does not want to divorce her husband Baxter,and so they can never be married. Pauls mother falls ill and he devotes muchof his time to caring for her. When she finally dies, he is broken-hearted and,after a final plea from Miriam, goes off alone at the end of the novel.1AN ANALYSISFirst published in 1913, Sons and Lovers is regarded as D. H. Lawrences first major novel. The novel has always been consideredcontroversial and has been banned many times in America and in Europe. This isdue to Lawrences frank treatment of human sexuality and sexual themes. Most of what people haveobjected to is Lawrences depiction of sex. Today, this matters less, butconsidering the era in which he wrote, his portrayal is quite visionary. Besides the vivid depictions of sex and sexuality in Sons and Lovers, Lawrence relied heavily on sexual symbolism. Muchof his symbolism was Freudian-based, as Lawrence was fascinated by the Austrianpsychiatrist and the then-emerging study of psychiatry. However, this sexuality is notthe focus of the work. Sons and Loversprimarily deals with two main themes. First is the conflict between the maincharacter, Paul Morel, and his mother, Gertrude Morel. This relationship is asbeautiful as it is destructive. The nature of their special relationship hasbeen noted as being Oedipal.The other theme is attractionand repulsion in love, explored through Paul Morel and his two lovers, Claraand Miriam, who are quite opposites. Clara is a feminist who is married, andMiriam is a sort of shy country girl. The novel begins with GertrudeMorel and her husband Walter, an unhappy marriage that provides so muchconflict in the life of their son Paul. Because of this relationship, Gertrudespends more and more of her time doting on the children, Paul, William, Annieand Arthur. However, she has the most intimate relationship with her middleson, Paul. This relationship is a focal point for much of the work. As thestory progresses Paul grows from infancy to adulthood. During this time, Pauldiscovers women. This leads to much and continuous conflict between these women(Clara and Miriam) and Pauls mother, who feels she is on conflict with themfor Pauls affection. This conflict is the most basic, underlying idea in thenovel. The conflict has many adverseeffects on Pauls ability to form long lasting relationships with members ofthe opposite sex. The conflict finally ends with the death of Gertrude. Herdeath is arguably a necessary end to Pauls continued lack of long lastingrelationships.2The Morel fa mily as a whole canbe seen as one full of distraught and a family that has been mismanaged. Most of the familys struggle isrooted in the love/hate relationship between Walter and Gertrude Morel. Gertrude always felt a mixture of love and anguish for Walter(Lawrence 66). One of the largest problems with their whole marriage is thatthey are quite opposite individuals. Walter was brought up with littleeducation or religion and is happy with the conditions of their poverty. Gertrude, on the other hand, was brought up as a well educated, puritanicalwoman with a natural penchant for bettering herself and a vehement hatred forher socio-economic position. How could it be that these twoopposites attract each other thus? Perhaps this attraction is rooted in thepresence of dual selves within the pair. For example, Gertrude is a Puritan bynature, but a truly sensual being by demeanor. This should mesh quite nicelywith Walters boorish appearance and more gentle heart (54). Despite hisoutward appearance, Morel does truly have a gentle nature. If he did not reallyhave a conscience, he would have left Gertrude out in the cold to freeze afterhe locked her out. Instead, he opened the latch and let her in. He is soashamed by his behavior that he ran quickly to bed in order to avoid his wife. Antigone by Sophocles is one of the most distingui EssayMany of the symbols used in Sons andLovers are phallic in nature, and are centered on the novels main ideathat the phallus has much power over the relationships of men and women. An example of this core thoughtlies in the following passage: The great horse breathedheavily, shifting round its red flanks, and looking suspiciously with itswonderful big eyes upwards from under its lowered head and fallingmane(Lawrence 211). The horse represents the naturaland unforced power that will cause a rift in Paul and Claras relationship, arift that will lead Paul to Miriam. The horse is a classic Freudian phallicsymbol. Thus, Lawrences core idea is alluded to. The horses unbridled vigourrepresents a rift the influence the phallus will have on Paul and Clara andtheir relationship. Another phallic symbol used byLawrence is the hen. In one part of Sonsand Lovers, Miriam is afraid of letting a hen peck seed out of her hand. Later, when she overcomes this fear, Paul comes upon Miriam warily feeding thehen and provides comfort during Miriams ordeal. Paul provides such phrases asIt wont hurt you (Lawrence 172) and other supportive phrases thatbring to mind the physical act of love. The hen is representative of thephallic power once again acting upon the man and woman. In this case, a forcedraws the two together. Besides the kind of sexualsymbolism that has many levels of meaning and importance, is a kind that issuperficial. Lawrence is, perhaps, best known for his use of more blatantsymbolism (Van Ghent 22). This use of sexual symbolism is obvious and not intendedto convey any deep and insightful meanings. This use of symbolism exitsprimarily to provide mood. In the sequence in which Clara and Paul firstconsummate their relationship, Claras red carnations drop their petals allover her clothes and on the ground. The representation is obvious: the end ofher virginity. Lawrence was very fond of blatant symbol ism such as this. Sons and Lovers was Lawrences first great novel, and many of thedevices he used in its writing became trends in his later works. 5BIBLIOGRAPHY:1. Sons and Lovers, an overall summary, http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/sonsandlovers/summary2. Sons and LoversOverview, http://www.shs.springfield.k12.il.us3. The Morels, A Case Study in Dysfunction, http://www.shs.springfield.k12.il.us4. Eleanor Sullo, D. H Lawrence and the relationships in Sonsand Lovers, http://www.essortment.com/in/Literature.Books/index.htm5. Symbolism in Sonsand Lovers, http://www.shs.springfield.k12.il.us