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摘 要

许多学者都曾从母爱的角度对《儿子与情人》和《孔雀东南飞》进行过研究，故事中的母爱对儿子的影响贯穿了他们的人生。通过对比分析两部作品，可以发现作品中的母亲均有严重的恋子情节：莫瑞尔夫人把对丈夫的爱转移到了儿子身上，嫉妒儿子的恋人；焦母对焦仲卿怀有强烈的控制欲，并遣走了贤惠的刘兰芝。本文将对比分析她们恋子情节的相同之处,解释了各自恋子情节的表现，以及两部作品中父亲角色的缺失所导致的后果。

关键词：《儿子与情人》；《孔雀东南飞》；恋子情节；相同之处；不同之处

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. The Similarities of Jocasta Complex in Two Works 3

3.1 Reflection of Jocasta Complex 3

3.2 The Role of Father 5

4. The Differences of Jocasta Complex in Two Works 6

4.1 The Different Pursuits of Mother’s 6

4.2 The Different Consequences of Jocasta Complex 7

5. Conclusion ..9

Works Cited…………………………………………………………….10

1. Introduction

David Herbert Lawrence, an English novelist, proser, literary critic, poet and painter, who is one of the greatest persons in 20^th century English literature. F．R．Leavis praised him as “one of our era a great creative genius, a giant British Literature ”. In his short life, he wrote many popular novels and short stories. “His thematic focus on relationships between men and women, and his explorations of psychological motivation in human behavior.” (Shi Yanling, 2011:32)

Sons and Lovers is one of Lawrence’s famous stories which is always regarded as his autobiographical novel reflecting his childhood and adolescence experience. The story regards the protagonist Paul’s emotional experience as the main line, it revolves around Paul and three women (Mrs. Morel, Miriam, Clara). Which is intertwined with the emotional entanglements of mother and son, lovers and son. In Sons and Lovers, Lawrence described the life of a miner worker Mr. Morel’s family. After they married, Mrs. Morel didn’t get along with her husband, she was sick of him, so gradually she turned to her sons for love. This emotion is beyond the normal maternal love that has become the central control and occupy the son’s feelings. The twisted maternal love made Paul lose the ability to love and got into spiritual dilemma. Although his mother’s death made him mentally and emotionally out of control, his life is still full of vacant for the future. The end of the story is Paul hobbled along with the road in the thinking of trance, went to the mysterious future. This book has caused great controversy in the history of Western literature, the reason is that it profoundly reveals and analyzes the Freudian psychoanalysis in Oedipus complex. For example, Gilbert suggested that the novel is a case study of the Oedipus complex theory, in which both William and Paul have Oedipus complex towards their mother. (Gilbert, 1997:32)

The Peacocks Fly to Southeast was first recorded in Yu Tai Xin Yong by Xu Ling who was in Southern Dynasties, also titled Ancient Poems for the Jiao Zhongqing’s wife. It is the longest Yuefu narrative poems of the Han Dynasty, but also the earliest long poem in the history of Chinese Literature. The Ballad of Mulan and The Peacocks Fly to Southeast was called “Yuefu double wall”, both of them and Qin Fu Yin are described as “Yuefu Sanjue”. Obviously, The Peacocks Fly to Southeast represents the highest development of Chinese folk songs. This poem tells a tragic love story that took place during the Eastern Han Dynasty. The poem is set during the Jian’an Period of the dynasty. A girl who named Liu Lanzhi from a common family, married to Jiao Zhongqing whom grew up in an official family that was in decline at the time. Although they loved each other, they were broken up by Jiao’s mother due to different family status. Liu Lanzhi was expelled from the family by Jiao Zhongqing’s mother, and then forced by her elder brother to remarry. In the end, the couple have to choose to commit suicide.

The Peacocks Fly to Southeast is an great work, which uses the form of five character lines to praise the faithful love and misfortune of the couple. What bring about the death of the couple? Different scholars have different opinions. Some people think that the feudal traditional moral codes is to blame for the tragedy, some people believe that Liu Lanzhi’s stubborn character  is the basic reason, some other people insist that it is caused by the Jocasta complex of Jiao’s mother.

1. Literature Review

About the Sons and Lovers this novel, was famous in English literature in the 20^th century, which aroused a large number of scholars to research it. Among the scholars who incline to consider this novel from the realist perspective and view it the prosperous top of the many 19^th century efforts to give a true and full picture of the industrial life, David M. Thompson is outstanding and with his article “Calling in the Realists: The Revision and Reputation of Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers”. Some others, concerned with the formative years and growth into full awareness of protagonist Paul in the novel, research the novel carefully in the Bildungsroman way. Jerome H. Buckley once gave a systemic analysis of this literary work in his “Season of Youth: The Bildunsroman from Dickens to Golding”. At the same time, many critics focusing on the abundant psychological descriptions of the unconsciousness, Alfred Booth Kuttner takes the lead with his masterpiece “Sons and Lovers: A Freudian Appreciation”.

As to China, the pioneer of the research on Lawrence was Yu Dafu and Lin Yuntang. Same as the western critical circle, the Chinese critics and scholars have also applied numerous theoretical frameworks to Sons and Lovers, such as Freudian postmodernism, symbolism, feminist criticism, eco-criticism and ethical criticism, and so on. For example, in 2008, Zhao Ruichao, a postgraduate in Liaoning Normal University accomplished his Master’s Degree with the dissertation entitled “An Analysis of Women in Love from the perspective of Ecofeminism”. Some people embarked on interpreting it from the perspective of ecocriticism and disclose Lawrence’s philosophy of nature, ecofeminism, such as short articles like “The Ecofeminist Interpretation of Sons and Lovers”.

Zhao Weirong made a comparative analysis of deformed maternal love in between Son and Lovers and The Peacocks Fly to Southeast, he focus on the tragedy consequences caused by deformed maternal love. And Li Tingying also compared this two works, was studied it from the mother’s tragic life and the roots of the tragic life.

On the basis of above, this article will make a comparative analysis of the Jocasta complex in Sons and Lovers and The Peacocks Fly to Southeast, then from the view of Jocasta complex to reveal the reasons how the Jocasta complex formed as well as the consequences.

1. The Similarities of Jocasta Complex in Two Works

In psychoanalytic analysis, the Jocasta complex is the incestuous sexual desire of a mother towards her son. Raymond de Saussure introduced the term in 1920 by way of analogy to its logical converse in psychoanalysis, the Oedipus complex, and it may be used to cover different degrees of attachment (R.J.Campbell, 2009:534 ) including domineering but asexual mother love—something perhaps particularly prevalent with an intelligent son and an absent/weak father figure. The Jocasta complex is named for Jocasta, the fictional Greek queen who had a sexual relationship with her son. Jocasta complex is also called Phaedra complex, which is “a counterpart of the Oedipus complex” ( R.J.Campbell, 2009:748).

3.1 Reflection of Jocasta Complex

The Jocasta complex embodied in Sons and Lovers is obvious. Mother of his son’s emotions are beyond the ordinary mother’s love. At the start of the story, William is Mrs. Morel’s favorite son. She is very sensitive to William’s girlfriends, occasionally some girls come to their house to find William, Mrs. Morel would say that “I don’t approve of the girls my son meets at dances” (D.H. Lawrence, 61) to turn the girls away. What’s more, she felt unhappy when William received many letters from girls. Her heart start to grow dreary with despair when William moves to London for a new job, because she loved him deeply. After William’s death, Mrs. Morel began to transfer her love to Paul. She treated Paul as her emotional sustenance and attempted to occupy all his emotions. She would be a shy girl when travel with Paul: “Suddenly she appeared in the inner doorway rather shyly.” (D.H. Lawrence, 137) “The mother and son walked down Station Street, feeling the excitement of lovers having an adventure together.” (D.H. Lawrence, 105) She would also be very angry and jealous when Paul was together with other lovers, such as Miriam, Clara. For example, Mrs. Morel was very envy Miriam, she believed that Miriam took her place from her son. “She exults--she exults as she carried from me,” and “She’s not like an ordinary woman, who can leave me my share in him. She wants to absorb him…till there is nothing left of him,even for himself...she will suck him up.” (D.H. Lawrence, 219) She began to destroy their love. She often complain to Paul when he was stay with Miriam and came home late. She hinted many times to Paul, “She glanced at the clock and said, coldly and rather tired: ‘You have been far enough tonight.’ His soul, warm and exposed from contact with the girl, shrank.” (D.H. Lawrence, 183) These plots just show Mrs. Morel’s Jocasta complex.

In The Peacocks Fly to Southeast, before Liu Lanzhi visit the parental home, “she came to his mother in the hall”, “she said to his sister good-bye.” (Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) As a housewife, Liu Lanzhi had good manners, she wouldn’t forget to say goodbye to her father-in-law, there is none of a word to describe the father. From these, we know that Mr. Jiao has passed away, Mrs. Jiao is a widow. China’s feudal chastity view think, a people who had been widowed so that the only thing she has is only son, love her son is equivalent to love her husband. In feudal society, man in the social status which occupies the leading position, and man is considered to be reasonable to breed family. Therefore, for society, their families and psychological needs, Mrs. Jiao who had been early widowed must gave all the love and expectation to her son. As time goes by, she fell into the strong Jocasta complex.

Jiao and Liu Lanzhi were newlyweds, deep feelings. Lanzhi was competent (Thirteen able to weave elements, fourteen learn tailoring), intelligent (fifteen playing the harp, sixteen reciting poetry and literature), hard-working (At daybreak she begins to weave, she does hard labour day and night), specificity (unwavering love feast). ( Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) These advantages had won the love from Jiao Zhongqing, but it caused Mrs. Jiao’s angry and intensely jealousy. She thought that Lanzhi stole her beloved son, her son was on Lanzhi’s side. Because her son insisted that “ by fortune I have this good wife, we’ve shared the pillow, mat and bed. And we will be man and wife till dead.” (Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) So the more they loved each other, the more his mother was jealous, especially when Zhong Qing said, “If you should send away, I won’t remarry all my life.” (Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) Mrs. Jiao couldn’t stand with the fact that her son was no longer belonged to her, so she tried her effort to drive Liu Lanzhi away.

3.2 The Role of Father

It is the fact that Mrs. Morel and Mrs. Jiao’s Jocasta complex as the killer of their sons’ love, even damaged their son’s life. What caused the mother’s love to be twisted? Browsing the two texts, the role of the father is incomplete or even absent, which caused their Jocasta complex. Because father’s role was not doing well which urged wives to shift their love to son, this behavior is full of Jocasta complex.

In Sons and Lovers, Mr. Morel’s role is incomplete, he is not a responsible husband, he cheated his wife. For example, Mrs. Morel thought they own a house and nicely furnished, but one day she found the bills of the household furniture still unpaid and her husband had not a bit of money left over, even their house was rent. These made Mrs. Morel very angry,“She said very little to her husband, but her manner had changed towards him. Something in her proud, honorable soul had crystallised out hard as rock.” (D.H. Lawrence, 16) Mr. Morel is not kind to his wife and children. After they married, everything changed, the underground work for a long time made Morel become temper, bossy savage, alcoholic. He became tired of his family, full of complaints to his wife, his fists. He was indifference and had no love for the child, no one like him, because “he came home he did not speak civilly to anybody. If the fire were too low he bullied about that; he complained about his dinner; if the children made a chat louder he shouted at them in a way that made their mother’s blood boil, and made them hate him.” (D.H. Lawrence, 43) Moreover, Morel often quarrel and fight with his wife. One day, they had a conflict, he pushed his wife who was a pregnant roughly to the outer door, her heart was hurt. Faced with husband’s many bad habits which made his wife completely disappointed for him and their marriage, at last Mrs. Morel despised her husband, she turned to the child: “With the birth of this third baby, herself no longer set towards him, helplessly, standing off from him...not feeling him a part of herself, she did not mind so much what he did, could leave him alone.” (D.H. Lawrence, 54) Mrs. Morel loved her son intensely, it developed into Jocasta complex step by step.

In The Peacocks Fly to Southeast, Mr. Jiao has been absent all over the text, there is none of a word to describe the father, Yu Guanying has been pointed out in the verse commentary of Yuefu Poems: “look at the poem, Jiao Zhongqing is no father, and even the words ‘Gong Mu’ here is partial semantic copying words which emphasis on ‘Mu’, in other words, it refers to the female.” Then it can be inferred that Jiao’s mother is a widow, their emotions in a blank state. Mrs. Jiao lived in the Han Dynasty with feudal ethical code, under such condition, she just have two goals: one is to praise her son alone, the other is to be loyal to his dead husband. The feudal moral of Book of Rites explicitly requested the woman to obey “the three obediences and the four virtues”: in ancient China a woman was required to obey her father before marriage, and her husband during married life and her sons in widowhood. However, Mrs. Jiao dominated her son instead of obeying her son. To be a long widowed mother, lonely accompanied her for a long time. She couldn’t seek a way to release her feelings, eventually she recalled her son, then she poured all the emotions on her only son. Inch by inch, Mrs. Jiao formed a special love that she wanted to control him. For example, she asked Jiao Zhongqing to repatriate his wife, yet his wife had no mistake, for she was jealous of his wife. The so-called love child complex, refers to the feelings of the mother when she live long with her son, and gradually formed a deep heartfelt attachment. Especially widowed mother who lost her husband so that she was unable to meet the love of her husband, but she could stay with her son everyday, then step by step she treated son as an object to gain emotional needs. Mrs. Jiao is a person like that, so she is doomed to possess the Jocasta complex.

1. The Differences of Jocasta Complex in Two Works

4.1 The Different Pursuits of Mother’s

In Sons and Lovers, Mrs. Morel was born in a noble house, natural nobility,“Gertrude resembled her mother in her small build. But her temper, proud and unyielding, she had from the Coppards.” (D.H. Lawrence, 10) She was a pride girl and had a curious, receptive mind which found much pleasure and amusement in listening to other folk. Under this circumstance, the pursuits of Mrs. Morel is worship of spiritual comforts. Even those living in poverty in the “brook valley”, Mrs. Morel lived in a room above the last row of the house, on another side an extra strip of garden. And, she enjoyed a kind of aristocracy among the women of the “middle” houses, because her rent was five shillings and sixpence rather than five shillings a week. But this superiority in station was not much consolation to Mrs. Morel. Because Mr. Morel was a miner who is “live like a mice, and you pop out at night to see what’s going on.” (D.H. Lawrence, 13) He cannot understand her, so she put her expectation on her son: “that these men would work out what SHE wanted, they were derived from her, they were of her, and their works also would be hers.” (D.H. Lawrence, 115) When Paul brought her the best spray, “she said pretty, in a excited tone, just like a women accepting a love-token.” (D.H. Lawrence, 78) Paul could always satisfy her spirit mind,so gradually Mrs. Morel developed into Jocasta complex.

However, The Peacocks Fly to Southeast, the pursuits of Mrs. Jiao is to control her son. As a leader of the family, Mrs. Jiao was performed her rights perfectly in controlling his son. As a widowed mother whom devoted herself to bringing up their children. She put all love into Jiao Zhongqing, through her own strength and self-esteem to won the love and respect from her son, she made it. Jiao Zhongqing had great respect for the mother. they had each other and supported each other. Gradually she formed Jocasta complex. Liu Lanzhi was beautiful, intelligent and passionate, who was a complete image of women. why her mother-in-law regarded her as a thorn in her eyes? As Lanzhi returned home said to her mother: “the real innocent children had.” (Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) Actually, Lanzhi’s mistake is that she was too beautiful, too much skills. She perfected to conquer Jiao Zhongqing, but let Jiao’s mother full of jealousy. Thus Liu was must be send away. This is actually the love battle between mother and wife. We can imagine, if Qin Luofu really became Lanzhi’s successor, she is bound to become another victim of Mrs. Jiao under the claws of the mother.

4.2 The Different Consequences of Jocasta Complex

In Sons and Lovers, Mrs. Morel’s influence on Paul’s had throughout the whole novel. Paul treated the mother like a lover, and felt remorse for her situation: “...made his heart contact with love. When she was quiet, she had been looked brave and rich with life, but as if she had been done out of her rights. It hurt the boy deeply, this feeling about her that she had never had her life’s fulfillment: and his own incapability to make up to her hurt him with a sense of impotence.” (D.H. Lawrence, 76) Moreover, due to the influence of his mother, Paul had a strong hostility to his father, he privately cursed his father’s death“Lord, let my father die” (D.H. Lawrence, 69). When his father injured his leg badly, he showed no sympathy for him. On the contrary, he often said to his mother: “I’m the man in the house now.” (D.H. Lawrence, 100) Under the shadow of Mrs. Morel’s deformity mother’s love, Paul’s love for his mother is far beyond the normal love, into the category of spiritual incest. It performed in many ways: On the language, he said his mother as “my dear, darling child, little pigeon child”; In action, he often kissed his mother’s forehead, stroking her face, temples, shoulders, then gently persuade mother went to sleep. He considered his mother as his spiritual lover, he never threw in truth love with another woman.

It is Mrs. Morel’s Jocasta complex that forced his keenly Oedipus complex, he would make his mother as the object of worship that he can not focus on any other woman. For Miriam only spiritual exchange, for Clara only meet the body( it seemed as if you only loved me at night--as if you didn’t love in the daytime.) (D. H. Lawrence, 406) He never found his true love, as he himself said, “And I never shall meet right woman while you live.” (D. H. Lawrence, 397) For instance, when Paul and Miriam’s love relations developed to the climax, Mrs. Morel used naked love to conquer his own son, also defeated the Miriam’s love:“ She cried, in a whimpering voice: “I can’t bear it. I could let another woman--but not her. She’d leave me no room, not a bit of room--And I’ve nerve--you know, Paul--I’ve never had a husband--not really--well, I don’t love her, mother...” (D.H. Lawrence, 241-242) In his life plan only existed mother, for example, there was a dialogue between Clara and Paul: “And if you made a nice lot of money, what would you do?” she asked. “Go somewhere in a pretty house near London with my mother.” (D. H. Lawrence, 399) When his mother died, he was negative, he felt crumpled up and lonely:“His mother had really supported his life. He had loved her; they just had each other, in fact, they faced the world together. Now she was gone, and for ever behind him was the gap in life, the tear in the evil, through which his life seemed to move slowly.” (D. H. Lawrence, 459) From then on, he pursued nothing, boredom, indecision, neither going to love others nor to be loved by someone else. Mother’s departure made him is like lost soul:“ And he had no place in it! Whatever place he stood on, there he stood alone.” “his soul could not leave his mother, wherever she was.” (D. H. Lawrence, 473)

In The Peacocks Fly to Southeast, due to the Jocasta complex of Jiao’s mother, she drowned her son to a large degree, sheltered and decided everything for his son, which resulted in the making cowardly by nature. There is no assertive, timid and self-esteem, sensitive, suspicious character, words and deeds that he knows his wife “no deviation”, but in front of his mother, he was so weak to excuse. Under the pressure of his mother, what he could do was only told his depressed wife: “Not that I would send you away, but mother won’t allow you to stay.” (Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) Owing to the living environment so that he lacked the ability and courage to love, love can not shelter at a critical moment, let his imperious mother to control their destiny.

Mrs. Jiao’s Jocasta complex caused a subtle Oedipus complex on Jiao zhongqing, which made him hesitate to run after his truly love, and fail to protect his wife. To Jiao Zhongqing, his beautiful wife was smart, capable, the notice of management, he found his love, but no ability to love. His cowardly character was built up by the abnormal maternal love, he had no courage to against his mother. So the final result can only appear that “She doffed her silken shoes to drown herself in uprolled wedding grown”“then hanged himself beneath a tree”. (Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) Mrs. Jiao’s lost her beloved son, she was lonely again.

1. Conclusion

Lawrence had explained his novels: “Because in their lives among the mothers of the most powerful forces, above all, this power has always been in control of them ... this son (Paul) in his dying mother get rid of his former lover, has been accompanied by the mother’s bedside next, in the end, his son ended up with nothing, journeyman gradually toward death.” (Liu Xianzhi,Qiao Changsen 1988:53) Although the two stories happened in different country, different history, Mrs. Morel and Mrs. Jiao all experienced Jocasta complex. One of them is chasing the worship of spiritual comforts, the other is full of the view of controlling her son, both of the role of father is incomplete or even absent, so mothers all put strong love and expectation on their son, assembled into a deep Jocasta complex in the depths of the soul. On one hand, they hoped that their son could be happy; on the other hand, they expected to get the psychological satisfaction from the son. Further more, They launched a life and death of plunder with son’s lover which shaped their son’s tragic life, but also created their own misery.

There is no deny that the Jocasta complex has bad effects on children, we must pay attention to it and avoid it. At the end of The Peacocks Fly to Southeast, it wrote that “men and women in future, do not forget that bygone day.” (Hans H. Frankel, 1974:248-271) Actually, this tells us be careful to the Jocasta complex. Whatever Chinese or foreigners must learn a lesson from the two stories.

Works Cited

1. Alfred Booth Kuttner, “Sons and Lovers: A Freudian Appreciation”. Psychoanalytic Review, 1988(3): 290-98.
2. David M. Thompson, “Calling in the Realists: The Revision and Reputation of Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers ”. Novel, a Forum on Fiction, 1994(3): 233-256.
3. Gilbert, S. 1997. “D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers and other works”. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,1997.
4. Hans H. Frankel, “The Chinese Ballad Southeast Fly The Peacocks”. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 1974: 248-271.
5. Jerome H. Buckley, “Season of Youth: The Bildunsroman from Dickens to Golding”. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.
6. R. J. Campbell, Campbell’s Psychiatric Dictionary, 2009: 534,748.
7. Zhao Ruichao, “ An Analysis of ‘Women in Love’ from the perspective of Ecofeminism”. MA thesis: Liaoning Normal University, 2008.
8. D.H.劳伦斯.《儿子与情人》.陈红玉，译. 南京：译林出版社，2012.
9. 哈里·莫尔.《劳伦斯书信选》．刘宪之，乔长森，译．哈尔滨：北方文艺出版社，1988.
10. 李婷英.《悲凉的母爱：lt;儿子与情人gt;和lt;孔雀东南飞gt;之比较》. 宿州教育学院学报，2009（5):63.
11. 师彦灵.《英美小说欣赏导论》. 北京：北京大学出版社, 2011.
12. 赵渭绒.《畸形母爱：生命中不能承受之重---lt;孔雀东南飞gt;与lt;儿子与情人gt;之比较》. 广西民族学院学报，2005（5):157.

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