摘 要

作为英国２０世纪文学士上一名极具争议的文学大家，Ｄ·Ｈ劳伦斯的文学作品以及个人生涯已然引发了不少学者的研究与讨论。其中，着于１９１３年的长篇小说《儿子与情人》通常被评价为劳伦斯最具代表性的作品之一。与劳伦斯其他作品一样，该小说同样针对母子关系的发展展开了故事。目前针对劳伦斯文学作品的研究多集中于作品中所表现的俄狄浦斯情节，而少有研究将目光放在作者隐藏在恋母情结后的对母亲形象的厌恶感上。本文将以分析莫雷尔太太角色形象为主要方式，深入探讨文中所表现出的对其爱恨交织的矛盾心理。文中的母亲莫雷尔太太几乎将自己的一生都奉献给了儿子的成长教育，但正由于她这种沉重的母爱，才导致了儿子保罗在人生中所不得不经历悲剧的个人感情生活及其所带给他的精神痛苦。

关键词：Ｄ·Ｈ·劳伦斯；儿子与情人；莫雷尔太太；保罗·莫雷尔；恋母情结与厌母情节；

Abstract

As a prolific and controversial literary master in the 20th century English literature, D·H·Lawrence’s not only literary works but personal lives has been studied a lot. Sons and Lovers, written in 1913, is generally regarded as one of Lawrence's most representative works. The same as the other works of Lawrence, this novel revolves around the development of the relationship between the mother and the sons. So far researches based on Lawrence mostly focus on the Oedipus Complex shown in his literary works, and few notice the hatred for the mother hidden behind the Oedipus Complex. This paper will deeply discuss the ambivalence of love and hatred to the mother by analyzing the character Mrs. Morel, who has dedicated almost all of her life to the upbringing of her sons. However, it is the burdensome mother love that causes her son Paul’s tragic experience and psychic pain in his personal love life.

Key Words: D·H·Lawrence; Sons and Lovers; Mrs. More; Paul Morel; The ambivalence to the mother

Contents

1 Introduction 6

2 Character analysis: Mrs. Morel and Paul Morel 7

2.1Mrs. Morel 7

2.2 Paul Morel 10

3 The relationship between the mother and the son 12

3.1 The son to the mother 12

3.2 The mother to the son 13

Conclusions 17

References 18

Acknowledgements 19

A Probe Study of D·H·Lawrence’s Ambivalence to the Mother in Sons and Lovers

1 Introduction

As a prolific and controversial literary master in the 20th century English literature, D·H·Lawrence has been studied a lot. He preferred writing about gender relations, and he created two doctrines for this topic. One is women’s self-dependence and the other is the liberation of women’s sexual desire. He is well-known for his novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover. Sons and Lovers was written in 1913 and it is regarded as a masterpiece and Lawrence's finest achievement by many critics. It is believed that this novel best shows Lawrence’s language features and writing styles. Therefore, studying Sons and Lovers may better enable the readers to deepen the knowledge and understanding about D·H·Lawrence.

Sons and Lovers, published in 1913, tells the story of Paul Morel, a young man and budding artist. Some critics regard it as a semi-autobiography of Lawrence. In 1919, Sons and Lovers was ranked ninth in the list of the 100 best novels of the 20^th century by the Modern Library. Some people treat Sons and Lovers as a “guide book” for women because of Lawrence’s excellent descriptions of women’s living states and mental activities. Apart from the gender relations, Sons and Lovers presents another relations for the reader: the relation between the mother and the son.

The first part of Sons and Lovers does not point straightly at the protagonist Paul. It describes his parents’ lives before the birth of Paul mostly from the mother’s viewpoint. On account of the troubled marriage, Mrs. Morel cannot get the deserved warmth and comfort from his husband, so the mother takes comfort in her children. She dedicates herself to the upbringings of her children, especially her sons. Her eldest son William’s death pushes the story to the second part. Morel starts to transfer all her love to the second son Paul. Such heavy love influences the son so much that he is not able to create and enjoy love relationships when he grows up. The two relationships Paul experiences are both ended with failure. At the end, Paul kills his very ill mother.

Current relevant researches mostly concentrate on the Oedipus Complex in Lawrence’s works while few researches notice the hatred for mothers. Writter Mingjing C and Zhuo Y said:

Through various relations in this novel, we can see that Paul devotes his love to his mother without reservation, and the love for his mother has become the meaning of his life. (Mingjing C amp; Zhuo Y,2009)

Some researchers have noticed the son’s negative feelings. They think that the ambivalence towards the mother is the product of her selfless contribution and inordinate interference.

This paper aims to focus on the ambivalence to the mother in Sons and Lovers, and both the love and hatred will be discussed in order to help readers better understand this work. The manifestation of the ambivalence and the reasons behind the phenomenon will be the focus of this paper. Features of the mother character, her personal experiences and social conditions at that time will be further illustrated by examples from the novel. To analyze the relations between mother and son, the influence of the social environment and historical background will also be discussed and so will the influence of families and individuals.

2 Character analysis: Mrs. Morel and Paul Morel

2.1 Mrs. Morel

Zhang Kun from College from Foreign Language, Qufu Normal University writes a paper concentrating on three main female characters in Sons and Lovers. The writer analyses their double tragedies from the view of their double identities:

One reason for their tragedy is the patriarchal repression, and the second reason is women’s own limitations. (Zhang Kun,2010)

The story was set in the late 19^th century in England, which is known as Victorian era now. This period is considered as the peak of the English Industrial Revolution, when the industry was experiencing a rapid development, and so was the economy. However, the class difference became a problem then.

A close examination of the conflicts between the couple is of great significance to understand how the different ideological interpellations derived from two different classes correspond to underlying conflicts in the outlook and aspiration of the couple.(Yingnan Zhang,2017)

Mrs. Morel and Morel are from different classes. As a middle-class Puritan, Mrs. Morel has suffered a lot from thoughts imprisonment of religions and classes. Thus, she is easy to be fascinated by Morel, who comes from the bottom of the social classes. As a miner, he almost has nothing to lose except his life. However, she regards this kind of attitude as being noble. The differences of their growing environment disable her to truly understand Morel’s life, which leads to a romantic misunderstanding. Meanwhile, it also lies the seed of misfortune for their marriages.

Both of them are living in a patriarchal society. Before the marriage, Mrs. Morel depends on her father. No matter how she hates the way her father treats her mother, she could do nothing to fight against his authority. After marrying Morel, she suffers from poverty, dishonesty and even violence from her husband, and she does not even have the choice to leave him. In a patriarchal society, it is hard for women to be financially independent from men. Furthermore, women are influenced by patriarchy in spiritual field as well. They seem to accept the idea that women are just appendages to men. Thus, when Morel destroys her hope for life and love, she turns to the other men in her family: her sons. Ultimately, she is a victim of the patriarchal society.

Besides the historical background and the social environment, Mrs. Morel has also been influenced by her families. She comes from a good old burgher family. Her father, George Coppard, is an engineer, who is proud of his fair skin, blue eyes and his integrity. However, Mrs. Morel hates her father’s overbearing manner towards her gentle, humorous, kindly-souled mother, and his cruel attitude influences her standard of spouse selection unconsciously. Thus, it is not hard to explain why would Mrs. Morel choose to marry her husband, becuase he is quite different from her father whom she hates to be with.

She meets her husband in a Christmas party. He looks well set-up, erect, and very smart. Mrs. Morel, who was called Gertude Coppard at that time, is totally attracted by Morel. He is different from the people she used to be with. Mrs. Morel is a listener while Morel is good at talking. His miner life is unknown for her. In her eyes, his work is more like a brave and happy adventure.