Lawrence’ s Sexual Love Outlook

Abstract：Sorokin said：in the past two centuries，especially in recent years，every aspect of western culture was corroded by sex and the flood of sex was spreading into the whole life of Americans.The whole American culture was sexualized（Zhao，1992：15）.Literary sexual description did not begin in this century but from the ancient time.In the ancient Greek，Homer wrote much about sex.However， it was in the early of last century that sexual description mass-entered into the literary field.One of those forerunners was D.H. Lawrence.Any one of his works was related to sex more or less and above eighty percent of them described sex directly.Thus，he and his works are very controversial in literary history.The short paper will analyze why Lawrence wrote so much about sex.In addition，it will go further to conclude Lawrence’s views on sexual love or the relation between women and men，and how they are reflected in his works.

Key words：D.H. Lawrence；sex

一、the reasons for Lawrence to be keen on sexual theme

His frank discussion of sex in his novel is the chief reason why he was accused of pornographic writing.In a certain sense， no one was more serious than him on the problem of sex among modern western writers.He resisted skittish sexual relationship，masturbation，divorce or marriage based on material benefits.He even opposed movies for he thought movies showed the mass sex plainly，which were disrespectful of sex.Thus， Lawrence was the most moral writer in some critics’ view. Bernard Shaw advocated that every young girl should read Lady Chatterley’s Lover before getting marriage certificate. Why was Lawrence keen on the theme of sex？

On one hand，he was an admirer of natural libido.He was very unsatisfied with European modern culture，which depressed human’s original libido and made hem insensitive，selfish，hypocritical and caused social decline.To avoid the eventual crisis of human beings’ extinction，the only way is smashing the trammels of civilization and arousing human nature to make human resume respective features and make the society full of vigor.To achieve the goal，the most effective method is sexual love because it connects nature and society and makes a man become a real man.

On the other hand，Lawrence underwent social dislocation from an early age，which made him sensitive to the deadness of bourgeois civilization，which caused the distortion of personality， the corruption of will，and the dominance of sterile intellect over the authentic inward passion of man.He believed the bourgeois industrial revolution，which made its realization at the cost of ravishing the land，started the catastrophic uprooting of man from nature.Those profit-seeking capitalists frenziedly worshipped the filthy materialism and made use of the mechanisms of matter to inflict their exploitative will on the workmen，the society and the earth.Under this mechanical control，human beings were turned into inanimate matter.The development of human civilization brings some convenience as well as restricts people’s freedom，so that they feel inhibited in public life.So they turn to private life，especially sexual love where people display various individualities and feel their own power and existence.The concept swept across the whole western society as the main trend of thought.Lawrence was one of the representatives of the trend in literature field，who took writing sexual love as the arm to fight against the reality and expressed a strong reaction against the mechanical civilization.

二、Lawrence’ s Views on Sexual Love Reflected in his Works

However，the main reason why Lawrence became a famous writer was not his enormous sexual description but that that his works reflected and explored some basic problems of human lives through depicting sexual love.Marx said：the direct，natural and inevitable relation among people was the relation between women and men（Zhao，1992：15）.

1.Sons and Lovers

The first one of Lawrence’s important novels is largely autobiographical.During composition，the author always devoted his real life experiences into works，including sexual experiences and awareness.As a result，the author finds a way to unbosom， make up and keep balance（Zhao，1992：189）.Lawrence was born at a mining village in Nottinghamshire.His father was a coal-miner with little education；but his mother，once a school teacher，was from a somewhat higher class，who came to think that she had married beneath her and desired to have her sons well educated so as to help them escape from the life of coal miners.The conflict between the earthy，coarse，energetic but oftendrunken father and the refined，strong-willed and up-climbing mother is vividly presented in Sons and Lovers. The story is set in a coal-mining district and based on the author’s early life.The hero，Paul Morel，resembles Lawrence in family situation.His father，Walter Morel is an easy-going，pleasure-seeking and irresponsible miner while his mother，Mrs. Gertrude Morel，is a refined and strong-willed woman from the middle class，who has no satisfaction in the roughness and illiteracy of her uneducated husband.They are so different in character and cannot understand each other.The lack of spiritual resonance hinders their feeling and marriage.Furthermore，Mrs. Morel has been trying to change her husband into a Mr.Right in her mind.Then the fight between them begins.Without wife’s love and son’s support，Mr.Morel has to give up his family position.Family life deprives him of his power and self-respect as a man.

Both sex and spirit are necessary elements of love.Thus， mentally isolated，Mrs.Morel pins her hopes and passions that have been pined on her husband on her son，Paul.She pays so much attention to spiritual love that she does not like any woman who attracts his son.But she does not realize that his son also needs a woman who can give him spiritual and sexual satisfaction.Gradually，her maternal love becomes abnormal and complex.Her all-possessive affection for her son becomes a hindrance to his independent development as a man.Lawrence opposed such feeling.He thought the phenomenon went against the traditional ethics.In the end，Mrs.Morel dies of cancer.Paul intends to seek for a more valid mode of life.

2.The Rainbow

The Rainbow tells about three generations of the Brangwans，especially about the relations between men and women in marriage.Tom Brangwan marries Lydia Lensky，a Polish doctor’s widow and an exile in England，who has a small daughter，Anna. They have a deep and loving understanding of each other in spite of the utter foreignness between them.Their relationship is presented as the model one in the novel for their marriage is happy in the main.

When Anna grows up，she falls in love with their stepfather’s nephew，Will，a lace-designer and a wood-craver with a strong artistic imagination.But this marriage is much less happy. Mrs.Morel’s tragedy happens on them，too.They have physical passion for each other；but，in Lawrence’s words，“their souls remain separate.”The two have a strong desire to control each other.Then，they lost their own individualities and natural life force.Such a marriage will not last long because sexual attraction will die away sooner or later.So their union degenerates into that of bedfellows at night instead of intimate companions in daylight.Their relationship is fraught with conflicts，and their marriage fails to achieve the final fulfillment of the older generation.In this story，Lawrence gives us a negative example， through which we know wife and husband need to respect and appreciate each other（Zhang，2002：183）.

Ursula，the eldest daughter，grows up to be a modern woman，who wants to affirm her independence.That foreshows she will get a perfect love.Although her love affair with Anton Skrebensky ends in frustration，she does not give up her hope. After a serious illness，she sits by her window，watching a rainbow，which is a symbol of the rounded perfection of relationship between men and women.

3.Women in Love

As a sequel to the Rainbow，it continues the story of the two sisters，Ursula and Gudrun.Ursula and Birkin，a young coalmine owner，fall in love with each other，and have reached a fruitful relationship by maintaining their integrity and independence as individuals and decide to get married in the end after some conflict.Gudrun is attracted by Gerald’s physical energy， who is a school inspector.But the passionate love between them experiences a process of tension and deterioration.As both of them have let their “will-power” and “ideals” interfere with their relations，their love turns out to be a disastrous tragedy. Gerald，an efficient but ruthless coalmine owner，who makes the machine his god and establishes the inhuman mechanical system in his mining kingdom，is a symbolic figure of spiritual death， representing the whole set of bourgeois ethics.Birkin，who fights against the camping pressures of mechanical industrialism and the domination of any kind of dead formulas，is presented as a symbolic figure of human warmth，standing for the spontaneous life force.And he appears to be the novelist’s spokesman，expressing his ideal of love and marriage as a pure balance of two single beings.

4.Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the last and the most controversial novel by Lawrence.It tells mainly about Lady Chatterley’s love affairs with her husband’s gamekeeper.Sir Clifford Chatterley，an aristocratic industrialist owning coalpits and a large family estate，is paralyzed from the waist down by a war wound，and so is estranged from his wife Constance.Then she is drawn into association with Oliver Mellors，her husband’s gamekeeper，and their contact develops into love.Though Sir Clifford Chatterley has agreed to his wife having a child by another man，he refuses to divorce her because he thinks that the gamekeeper is socially inferior for her to marry.Constance and Mellors decide to go away together.The author’s bold description of the relations of the two lovers was meant to be an indictment of the hypocrisies of the upper class.The Western society and modern industrial civilization，in his opinion，have degraded the relationship between men and women.The paralysis of Sir Clifford Chatterley is a symbol of the moribund power that has ruled the country and defiled the landscape，whereas his gamekeeper，Mellors，seems to incorporate all the qualities the author admires——robust independence，creative intelligence， and the ability for growth and change.When Constance abandons her husband to marry this man，she asserts the worth of all these qualities.

三、Conclusion

Discussing and handling the relationship between women and men is the center of Lawrence’s works.

Firstly，the ideal state of body and mind in one is Lawrence’s basic principle.To him，sex is the noblest instinct and profound vitality of human.Women and men cannot get perfect love without sexual love.Therefore，he was against love and marriage without contact of body.But on the other side，he thought the relationship between the two sexes was not for sexual desire，but for harmony between the two.The ideal relation must be formed by the integration of body and spirit.It is wrong to pay more attention to either side.

Secondly，his principle of body and mind in one is only suitable for those women and men who can have sexual relation.If they are not allowed to do so by morality or ethics， Lawrence suggested feeling and sexual desire should be eparated.On this point，he was traditional.He admitted affectionate feeling exists among relatives.But sex should not be mixed into it.

Thirdly，women and men are equal in love.In other words， they should maintain respective individual independence and understand each other.

Lawrence was not such a writer who writes about sex only for sex.He disdained and did not want to attract the readers by plain sexual depiction.On the contrary，sex was something holy，the power of life and the key to renewing life and spirit. Thus，he portrayed sex in his literary composition for a serious purpose.He advocated the principle of saving the decaying civilization through a rearrangement of personal relationship，especially a rearrangement of the relationship between men and women.

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作者簡介：謝奇苑（1983-），女，貴州水城人，六盤水師范學院外語系講師，碩士，研究方向：英語語言文學和英語教學；胡偉（1986-），男，山西靈石人，六盤水師范學院外語系助教，碩士，研究方向：翻譯理論和英語語言文學；游子（1985-），女，重慶人，六盤水師范學院外語系助教，碩士，研究方向：比較文學與世界文學。