Differentiation And Representation Of Sexuality In The Three Versions Of Ladychatterley's Lover

D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and also one of the most famous ones during his life time and after his death. He was a prolific writer and left behind him an amazing body of works: novels, stories, letters, essays, criticism, poems, plays, travel books, translations, and even paintings. He was a man of writing, though enjoyed only a short life. His main achievements are in his novels and short stories (including some novellas). Lawrence altogether wrote 12 novels. For a writer who lived only 44 years of life, such an amount of output of novels and other genres of literary works can be claimed to be huge success and great achievements. Even greater is that most of his novels were superbly created and have already become modern classics. Lawrence's best known novel is definitely his last novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, and this is also his most problematic and most debatable novel. Almost all the people know this famous and infamous novel, whether they have read it or not, they seem to know about this novel, it's about sex, or very sexy.Lady Chatterley's Lover is Lawrence's last novel. It is also one of his best novels, only considered second to The Rainbow and Women in Love. The two major themes of Lady Chatterley's Lover are the relation of men and women, and the relation of men and machines, and the former is the more important one, it's also the focus of this dissertation. Despite its reputation as a notable book of sexuality, it is essentially a philosophical novel, and contains his profound ideas of sex, marriage and society, all very fresh and insightful and different from the fashionable, and trending thoughts or isms of any time or place. He wrote the novel three times and each time is a complete and different version.The dissertation aims to study the three versions of Lady Chatterley's Lover. The focus is on the differentiation and representation of sexuality in the texts and their significant meanings. Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion, the dissertation is divided into four chapters. The introduction offers a general view of Lawrence's status in modern literature, and his achievements in novels. The controversy of Lady Chatterley's Lover is mentioned and the argument of this dissertation is also stated. The focus is on the different representations of sexuality in the three versions and their significance. One point should be particularly put forward is Lawrence himself was both a creative writer and a famous literary critic. He is especially rich in views of sex, love and marriage. His criticism is appropriately considered in the dissertation where necessary, because his relevant criticism and the novel often deal with the same theme and subject. But in Chapter Four I apply queer theories in analyzing the novel, for in my opinion in essence Lady Chatterley's Lover is a queer text, this is totally different from other critics at home and abroad.Chapter One deals with the first version, The First Lady Chatterley, first published in 1944 in the United States. The first version is a realistic novel, the representation of sexuality is mainly suggestive and vague in this version because of the limitation of realism. The theme is about the love between Lady Chatterley, the upper class member and Sir Clifford's gamekeeper Oliver Parkin. The development of their love from different classes is possible and convincing is mainly for the apparent reason that Clifford is impotent after the war and causes Connie unhappy marriage life, and Parkin also suffers a broken marriage and is isolated from other mine workers and lives as a lonely gamekeeper. Both Connie and Parkin are lonely persons, what draws them together is naturally nothing else but sex, and their love is natural. Lawrence in this version gives them enjoyable, pleasurable and healthy sexual love. Their sexual love has nothing to do with conquering the opposite sex, without evil intentions and destructive forces, only for mutual comforting and warming up each other and without much interruption from the outside world, and lovely and harmoniously connected with nature. The scenes they make love are either in Parkin's hut or in the woods, far from the interference of society. But the Connie-Parkin love is also limited by realism. Their heated love will certainly cool down and Connie and Parkin will not have a promising, bright future. Constance painfully realizes the inevitable discomforts she would bear on marrying Parkin; Parkin also distrusts Connie as a member from the enemy's camp, for he himself is a communist league. Both Connie and Parkin suffer from the psychological feeling of immorality of social consciousness. So that Lawrence's views and opinions about the importance of sexual love cannot be fully expressed.Chapter Two is concerned with the second version, John Thomas and Lady Jane. This version was greatly lengthened, more than doubling the first version, and it was first published in 1972 in England. In writing the second version, Lawrence used the naturalistic method, thus more characters are introduced and more incidents are put in the story and the main characters are more fully developed as round characters. The tensions between Constance and Parkin are much eased and they are more closely connected than in the first version, the plot is also more richly constructed. There are more and detailed sexual descriptions in this version and the lovers even frankly discuss their love making and sexual enjoyments. Their emotions are more strongly related, they also expect to live together forever, though not without difficulties, at least more hopeful than in the previous version. Because of the naturalistic method of rewriting, the two lovers are less concerned with social consciousness and they care more of their own things and love enjoyment. Naturalism pays more attention to natural details without much consideration of the things moral or immoral, good or evil. The representation of sexuality is more open, the language used is more frank and Lawrence's sexual theme is more fully expressed. The reception of the second version is as successful as the first version, and both of them are excellent novels.Chapter Three focuses on the third version, Lady Chatterley's Lover, first privately published in Florence, Italy in 1928. The third version is what Lawrence hopes it to be. It is the direct and explicit description of phallic love. Parkin's name was changed into Mellors in the hope that readers should not think they are the same persons. Mellors'social status was heightened to be more suitable for Connie's lover and future husband. The sexual explicitness is even greater than in the second and the free admission of four-letter words and the frank discussion of sexual intercourse are the apparent features. Many of Lawrence's sexual ideas are also directly expressed just as in his essays. This has rarely been done before him in literary history. This is also Lawrence's positive attitude towards true love between man and woman despite the false social consciousness. The so-called class differences and social distinctions are all man-made and artificial, not natural, and they are the products of social consciousness. These are what Lawrence was strongly against all his life. Lawrence's essays of love, sex, and marriage are also dealt with, for they are rich resourses and closely related with the third version of the novel. Pornography and Obscenity and"A Propos of Lady Chatterley's Lover"are just for defending his Lady Chatterley's Lover and express the same theme as the novel does. Lawrence hopes to save and regenerate England and English people through his novels and theories of phallic love and blood-consciousness. He will probably be disappointed. But his Lady Chatterley's Lover and related theories are still worth our paying attention to and studying.Chapter Four uses queer theories to analyze three main cases in the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. All of them are abnormal love affairs and relations. The first is the love affairs between Constance Chatterley and Oliver Mellors, one is aristocrat lady, the other is a gamekeeper, an ordinary worker. The second is the abnormal sexual behaviour between Connie and Mellors in Chapter 16 of the novel, that is sodomite which often happens among male homosexuals. The third is the Oedipus complex between Sir Clifford, the aristocrat and master and her servant nurse Mrs. Bolton. These and other minor abnormal sexual affairs and relations prove that the novel is definitely a queer text that challenges the social normality.The conclusion is the brief summary of the different representations of sexuality and their significance in the three versions. The artistic value and the purpose of the novel are also surveyed. The novel's limitation is also pointed out and particularly since it is a queer text its significance should be discussed separately for its artistic value and its social influence. Only this can we fully understand Lawrence's contribution to modern literature and its limitation will cause the least side effects to our society.