A Study Of Sons And Lovers From The Perspective Of Biblical Archetype

David Herbert Lawrence is considered to be one of the most controversial and influential writers in the twentieth-century. The experience in modern industrialization makes Lawrence know better of its ruin and suppression on human nature and that is why he makes a great effort to be the"priest of humanity". His much-loved third novel Sons and Lovers, as well as a vital work in his first writing period, is a semi-biography of himself which reflects Lawrence life attitude and through which different kinds of biblical archetypes can be found. Lawrence likes to express himself by various images, symbols and literary allusions in the Bible, and most of them come from the nature. The power of the nature is overwhelming and unconquerable to Lawrence. The discussion of biblical archetypes in Sons and Lovers, which is based upon the prototypal theories dated back to William Blake, James George Frazer and Carl Gustav Jung, and especially Northrop Frye, aims to reflect Lawrence's inner world and his world outlook, view of society, religious position and family attitude. Since Nietzsche announces the death of the God in the nineteenth century, people have lost feelings of holiness in spiritual life. The prosperous material physical life and the bareness and hollowness of human mind which the industrialization brings to people sharply contrast with each other. Therefore, people try to turn back to the originality and the nature in spirit, and that is the ideal Garden of Eden. The myth and the biblical archetypes are chosen as a tool of communication and answer to people's heart pursuing. The reader can feel this pursuit of Lawrence through this archetypal study of Lawrence Sons and Lovers. The key effort of this research is directed to imagery archetypes namely apocalyptical and demonic imagery and the narrative archetypes like the U-shaped pattern of Paul's life which resembles the life of Job in the Bible. Life and death are the main theme through the entire novel, symbolizing light and darkness; and the relation between Lawrence belief and archetype. It is easily for the reader to understand Lawrence belief, his passion to life, the aim of salvation to human by analyzing archetypes from the Bible.