On The Spiritual Love In Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the last as well as the most controversial novel of David Herbert Lawrence(1885-1930),one of the greatest figures in English literature in the 20th century.Since its private publication at Lawrence’s own expense,it really gave a stir.It not only went through the famous "Lady Chatterley" trial in 1960,which attempted to ban it on the ground of obscenity due to its sexual explicitness and four-letter words,but also aroused a heated discussion in the critic circle almost covering every aspect,such as sex,feminism,psychology,and so on.However,the aspect of the spiritual love is seemingly somewhat neglected or is not given due attention to by most researchers.So this thesis will conduct a research on this aspect.Lawrence believes that there exist two different kinds of spiritual love,which determine the relationship between lovers.Conducting a research on the spiritual love between Connie and her German lover,Connie and Clifford as well as Connie and Mellors in Lady Chatterley’s Lover in the first chapter,this thesis finds that it is these two different kinds of spiritual love that result in failure and success of the relationship between these lovers in this novel.Not only does Lawrence distinguish two kinds of spiritual love,but he also attaches great importance to the mutuality of the spiritual love between lovers.Exploring the relations between Mellors and his previous lovers,Connie and Michaelis as well as Mrs.Bolton and Ted Bolton in Lady Chatterley’s Lover in the second chapter,this thesis finds that a mutual spiritual love plays a vital role in establishing an ideal relation between lovers in this novel while without it,the relation between lovers will finally fail.Apart from the spiritual love,Lawrence also attaches great value to the self-fulfillment.He believes that the self-fulfillment is the greatest pleasure as wellas the purpose of life.Conducting a research on Mellors and Connie in Lady Chatterley ’s Lover in the third chapter,this thesis finds that the selfless spiritual love between Mellors and Connie actually serves as the means of their self-fulfillment in this novel.Considering himself as a love prophet,Lawrence commits his whole life to exploring the spiritual love in his various kinds of writing,especially in his last important novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover.His groundbreaking opinions of the spiritual love are still of great value for us today and later generations in the future.