Sex, sacrifice, and civilization: A Girardian analysis of the works of D. H. Lawrence (Rene Girard)

This study examines the fiction of D. H. Lawrence from The White Peacock to The Escaped Cock. It explores the trope of sacrifice that Lawrence employs both literally and metaphorically in his work, particularly in cases where the crisis of sexuality doubles as the crisis of modern civilization. This trope alters the tripartite concept of Lawrence's career that has held sway in Lawrence scholarship for the last fifty years. It suggests that the Southwest works rather than the "leadership tales" constitute his middle period and are at the heart of his vision. The trope also greatly illuminates Lawrence's feelings towards women and their place in culture.; I argue that Lawrence's concern with the idea of sacrifice is related to his desire for cultural regeneration, and that he envisions women at the nexus of culture formation. This interpretation emerges from an application of the ideas of Rene Girard, who finds evidence in cultural myths, ethnography and literature to argue that ritual murder is at the foundation of cultural order and civilization. Girard's theories about the mimetic dimension of cultural crisis, the differing categories of sacrificial victim, and the connections between sacrifice, prestige and potential political power are particularly applicable to Lawrence's work.; Chapter One provides an overview of Girard's theories and explains their usefulness in analyzing Lawrence's works. It explicates The White Peacock, which contains references to Bacchantes, repressed sexuality, the decline of Western culture, and victimage, all of which Lawrence explores in his subsequent works.{09}Chapter Two shows how Lawrence connects the trope of sacrifice with female characters. Sacrifice is enacted negatively in the earlier works of this period, but over time sacrificial female characters are invested with positive connotations. Chapter Three includes analyses of Lawrence's most controversial texts. In these works sacrifice is enacted literally, but always as part of his attempt to regenerate the representative "modern woman" he had impugned in earlier texts and to envision her as central to cultural renewal. In Chapter Four, sacrifice again becomes figurative. Sacrifice is enacted on a smaller scale as part of sexual relations between individuals, but still with cultural implications.