A Union Between Soul And Body

D.H. Lawrence was one of the most original and controversial writers of the early 20"^ Century, surpassed only by James Joyce in the amount of opposition, which was aroused by his works. Lawrence's purpose was to reveal the deepest instincts of human nature through his novels, and in doing so he presented a bitter criticism of modern industrial society.This thesis is to comment the main characters and the relationship between men and women in The Rainbow.Beside the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis mainly consists of 7 parts. The first part presents the traditional relation between men and women represented by Alfred, the surety. They plunge themselves totally into the land, the body, believing in the blood- intimacy. The relation is nearly perfect and very stable. They have suretv because they still feel connected to the land and to each other, and they feel the influence of religion.The "'invisible connection'' perfectly describes the relation between man and woman represented by Tom Branwen. Tom has the surety, and is brimming with life although he has to struggle to establish a relationship with a woman and to express the life that is within him. Influenced by his contemporaries, the beginning of the industrialization, he cannot accept that an invisible connection with another person is either possible or valuable, so he must learn from his experience with Lydia. There is a gap in soul between them, that is. they cannot understand each other spiritually. Lydia. the foreign woman, has things quite different from his. Their bodies can combine but their souls cannot. And later, they have to compromise by way of body combination."War and Peace" better express the relation between Anna and Will. This generation does not have either Lydia's or Tom's surety and thus they don't learn of the possibility of satisfaction in marriage. They want their own kind of surety, the inner surety. Lack of stability or surety, they could not have invisible connexion with each other. They try to get away from the world as if the two of them were buried like a seed in darkness. They feel insecure and confident, but very convention. They experience sexual intercourse as something that provides intense pleasure. Despite their success and outward serenity, they are not serene within themselves. They are irritable and insecure and so hostile that they even want to kill each other. Later. Will gives in, and then, Anna gives in too. Husband continues to be the breadwinner, and wife becomes a baby-bearing machine giving births of nine children.Ursula, a representative of the other generation, has not the surety at the edge of darkness. Deprived of other traditional sources of meaning and value, specifically, love and family. She experiments with love and finds that it gives pleasure. But modern love is too personal so it does not lead to anywhere. Realizing that love results in disillusionment. Ursula is forced to admit that she does not care about or value love. So she is irresponsible and cannot be because time is flying and things are change so fast. But Ursula keeps probing the ways out while she tries every way to search for a new life that belongs to her. She not only wants to find a harmonious union between body and soul. Se cannot imitate her parents and her grand-parents, for the world has changed so much, she cannot learn from her grandparents. She must discard the past, and search for new life.