On D.H.Lawrence's Sexual Theory And Gender Antagonism In His Representative Novels

D. H. Lawrence is a prolific writer of poetries, novels, plays, essays, andcriticisms. He is well-known for his deep research on man-and-woman relationship.Many critics, experts and scholars have been unceasingly probing Lawrence's viewson sexual relationship. Some of them criticize Lawrence for his man-dominantthoughts and misogyny towards woman. On the other hand, some others hold theidea that Lawrence shows great enthusiasm for the feminist movement and writes forthe favor of feminists. They criticize Lawrence for his consciousness of femalesuperiority and for the weak and passive images of men in his works. More often,they like to select his literary works at one particular time and conclude hisconsciousness of male-dominance or female-dominance. However, if we takeLawrence's views on man-and-woman relationship as a whole and study theevolutionary changes of his views, we would find it will be one-sided to take hisworks at one particular time to make a conclusion about his sexual preference.Lawrence's views on the relationship between man and woman in his literaryworks are not static. In different phases it has different characteristics. Before theWorld War I, greatly influenced by his family background and his own experiences,he shows a favor for female. In the early stage of the War, Lawrence continues toshow his preference over female in some degree, yet the difference from the firstperiod lies in that he is deeply searching for a balanced relationship between maleand female. To Lawrence, only under the balance of the role of male and female canthe society develop in a natural and harmonious way. During the early stage after theWar, it can be detected that Lawrence's thought of male supremacy is exposed. Hebegins to advocate the recovery of man's "blood consciousness", emphasizing therole of male. In Lawrence's late years, he eventually matures and stabilizes hisSexual Theory. He is successful in achieving a real "balanced relationship" betweenman and woman, showing no preference over either of the genders in his actualliterary works. My paper deals with such sexual preferences and inclination in hisrepresentative novels during different stages, evident in the characteristics of genderconflict and antagonism. Furthermore, it tries to prove that the dispelling of genderantagonism and the shaping of character dualism help to contribute to the eventualmaturity and stability of Lawrence's thoughts on sexual relationship in the literaryworks.This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter One introduces the generalinformation about Lawrence himself and his works, leading to the topic that one ofthe most important themes in his novels is man-and-woman relationship. He wantsto establish a balanced relationship between man and woman in order to make thesociety develop in a natural and harmonious way. Nevertheless, his sexualpreference is exposed in his balanced-theory. This chapter concludes that it would beone-sided if we take his views on this relationship at one particular time. ChapterTwo discusses Lawrence's Sexual Theory, involving the context of the theory, themain features and characteristics of the theory, and the diffusion and radical changesof the theory. Chapter Three is divided into three parts based on the three differentstages: pre-war period, the early stage of the War and the early stage after the War.All these three parts are to discuss the characteristics of Lawrence's Sexual Theoryand his thoughts on man-and-woman relationship. In each part, the author of thispaper analyzes the conflict and antagonism between genders in his representativenovel, for the purpose of displaying and proving the characteristics and sexualpreference. Three representative novels are involved with each one in each stage.They are Sons and Lover, The Rainbow and Women in Love in chronological order.Chapter Four is to analyze the perfect combination of body and soul as well as thedispelling of gender conflict and antagonism in his last representative novel onsexual relationship—Lady Chatterley's Lover. It aims to indicate that by the shapingof character dualism and the perfect combination of body and soul, Lawrence issuccessful in stabilizing and maturing his Sexual Theory in his'late years. ChapterFive is conclusion. It is to conclude the general process of Lawrence's achieving the real balanced relationship between man and woman, arousing further research on thetheme of man and woman.