Towards An Integral Self

D.H. Lawrence is one of the greatest novelists at the dawn of the 20th century in English literature. Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover remain Lawrence's most prominent works, which thread the writer's thought-adventure while he strives for a solution to the problem of the increasingly divided self in modern society. The development of the self of the male characters in these novels is noteworthy for in it Lawrence sheds his own evolving understanding of the fulfillment of human beings in relation to nature, to society and to themselves.In this thesis I examine the parallel between his evolving philosophy about the fulfillment of the self and his development in the treatment of the male characters in the novels. Although Lawrence's fiction has invited close scrutiny and abundant commentary from literary critics, and the writer's unique philosophy related to the living self has remained the spotlight of his prolific artistic achievements and hence a focus of appreciation and study, few have traced the developing self in Lawrence's male characters systematically. I believe those characters' development of the self---their struggle for rebirth or their fall into depravity---reflects Lawrence's progressive discovery of his creed of life, and hence a valuable focus in the study of the author. By tracking down the development of the self of those protagonists, we get a straightened record of the writer's pilgrimage towards the full recognition of integrated humanity.The thesis falls into five parts. The introduction clarifies the intention, arrangement of the thesis with a brief review of Lawrence's life and a general survey of his conception of an integral self. The second part is an analysis of the deficient self of Paul Morel, the protagonist in Lawrence's autobiographic novel Sons and Lovers. Fatally entangled in the oedipal affection for his mother, Paul was faced with recurrent failure in his efforts to establish wholesome relationships with women and eventually drifting to an"intrinsic death". With his creation of Paul, Lawrence achieved a painful catharsis for his own problematic self. The third part deals with Lawrence's synchronic study of the state of man's self in the spreading corruption of the modern age in Women in Love. The chapter contrasts the conflicting values of Gerald Crich and Rupert Birkin. While the former sought the death of the self through his active siding with the destructive forces of western industrial civilization, the latter attained the revival of the self by freeing himself from the flux of corruption. The fourth part examines the accomplished self of the ideal hero Oliver Mellors in Lady Chatterley's Lover. With his"tenderness"and life-giving force, Mellors stood as an incarnation of Lawrence's conception of a consummate self. The Conclusion offers a summary of Lawrence's developing treatment of the diverse characters and his general view of the completion of the self.