Ego Triumphs

As one of the most controversial writers in the history of the twentieth century English literature, D. H. Lawrence had lived a hard life during which his works were misunderstood and blamed. He has been both praised as an isolated genius and vilified as a pornographer obsessed with sexual descriptions. With the development of human society and the progress of the time, Lawrence’s outstanding talent and fer-sightedness stand the trial of history and his works demonstrate enduring charm. His last novelLady Chatterley’s Lover is an embodiment of his later more mature writing idea and technique. Despite the ever controversies over some of the pornographic depictions in this novel, critics and readers have gradually realized the greatness of this work and devoted their efforts to exploring the rich creation thoughts and unique insights contained in it.With the approach of Freudian Psychoanalysis and a text-based analysis, this thesis studies the female protagonist Connie’s personality development. It is further pointed out that this character finally obtains a strong ego and makes a life choice in accordance with the "Reality Principle", after going through the first two phases dominated respectively by superego and id. She is in fact different from the previously defined female image in some criticism that completely abandons the restraints of morality and yields to sensual pleasure. Her struggle and compromise among the three conflicting forces of superego, ego and id truthfully reflect the life circumstance and spiritual journey experienced by most people in the real world. With such a perspective, Lady Chatterley’s Lover unfolds a realistic significance abreast with the time and a reflection of humanistic values.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one firstly gives a brief introduction to D. H. Lawrence and his Lady Chatterley’s Lover, then moves to a literature review of this novel at home and abroad, and ends up with an illustration of the thesis’research question, significance and organization as well as the basic views of Freudian Psychoanalysis. The second, third and fourth chapters respectively unfold detailed analyses about the three phases of Connie’s personality development, from superego dominance and id dominance to the final stage of ego dominance. The three chapters also pick up some important characters that have correspondingly exerted much influence on Connie’s personality development in the three phases to explain the feature of each stage, including Connie’s husband Clifford, her lover Mellors, her sister Hilda and her father Sir Malcolm. How the three forces of Connie’s personality—superego, ego and id—change and conflict and interact with one another in each phase is also demonstrated in the three chapters. The conclusion sums up all the analyses above and reemphasized the enlightenment and inspiration for better interpreting Connie’s personality development when Freudian Psychoanalysis is introduced in, which endows this novel a realistic significance and universal values.