An Interpretation Of Lady Chatterley’s Lover By Bakhtin’s Carnival Theory

David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930), a summit and a miracle in English literature of the20th century, is one of the most influential and disputed writers in the English literature and in the world literature as well. His last work, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, has been translated into several languages and for all the years since its publication remained the focus of dispute.Criticisms about D.H. Lawrence and his works abound in number and in intensity, but most of them work from perspectives of sexuality, unification of human and nature, integration of spiritual and flesh, relations of men and women, the balance of nature that appeared lately. This thesis attempts to apply Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnival theory to a study of the main carnivalized features shown in Lady Chatterley s Lover; analyzing carnival spirit in the profound novel implication. It presents Lawrence’s positive attitude toward the future harmonious state of the female and the male, and toward the balanced life of human being.This thesis consists of six parts.Chapter One consists of three sections. Section one is a brief overview of D.H. Lawrence and his most controversial novel Lady Chatterle’s Lover, a brief summary of the plot. Section two is the situation of studying at home and abroad and the objectives and approaches of this thesis. Section three is a concise introduction to Bakhtin’s theory of carnivalization. It defines the three key terms:carnival, carnival sense of the world and carnivalization. And it gives a detailed presentation of the main carnivalized features and elements. The last part is about the current research of the theory.Chapter Two, Chapter Three and Chapter Four are the main part of this thesis.Chapter Two stresses on the analysis of carnival elements:carnival duality of crowning and decrowning and of hierarchical order in Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Through the analysis of these elements, the appropriate carnivalized features can be well concluded, which are instrumental in catching the theme and main spirit of the novel.Chapter Three identifies and analyzes the carnival language used in Lady Chatterle’s Lover. This chapter consists of five sections. Section one is the use of obscene words. Section two is the parody. Section three is the abuse words which creates the free and cheerful language atmosphere. In section four, he applies dialect, repetition and the new compound words to pursue freedom in language. In section five, Lawrence takes intimate contact of language and physical organs.Chapter Four intend to analyze carnival time and space in the novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Bakhtin points out that the "space-time genre" has major significance in literature genre.In Conclusion is a typical carnivalized literature pregnant with carnivalistic duality. Lawrence not only encourages women to pursuit natural and instinctive sex boldly and to change their attitudes towards it, but also he emphasizes that the sex he implys must be healthy and positive, and sex should not be abused. Lawrence’s positive views of sex, marriage and family are also of great sigficance to our modern people in China.