Sons and lovers is the most autobiographical of all Lawrence's works as the author himself had a similar relationship with his own mother. It tells the story of Mrs. Morel. Mrs. Morel is a refined and strong-willed woman from the middle class, who can have no satisfaction in the roughness and illiteracy of her uneducated husband. So she focuses her hopes on her children. After the death of her elder son, she turns to Paul, her younger son, all her hopes and passions. But her affection for her son becomes a hindrance to his independent development as a man. She opposes his love for Miriam, his girlfriend is a famer’s daughter, who is "romantic in her soul... and inclined to be mystical." Meanwhile, Paul, feeling Miriam's love egocentric and intolerable, turns from her to Clara, a woman estranged from her husband and potentially sensual. But finding her passion stifling, he also leaves her. In the end, Mrs. Morel dies of cancer. Paul, casting off three forms of unreal love, stands free and intends to seek for a more valid mode of his life.
The use of this oedipal theme is one of a number of Freudian concepts he used throughout his books. Like many of his works, Sons and Lovers was criticized when first published for obscenity and one publisher called it “the dirtiest book he had ever read”. But compared to his later works, it is quite constrained. In recent years, as Lawrence's literary achievement is being concerned more and more hotly, his works are increasingly popular. As Lawrence's first major work, Sons and Lovers is now considered as one of the revolutionary novels of the 20th century for its subject matter. Psychologically, the novel is regarded by some critics as a case study of the Oedipus Complex.
This paper mainly analyzes the heroine of Lawrence's work Sons and Lovers, Mrs. Morel. The chief purpose of this paper is to investigate the unpleasant fate of Mrs. Morel, a good upbringing, strong-willed woman who lived in the industrialized England in the 19th century and married an unsuccessful husband. There's no doubt that her fate is a tragedy, because her abnormal love toward Paul and Paul's Oedipus complex finally led to her death. It is true that her tragedy was influenced by the industrial society which takes status as a way to weigh a person. But Last but not least is the marriage that takes the major role in Mrs. Morel’s fate.
The novel is a very important master in the English literature history. Mrs. Morel is a character who attracts great attention by different critics and scholars. Thus, this paper intend to study her fate and examines the reasons for her tragedy fate. the paper is pided into four parts ,the first chapter briefly introduced the writer and work .the second chapter put Mrs.Morel fate as the focus of the paper ,the third chapter analyzed resulting internally and externally the tragedy .it mainly analyzes her complex emotions to her husband and children ,and summarizes Mrs. Morel’s personal tragedy .the fourth chapter is the conclusion of this paper ,points out that it is closely related to the social environment and personal character .to sum up ,this thesis is to be a study of the Mrs. Morel fate and the causes of Mrs. Morel fate tragedy .
II. Mrs Morel’s Fate
2.1 Mrs. Morel’s Life Before Marriage
Mrs. Morel was born in a good old burgher family, her father George Coppard was an engineer, a very large, handsome, haughty man, proud of his fair skin and blue eyes, but more proud still of his integrity. Mrs. Morel resembled her mother in her build. But in temper, proud and unyielding, she had from the Coppards. George Coppard was a foreman of the engineers in the dockyard at Sheerness. Mrs. Morel, Gertrude, was the second daughter, and she had the Coppards’ clear, defiant blue eyes and their broad brows.
This kind of middle class family background and Mrs. Morel's strong-willed temperament indicates that there must have no rough side in her life, her life must be of grace and nobility. But the real situation is not as good as people think it would be. 论《儿子与情人》中莫瑞尔太太的命运(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_38827.html