對(duì)《兒子與情人》中母子關(guān)系的分析analysis on motherson relationship in sons and lovers

1、對(duì)兒子與情人中母子關(guān)系的分析Analysis on Mother-Son Relationship in Sons and LoversAbstractD. H. Lawrence is one of the most influential and controversial novelists of the twentieth century. His whole life, although relatively short, is fruitful and productive. Sons and Lovers is D.H. Lawrences first major novel .

2、It describes a young mans distinctive love experience under the influence of his mother. From the psychological point of view, it is known as Oedipus complex. It is a kind of unnatural relationship between mother and son. It is understandable that when the son is young, he will unconsciously depend

3、on his mother more than his father. However, if this kind of relationship or tie lasts for too long a time, it will cause psychological problems.In the following article, two illustrations of mother-son relationship will be expressed firstly. Then three points of development for the mother-son relat

4、ionship will be described. They are the occupation of Mrs. Morel, Pauls own inclination and Pauls struggle with his two girlfriends. Following them social and religious causes will be traced.The thesis aims to provide a picture of how the protagonist Paul struggled for his own identity in the devast

5、ated industrialized world. It reveals that the dissimilated family is not the only cause of the Oedipus complex. The ringleader of this kind of abnormal love is the deprivation from human nature in the industrial society and its spiritual control.Key words: Oedipus complex, dissimilation, human natu

6、re內(nèi)容摘要DH勞倫斯是英國(guó)20世紀(jì)非常有影響力的小說(shuō)家。但他也頗受爭(zhēng)議。他的一生盡管短暫，但是留后人的作品卻非常豐富。兒子與情人是D.H.勞倫斯的代表作。它描述了一個(gè)深受母性影響的青處在愛(ài)情生活中的獨(dú)特體驗(yàn)，從心理學(xué)角度上分析，可以稱之為“戀母情結(jié)”。這是一種不正常的母子關(guān)系。在孩子小的時(shí)候，男孩子會(huì)比較依賴母親，而忽視，甚至嫉妒父親的存在。在某程度上說(shuō)，這是正常的但是，如果這種依賴毫無(wú)休止的待續(xù)下去，就容易產(chǎn)生心理疾病了。在接下來(lái)的文章中將首先介紹兩種不同的關(guān)于母子關(guān)系的闡述，然后分別從母親對(duì)兒子的占有，兒子自身的傾向性以及兩個(gè)女朋友的催化作用這三個(gè)方面介紹這種母子關(guān)系形成的表層現(xiàn)象。在最

7、后一章中，社會(huì)以及宗教因素將被作為深層因素被表達(dá)出來(lái)。本文旨在揭示男主人公保羅在現(xiàn)代工業(yè)社會(huì)生存狀態(tài)下備受摧殘并努力尋求自我的歷程，同時(shí)揭示異化的家庭并不是“戀母情結(jié)”產(chǎn)生的唯一根源，工業(yè)社會(huì)對(duì)于人性的剝奪以及宗教對(duì)于人性的控制是阻礙保羅健康發(fā)展的罪魁禍?zhǔn)?。關(guān)鍵字：戀母情節(jié) 異化 人性 ContentsAbstracti內(nèi)容摘要iiIntroduction11. Illustrations of Mother Son Relationship3 1.1 Freuds Explanation of Mother-Son Relationship31.2 Lawrences Literary Pr

8、esentation of Mother-Son Relationship52. Development of Mother Son Relationship72.1 The Occupation of Mrs. Morel72.1.1 Puritan Thought of Mrs. Morel82.1.2 The Transfer of Mrs. Morels Lover82.2 Pauls Own Inclination102. 3 Pauls Struggle with His Two Girlfriends 112.3.1The Struggle with Miriam122.3.2

9、The Struggle with Clara133. Further Causes for the Mother Son Relationship163.1Social Cause163.1.1 Social Background163.1.2 The Destruction of the Industrialization173.2 Religious Cause203.2.1 The Presentation of Religion in Lawrences Work203.2.2 The Religion Control on Miriam22Conclusion23Notes24Bi

10、bliography26Acknowledgement27IntroductionDavid Herbert Lawrence was one of the most significant and controversial writers in the twentieth century. His life, although relatively short, was fruitful and productive. He used almost every known form to express his feelings and his ideas and had contribu

11、ted a lot to the literary world. Thought he was somewhat controversial, it seemed that people couldnt ignore his great contribution to the literary world.Lawrences works had been focused on the discussion of sexual relationship. Lawrence wrote in a letter in December 1912,”I will do my life work, st

12、icking up for the love between man and woman.” In April 1913, he wrote to his friend:” 1I can only write what I feel pretty strongly about and that, at present, is the relation between men and women. After all, it is the problem of today, the establishment of a new relation, or the readjustment of t

13、he old one, between men and women.” 2Sons and Lovers was D. H. Lawrences first major novel. As early as 1910 Lawrence was working on Sons and Lovers. At that time it was to be called Paul Morel when he had met Frieda and eloped with her to Germany in 1912, he continued writing the novel and was able

14、 to finish it by the end of the year.Sons and Lovers was said to be a fictional version of Lawrences own childhood and adolescence. The fiction followed the reality so closely that the novel almost seemed to be an autobiography or at least a semi-autobiography. Lawrence once wrote a letter to his fr

15、iend .In it he described Sons and Lovers as follows: A woman of character and refinement goes into the lower class and has no satisfaction in her husband, so the children are born of passion, and have heaps of vitality. But as her sons grow up, she selects them as loversfirst the eldest, then the se

16、cond. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother-urged on and on. But when they come to manhood, they cant love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives, and holds them. As long as the young men come into contrast with women, there is a split. William

17、gives his sex to a girl and his mother holds his soul .But the spilt kills him, because he doesnt know where he is. The next son gets a woman who fights for his soul-fights his mother. The son loves the mother all the sons hate and are jealous of the father .The battle goes on between the mother and

18、 the girl, with the son as object. The mother gradually proves the stronger, because of the tie of blood .The son decides to leave his soul in his mothers hands, and like his elder brother, go for passion. Then the split begins to tell again. But, almost unconsciously, his mother realizes what the m

19、atter is and begins to die .The son casts off his mistress; attends to his mother dying. He is left in the naked of everything, with the drift towards death.3This letter gave a summary of the novel. In this summary, Lawrence emphasized the theme of the mother son relationship. His psychological appr

20、oach was employed by Sigmund Freud, the father of the modern psychology. According to Freuds theory all children were more or less affected by sexually-based feeling about their parents: particularly, boys would have some form of desire for the mother and jealous of the father. It was clear that in

21、Sons and Lovers, Paul was very close indeed to be led to an incestuous relationship with his mother. This thesis mainly focuses on the mother son relationship in the following successive chapters with the conclusion that the dissimilated family is not the only cause of the mother son relationship. T

22、he main cause is the deprivation from human nature in the industrial society and its spiritual control of religion.1. Illustrations of Mother Son Relationship Firstly, the mother son relationship will be illustrated from two aspects. They are as follows:1.1 Freuds Explanation of Mother-Son Relations

23、hipIt seemed that this kind of mother-son relationship was similar to Freuds Oedipus complex. The Oedipus complex first appeared in Freuds Interpretation of Dreams. According to Freud, Oedipus complex was developed in the infant period: It was a kind of innate instinct. With the growing up of the ch

24、ild, according to Freud, it was possible that the child had sexual desire for his or her opposite sex parent and regarded the other as his or her rival, feeling jealous of him or her.In A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, there were some descriptions of Oedipus complex:What do

25、es direct observation of the child at time of the selection of its object, before the later period, show us concerning the Oedipus complex? One may easily see the little man would like to have the mother all to himself. That he finds the presence of his father disturbing, he becomes irritated when t

26、he father permits himself to show tenderness towards the mother and express his satisfaction when the father is away or on a journey.4From this point of view, Freuds explanation of mother-son relationship was more scholarly. He explained that Oedipus complex was a normal thing when the new-born chil

27、dren were born. It was all because of the vague feeling of the small children, so this kind of relationship appeared. However, if this kind of relationship lasted for too long a time, it might cause psychological problems. It might not only hurt the children themselves both physically and psychologi

28、cally, it might also hurt the people all around themselves. So finding the real causes of it became really urgent.1.2Lawrences Literary Presentation of Mother-Son RelationshipSince its publication, Sons and Lovers had really roused the interest of many psychoanalysts who greet his novel as the most

29、penetrating study of the Oedipus complex yet to be found in English literature. Graham Hough, the writer of The Dark Sun, a study of D, H, Lawrence, had pointed out,” the whole situation of Sons and Lovers presents the Freudian Oedipal imbroglio in almost classic completeness.”5 Frieda Lawrence wrot

30、e twice in her memoir Not I But the Wind that before her first meeting with Lawrence, she “had met a remarkable disciple of Freud and was full of undigested theories.”6 Later, according to Hough, “she wrote that she was a great admirer of Freud when she met Lawrence in 1912, and that he and she had

31、long arguments about Freud together.” It seemed that Sons and Lovers was indeed the first Freudian novel in English, but its Freudianism was mediated not by a textbook but by a person.”7Sons and Lovers was one of Lawrences famous literary works. It was divided into two parts and was composed of fift

32、een chapters altogether. The story, set in England, could be interpreted as an autobiographical novel of Lawrence. The hero of the book, Paul Morel, was the second son of a miners family. He was a self-portrait by Lawrence and his body and soul were the focus of interest in the book. He spent half o

33、f his life trying to balance the relationship between his mother and his girlfriends. It seemed that he was struggling nearly all his life. He had no time enjoy his young life. He was suppressed by this kind of abnormal mother son relationship and he couldnt get out of it. This was the living condit

34、ion of the main character: Paul. However, the poor living atmosphere was not decided by Paul himself, it also didnt decide by his mother. To some extent, both Paul himself and his mother were the victims. The main reason for this kind of abnormal relationship was due to the social background of that

35、 special period.His mother, Mrs. Morel, was a daughter of a mid-class family. She was present in all the chapters of the novel except the last. She was short and quite strong physically. Paul called her little woman and she resisted childbirth and other problems without difficulty. She was firm and

36、unyielding, expecting much from her men. Her movement upwards in the world, symbolized by her intellectual interests: she read the newspaper and belonged to a discussion group, and by her pride in Pauls refinement, made her typical of an emerging group of women. Her strength as the center of the Mor

37、el family occasionally seemed as though, in a different world, it might be converted into a more public energy. Her death was in some ways the climax of the novel.Because of the differences in family background and education, a shadow was soon cast upon Paul. The mother's abnormal love robed Pau

38、l of his normal love for his girl friend. However, in the novel, it was clearly shown that the mother and sons special relationship was not an inborn one, but emerged because of mother-the failure of her own marriage led her to turn to her sons. Secondly, in the process of Pauls growth, it was evide

39、nt that Paul suffered from emotional complex simply because his mother depended and dominated him emotionally, and it made him unable to establish a normal mode of life and develop a normal relationship with either Miriam or Clara. Sons and Lovers had always been claimed since its publication to be

40、a literary version of Oedipus complex. Sons and Lovers was somewhat an autobiographical novel or at least a semi-autobiography. It described an ordinary life of a coal miners family. The abnormal love from the mother deprived Paul of his independent personality and mental healthy. It was perhaps bec

41、ause of this true picture of life that the novel had won Lawrence everlasting reputation.2. Development of Mother Son RelationshipThe surface phenomenon of this of mother-son relationship is made up of three aspects mainly. Now how this kind of relationship forms will be introduced.2.1 The Occupatio

42、n of Mrs. Morel2.1.1 Puritan Thought of Mrs. MorelMrs. Morel, the mother of Paul, was one of the main characters in Lawrences Sons and Lovers. She was a woman who belonged to a higher class while she married a lower class status husband. Mr. Morel was attracted to Mrs. Morel by the golden softness o

43、f Mr. Morels sensuous flame of life, which flowed off his fresh like the flame from a candle. However, after their marriage, as the time went by, their sex attraction, and their love became vague. Problems arose because of the different social status. Mrs. Morel, a puritan, tried to refine and eleva

44、te her husband. From a Puritans point of view, if necessary, it was possible to give up body, even life for soul. So Mrs. Morel tried her best to perfect her husband. However, because of different social background, she failed. She couldnt elevate her husband at last. But her mind told her that she

45、still needed to try to refine the people around her, so her sons were the objects of course.2.1.2 The Transfer of Mrs. Morels LoverAs for the kind of refinement, it could be called as a queens occupation of her sons. Although people always said that mothers love was sacred, however, Mrs. Morel love

46、which was poured to her son was so sacred that it nearly occupied all her sons individual feelings.As for Mrs. Morel, there was some kind of selfishness in her love to her sons, and this was called the occupation to her sons. She had already lost one son and her husband, to some extent, so she did n

47、ot wish to lose her son Paul again. For this reason, she always wanted to fasten her second son to her own. She wanted her sons lovers to occupy only part of her son and left the root to her own.This was a kind of battle, which involved both occupation and resistance. The development of the battle i

48、nfluenced the relationship between her son and her sons lovers. Under so strong a feeling, it was better to say that Paul was seeking for a mother rather than a girlfriend. Because all the girlfriends were similar to the mother, so he always thought about his mother.So it was easy to see the result

49、of this kind of occupation, of course, failure, both the occupation and the resistance. Mrs. Morel couldnt occupy her son for all her life, while, her son, Paul, also couldnt resist his mothers control because of the ties of blood inside themselves.Mrs. Morels occupation to her son played an importa

50、nt role in the development of mother-son relationship. However, it was only one reason of it, and it was only an external reason for it. From psychological point of view, both external and internal causes influenced one things development. It was incredible to say that the formation of the mother-so

51、n relationship was all attribute to the mother of course. There were other reasons for it of course.2.2 Pauls Own InclinationFrom philosophical point of view, both internal cause and external cause could play a role to an incident. External cause could only influence its development, while internal

52、cause could decide the result .as for mother-son relationship in Sons and Lovers, without the internal cause, which was the inclination of Paul himself, this kind of relationship couldnt be formed completely.When the book opened, the marriage had already turned into a battlefield, and the love, whic

53、h Mrs. Morel had withdrawn from Morel was being redirected towards the first of her children. Such was the world into which Paul was born. In time, after the death of his older brother, he became the chief focus of his mothers hopes. She lavished love on him, which he reciprocated like all the morel

54、 children, he had been completely turned against his father, because of the strangeness of Paul, his moodiness and differences which led Mrs. Morel to treat him specially and carefully, and felt, deep in her heart, that he was somehow set apart from his brothers and sisters.As in the stories of Paul

55、s bronchitis, his intendance on his mother, this incident helped to underline the differences of Paul, that special quality of his which Mrs. Morel noticed from the beginning and which gave her love for him a tinge of anguish and morbidity.There are a lot of detailed descriptions for this kind of mi

56、sshapen relationship between Mrs. Morel and her son.” Paul hated his father.” He wished “l(fā)ord let my father die “and “l(fā)et him be killed at pit”.8In the novel, Paul was described, to some extent, as loving his mother a way that obviously involved some signs of sexual love. Paul often kissed his mothe

57、r and talked to her as to a lover. It was something very much like a love scene between the mother and her son.As for Oedipus complex, Mrs. Morel was just an object who gives such kind of distorted love. From the deep heart of Paul, he loved his mother. He even felt jealous of his father. Paul wanted Mr. Morel to die just because he thought that his mother was his own property. No one else could wrest this kind of precious property. This kind of inclination was very dangerous, for it not only hurt the intimacy between Paul and Mr. Morel but also hurt the relationship