Clara’s Tragedy on Sons and Lovers

【Abstract】D.H.Lawrence is a man of indomitable spirit. This thesis is all attempt at textual analysis of Lawrences novel Sons and Lovers from the feminist perspective， which focuses on the one female character Clara. Concentrating on her fate and her own attitude and choice，it attempts a new study on Lawrence.

【Key words】female character； feminism； tragedy

【中图分类号】H319.3 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2015）35-0005-01

1.General introduction of D.H.Lawrence

D.H.Lawrence is the most controversial figure in the twentieth century， who is the novelist， story writer， critic， poet and painter. He dramatized much of his early life in Sons and Lover s： his family background， his education， his first sexual relationships. Sons and Lovers is a great work of self？鄄analysis by a young writer looking back on the recent years of growing up， but it is always first and foremost a novel， not an autobiography.

2.General introduction of feminism

Feminism is a criticism advocating equal rights for women in a political， economic， social， psychological， personal， and aesthetic sense. The category of feminist criticism is diverse. It can be divided as Liberal Feminism， Radical Feminism， Cultural Feminism， Feminist Critique， Gender Studies and so on. Patriarchy means the male—supremacy over female， the male？鄄domination in the society，and to say it reversely， it means the female subordination， the female victimization， and the female inferiority. In a world which is formed by both men and women， men are the rulers and women are the ruled under this pattern.

3.Claras tragedy

For Paul， Miriam was the symbol of the spiritual and Clara was the symbol of the physical. Paul gained the pleasure when he with Clara. And she was the tool for him to grow up. But when he got what he wanted from Clara， his patriarchal consciousness started work and made the start of Claras tragedy.

In Pauls mind， a woman should stay at home as a housewife. The woman should be quiet and never leave her husband. Man as Paul could never understand Claras thoughts.

In this novel， Clara often connected with red， which represented her enthusiasm. After she fell in love with Paul， she regained her female consciousness and full of pride and satisfaction. Except passion， she also wanted the spiritual communication， even though Paul wanted the unite of the body and soul， he defined Clara as a sex partner at first and he thought she was not as profound as Miriam. Paul felt Clara could not understand him as Miriam did. In his mind， he treated Clara as a sex partner and believed that she should not “talk”.

Sometimes he realized his problem； “I feel sometimes I wronged my women. P371” The “wrong” actually equaled his cheat. He even designed a plan to get rid of Clara and made her go back to her husband. Finally， Clara was abandoned by Paul cruelty. And Paul entered a new world—the city. “But no， he would not give in. turning sharply， he walked towards the citys gold phosphorescence. His fists were shut， his mouth set fast. He would not take that direction， to the darkness， to follow her. He walked towards the faintly humming， glowing town， quickly. P444” After ended this relationship， Paul became a real man physically.

Some critics always criticized Clara destroyed the love and she should be blamed for she couldnt communicate with Paul spiritually， but they never found Claras tragedy. It was not that she didnt communicate with him， the fact was Paul set Clara as a tool， not a woman. No matter how hard she tried to get near to Paul， it was in vain.

At last， Clara went back to her husband. “She seemed to understand better now about men， and what they could or would do. She was less afraid of them， more sure of herself.” But this understanding was constructed on the harm which Paul gave to her.

4.Conclusion

This study explores the tragic fate of Clara in Sons and Lovers from the perspective of feminism. Female voices are completely drowned by the voices of men. Besides， womens happiness is easily controlled by others， instead of themselves. And Paul is selfness， he cant save anyone. As a male in the patriarchy society， he takes him as the center and indifferent to others feelings. When Clara cannot satisfy him， he will abandon her. Paul does not choose any woman， but hurts everyone. Paul deepens their sufferings. Clara is the victim.

The reason for her tragedy is the male oppression of women. In a patriarchy society， men can not rescue women， because they will maintain their superior position and control over women. If women rely on men， their fate is doomed to fail. Women should self？鄄dependent and be tough to seek their own happiness.

References：

[1]西蒙·波伏娃. 第二性[M]. 陶铁柱， 译. 北京： 中国书籍出版社， 1998： 254

[2]Lawrence. D. H. （2006） “Love.” The Art of Love， on Eros. Ovidius， and D. H. Lawrence. Beijing： Tuanjie Publishing House

[3]张京媛. 当代女性主义文学批评[M]. 北京： 北京大学出版社， 1995

[4]Becket，Fiona.The Complete Critical Guide to D.H Lawrence. London：Routledge，2002

作者简介：

刘秋宇（1988.9-）女，河南平顶山人，硕士研究生学历，现为贵州医科大学外国语学院教师，讲师。