D.H. Lawrence's "The Lovely Lady" and "Sons and Lovers": A Comparative Study

Abstract

D.H. Lawrence, a prolific writer who, while writing, goes deeper into the human mind and soul in order to find answers to life’s everyday yet complex questions and associations. His novels are an outcome of a number of feelings that he experienced during his life time of anguish, joy, and fear. As a writer he depicts the experiences as he generally transcribes them from real life. He, in fact, finds the deeper psychological desires of human beings to combine the mental and spiritual, bodily, and physical properties for the sake of accomplishing a real sense of love and sex. Lawrence experimented with psychoanalytic theory in a number of his works, most notably Sons and Lovers, published in 1913, which covers the semi-oedipal relationship of Gertrude Morel and her son Paul. The Lovely Lady, published in 1933, again shows Lawrence’s exploration of psychoanalytic theory, through Robert’s fascination with his ‘lovely’ mother, Pauline.  An attempt is being made in this paper to delve into the situations, possessiveness, and psychological wants of the characters by comparing the two works of D.H. Lawrence namely, The Lovely Lady and Sons and Lovers.