Lady Chatterley’s Lover, written by DH. Lawrence was first published in 1928. The novel follows around the protagonist of the story, Lady Constance Chatterley. The story is about how this woman, who is trapped in a loveless and almost sterile marriage, finds emotional and physical love with the games keeper of her husbands estate. As a story about the relationships between men and women, I find this book a very nice read, but with Lawrence also using this novel as a way to show his readers the evils of machines and capitalism, at times I find it lacking.
Lawrence has two main themes in this book; first, the relationship between men, women and how they find love; second, industry vs. nature. Both can be discussed to show how they are used to conveniently establish the relationship theme but not the secondary theme of industry vs. nature.
The main theme in Lady Chatterley’s Lover is that of the relationship between men and women. Lawrence shows the readers how you must have emotional and physical love, together, in order to have complete love. Through the example of Connie and Clifford’s marriage, Lawrence shows the reader that though there is an emotional love between the two, neither is fulfilled. Their relationship can best be summed up by a quote directly from this book, Time went on. Whatever happened, nothing happened. (19) Neither Connie nor Clifford have a great love for the other, they seam to be just friends who live together.
The idea of a strictly physical love is shown briefly through Mellor’s and his marriage to his first wife. Though the two had a stable marriage based on physical love, it eventually deteriorated to the point of them living separately. Bertha rejected Mellor’s when he started to show tenderness towards her. Both examples are used by Lawrence to justify that though some marriages/relationships start out well, without the combined physical and emotional fulfillment of both people there can be no true love between them.
The idea of complete love is shown through Lady Connie and Mellor’s relationship. Lawrence shows through these two how love needs to have emotional and physical aspects to be possible. Writing about their evolving relationship and showing how both aspects are started and evolve, he gives us the idea of what he thinks real love is. Lawrence shows how their true love and eventual marriage escapes class lines and the industrial world the author despises. In one of the more descriptive sex scenes, Lawrence wants to show that two people who are in real love have no shame.
This theme is also used to try and validate Lawrences second theme in the book, industry vs. nature. Lady Chatterley’s marriage with Clifford is based in the industrial setting of Wragby mansion. The marriage between these two characters revolves around this setting and is therefore shown by Lawrence to be a fake marriage since it is not set in a true natural setting. It is based in an industrial society and therefore corrupt. On the other side, Lady Connies relationship with the games keeper, Mellors, is started in the natural setting of the woods surrounding Wragby.
As the story ends there is a hope that these two will be married and it will be a true marriage because it has both the emotional and physical aspects of love and that it was started in the woods, in nature. I understand why Lawrence tried to use the relationships to justify the nature aspect of industry vs. nature, but I do not agree with it. The natural setting that Lady Chatterley and Mellors met is very romantic and ideal, but I think that if they had possibly met somewhere else, perhaps the mining town, their relationship could also have developed to the point that it was at the end of the book.
The second theme in this novel, industry vs. nature is a theme that Lawrence should not have tried to show in this novel. He never gives clear reasons for the industrial aspect to this story. It is all shown in a negative light. From having Clifford being the thoughtless owner of the mines who cares nothing for the workers, to Lawrences own description of the mining town and the workers themselves, he gives a complete negative view of industry as a whole. This does not work for me in this novel because he never tells or shows the whole aspect. By this, I mean he never shows how all view industry. He does not show how the workers themselves feel about how they live.
I believe that he tries to show in this novel how he felt about mining towns and those who work there and expects the reader to also despise industry as a whole. The first theme works in this novel because Lawrence shows very different aspects of what some of the characters feel on relationships. He shows the good and the bad and lets the reader draw the conclusion that Lady Connie and Mellors relationship is a true one. He does not do this for the industry vs. nature theme. He only shows the negative and forces the reader to choose the nature side of the theme.
I agree with the words of Pablo Neruda, who said Lawrences work impressed me because of the poetic quality and certain vital magnetism focused on the hidden relationships between human beings. (93) This novel does give great insight to the working of relationships between men and women. Lawrence does a convincing job of showing the reader what it takes to have fulfillment from a relationship and what a person must sacrifice to obtain it. With this in mind, I find it difficult to see why anyone would want to consider censoring or banning this book.
In 1959, Lady Chatterleys Lover was tried in the United States Federal Courts on the charge that it was obscene and therefore should not be published in the United States. The main points the prosecution used in this trial was that the book was: one too frank with the descriptions of lovemaking; that it celebrated adultery and finally, that obscene words, the prosecution though immoral and because of this should be basis alone to have the book banned. The lawyers also objected to Lady Chatterleys involvement in adultery and also her choice of her last lover, Oliver Mellors. Their main argument was that if people were to read this novel it would lead to their social and moral deterioration. The Judge for the case found the book not obscene enough to ban and allowed the publishers right to distribute the novel in the United States.
I agree with this judgment. After reading this book, I found none of it obscene and did not feel as if I was on the road to moral deterioration after reading it. There are also many critics who feel this way as well. As Anais Nin states in an excerpt D.H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study, He gives us in Lady Chatterleys Lover an honest picture of all aspects and moods of physical love. But he writes neither scientifically nor for the sake of pornography. (107) She believed that to understand the story and the ideas that Lawrence was writing about the reader could not be afraid of the words that were written or the philosophy that was used.
Katherine Ann Porter wrote in her essay, A Wreath for the Gamekeeper that, I object to his misuse and perversions of obscenity, his wrongheaded denial of its true nature and meaning. (PG) She objects to how Lawrence uses words that many view as obscene. I think that anyone that reads this novel and views it as obscene is not really reading the book. I think any open-minded individual can take how Lawrence uses the language and descriptions and find it justified. Lawrence did not use these words and descriptions as a way to incite lust or lustful thoughts into readers, but as a way to show that love is not shameful. The way he uses his words, whether they be classified as obscene or not, shows that any act or word given in love is not shameful, no matter what their dictionary meaning is.
Adultery was another reason why people tried to have Lady Chatterleys Lover banned. Edith Sitwell wrote in her book, Taken Care of: An Autobiography, Nobody seems to have thrashed Mr. Mellors, the adulterous gamekeeper, which is what he deserved. (109) What I find amusing is that most critics never talk about Lady Constances first lover, Michaelis, and seem to only be fascinated by Mellors. This is most likely due to the fact that not only did Lady Connie and Mellors have an affair; they also were from different social classes. I think that is what got people the most upset. By not writing about Michaelis, critics condone that affair because both were from the same social class.
I find that more obscene than them even having the affair. Preaching that adultery is wrong but then condoning Lady Chatterleys first adulterous affair because they were from the same social class is ludicrous. Instead of harping about why the affairs should not have happened, people that gave poor reviews for the novel should have tried to reason out why the affairs happened. Neither Lady Constance nor Oliver Mellors were in true marriages. So from Lawrences viewpoint, they were not having an adulterous affair. Taken in that context, I see nothing morally degrading about their relationship.
In fact, I see nothing in this book that would give anyone the idea to have it banned. Im sure that if I had read this book in the 1950s, or earlier, I might have been slightly offended. I do hope that I would have had the open-mindedness and intelligence to see past the views of a few people and find out what the book was really about. I see no reason why this book should have any limits placed on it. I think it should be in every public library and school. Many would feel, I think, that this book was really about. I see no reason why this book should have any limits placed on it.
I think it should be in every public library and school. Many would fell, I think, that this book is not intended for children or young adults. I disagree. In todays society, most children already know more about sex and naughty words then what this book writes about. Children will probably not understand the themes involved in this story and they can certainly find more obscene descriptions of love or lovemaking. If they choose to read the book later on in their teen years, this could provide one way to help explain to them the difference between sex and love. Limiting and censoring books in just a way for some to keep others ignorant.
Works Cited
1.Bloom, Harold (Editor), Twentieth-Century British Literature Volume 3. Chelsea House: New York, 1986.
2.Bryfonski, Dedria and Hall, Sharon K. (Editors), Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Volume 2. Gale Research Company: Michigan, 1979
3.Lawrence, D.H. Lady Chatterleys Lover. 1928. New York: Grovers Press, 1959.
4.Neruda, Pablo, Luminous Solitude, Memoirs. 1976. Included in Twentieth-Century British Literature, Volume 3.
5.Nin, Anais. Lady Chatterleys Lover D.H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study. (1932) 1940. Included in Twentieth-Century British Literature, Vol. 3.
6. Porter, Katherine Ann. A Wreath for the Gamekeeper. Encounter. 1960. Included in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vol. 2.
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