PAUL’S RELATION WITH THE THREE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE/ CHARACTER OF PAUL IN SONS AND LOVERS

PAUL’S RELATION WITH THE THREE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE/

CHARACTER OF PAUL IN SONS AND LOVERS

Paul Morel is the main character in DH Lawrence’s novel Sons and Lovers . The story charts his early life from when his parents married and the subsequent birth of four children, through childhood and early adulthood to the death of his mother. During this time three women have a major impact on his life, his mother, Miriam and Clara. Each has the most influence at different times in his life and can be attributed to his childhood, being a young man and early adulthood respectively; but each woman s influence carries on to shape Paul into the man he becomes.

Gertrude is the most powerful woman in Paul’s life, and thus this tight-knit relationship serves as the root for Paul’s future affairs.  It is no coincidence that Gertrude shares the same name as Hamlet’s Queen Gertrude, for both women share the mother’s possessive role of the Oedipal complex.  Paul sees his mother as youthful and virginal, frequently comparing her to flowers.  At times Paul and Gertrude’s closeness is almost like that of a couple, for example while the mother and son dine in town together, Paul thinks of her as "gay as a sweetheart", and feels the "excitement of lovers".  However, Gertrude’s youthfulness was not eternal, and so when it begins to fade, Paul experiences both irritation and jealousy:

Why can’t a man have a young mother? … And why wasn’t I the oldest son?

Look—they say the young ones have the advantage—but look, they had the

young mother.  You should have had me for your eldest son.

Daniel A. Weiss delves into Paul’s peculiar reaction to his aging mother in his essay "The Mother in the Mind".  Weiss suggests that, in this aspect of the Oedipal complex, that Paul’s "real desire is to be even more than the ‘oldest son,’ is not even that his mother remains young, but that they equal in age no matter what it is".  Referring to Weiss’ mention of "the injured third party", the male to which the woman is some way connected and must be saved from, explains Paul’s lust for Gertrude.................................................

  

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Milan Tomic

Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.

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