sons and lovers by D.H. Lawrence'

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Overall Summary

The first part of the novel focuses on Mrs. Morel and her unhappy marriage to a drinking miner. She has many arguments with her husband, some of which have painful results: on separate occasions, she is locked out of the house and hit in the head with a drawer. Estranged from her husband, Mrs. Morel takes comfort in her four children, especially her sons. Her oldest son, William, is her favorite, and she is very upset when he takes a job in London and moves away from the family. When William sickens and dies a few years later, she is crushed, not even noticing the rest of her children until she almost loses Paul, her second son, as well. From that point on, Paul becomes the focus of her life, and the two seem to live for each other.

Paul falls in love with Miriam Leivers, who lives on a farm not too far from the Morel family. They carry on a very intimate, but purely platonic, relationship for many years. Mrs. Morel does not approve of Miriam, and this may be the main reason that Paul does not marry her. He constantly wavers in his feelings toward her.

Paul meets Clara Dawes, a suffragette who is separated from her husband, through Miriam. As he becomes closer with Clara and they begin to discuss his relationship with Miriam, she tells him that he should consider consummating their love and he returns to Miriam to see how she feels.

Paul and Miriam sleep together and are briefly happy, but shortly afterward Paul decides that he does not want to marry Miriam, and so he breaks off with her. She still feels that his soul belongs to her, and, in part agrees reluctantly. He realizes that he loves his mother most, however.

After breaking off his relationship with Miriam, Paul begins to spend more time with Clara and they begin an extremely passionate affair. However, she does not want to divorce her husband Baxter, and so they can never be married. Paul’s mother falls ill and he devotes much of his time to caring for her. When she finally dies, he is broken-hearted and, after a final plea from Miriam, goes off alone at the end of the novel.



Character list : 

Gertrude Morel

Miriam Leivers

Clara Dawes

Walter Morel

Baxter Dawes

Annie Morel

William Morel

Arthur Morel

Gertrude Morel  -  The first protagonist of the novel. She becomes unhappy with her husband Walter and devotes herself to her children.

Paul Morel  -  Paul Morel takes over from his mother as the protagonist in the second half of the book. After his brother William’s death, Paul becomes his mother’s favorite and struggles throughout the novel to balance his love for her with his relationships with other women.

Walter Morel  -  Gertrude’s husband, a coal miner.

William Morel  -  Their first son, who is Mrs. Morel’s favorite until he falls ill and dies.

Annie Morel  -  Paul’s older sister. When their mother lies dying toward the end of the novel, she and Paul decide to give her an overdose of morphia pills.

Arthur Morel  -  Paul’s younger brother, not central to the plot.

Miriam Leivers  -  The daughter of the family at Willey Farm. She befriends Paul and becomes his first love.

Clara Dawes  -  A friend of Miriam’s, she is a suffragette, who is separated from her husband. She becomes Paul’s second love, and they have a passionate affair.

Baxter Dawes -  Clara’s husband. He fights with Paul, but they later become friends while he is ill.

Mrs. Radford -  Clara’s mother.

Thomas Jordan -  The owner of the factory where Paul works. Paul dislikes him from their first interview because he is rude and makes Paul look foolish. He later fires Baxter Dawes because he knocks him down a flight of stairs.

Louisa Lily Denys Western -  A girl William sees in London, and to whom he becomes engaged. The rest of the family is less than impressed with her when he brings her home, and William shortly becomes sick of her as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Leivers, Agatha, Edgar, Geoffrey, Maurice  -  The family who live at Willey Farm.

Fanny -  A hunchback who works in the finishing-off room at the factory, who likes to have Paul come visit her to sing or talk. She organizes the other girls to get Paul a birthday present.

John Field -  A man with whom Gertrude is friendly when she is nineteen. He gives her a Bible, which she keeps for the rest of her life. From John she learns that “being a man isn’t everything.”

Jerry Purdy -  Walter Morel’s bosom friend. Walter goes for a walk to Nottingham with Jerry, during which he takes the nap on the ground that eventually causes an illness.

Mr. Heaton -  The Congregational clergyman who visits with Mrs. Morel every day after Paul is born. He is Paul’s godfather and teaches him French, German, and mathematics.

Beatrice Wyld -  A friend of the Morel family who ridicules Miriam and flirts with Paul. She eventually marries Arthur when he returns from the army.

Character analysis : 

PAUL MOREL

GERTRUDE MOREL
MIRIAM LEIVERS

CLARA DAWES

Theme : 

There are a few different themes found in D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers: The Oedipus complex, bondage, contradictions and oppositions, and nature and flowers.

The Oedipus Complex- the name comes from the Greek tragedy of Oedipus Rex. It is prophesied that he will murder his father and have sex with his mother. Sickened by the thought, he leaves his home so that it may never come true. Through an unusual series of events, it actually ends up happening. Freud argued that the Oedipus complex is a real thing and is a repressed desire for most young boys. Sons and Lovers uses this complex to explore Paul's relationship with his mother, which sometimes borders on romantic. In addition, Paul hates his father with a passion and often fantasizes about his death.  Paul tries to get rid of his guilty feelings by transferring his feelings to Miriam and Clara (transference also being a Freudian term). Paul is unable to love either woman as much as he loves his mother, which hurts his relationships.

Bondage- Lawrence discusses the idea of bondage or servitude in both social and romantic arenas. Mrs. Morel feels that she is bound by being a woman. This causes her to feel jealous of Miriam who is able to use her intellect. Romantic bondage is discussed in greater detail. Paul (and, to a lesser degree, William) feels bound to his mother and unable to love or marry someone else. He is obsessed with the idea of two people "belonging" to one another and he wants a woman to forcefully claim him as her own. No woman that Paul meets claims him as strongly as his mother does. Jealousy is discussed throughout the novel, which is closely connected to the theme of bondage.

Contradictions and Oppositions- The main contradiction seen in the novel is that of love and hate, as Paul goes back and forth between these two with all of the woman in his life. Sometimes he seems to feel both at the same time, as with Miriam. Lawrence also contrasts body and mind when exploring the idea of desire.

Nature and Flowers- Lawrence uses descriptions of the natural environment to explore the emotions and desires of the characters. There is often an erotic edge to the nature descriptions, which was a way to get his point across while still being modest enough to allow the book to be published in Lawrence's time. Lawrence's characters also experience moments of clarity and transcendence when they are alone in nature. Characters also tend to bond deeply while in nature. Flowers are used to symbolize these deep connections.

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