The author of the novels Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence, is known for his extensive use and mastery of symbolism. Furthermore, his novels' plots are a dramatization of his early life that portrays his education, family, the environment he grew up in, and his love life. Through symbolism, the reader can understand the novel deeper, especially its meaning in real-life. The biggest and most significant symbols in the novel Sons and Lovers are the characters: Gertrude, Walter, Paul, Miriam, and Clara. Though they were flesh and blood human beings, their portrayal in the novel makes them more of puppets in the author's hand. This paper is a brief exploration of symbolism in the novel and the doctrinal ideas the author attempts to convey.
Gertrude Morel
Gertrude Morel is the ultimate symbol of the mother figure. Mrs. Morel is a symbol of many things in the novel. For instance, she represents the power women have over their husbands’ and children's emotional lives. Furthermore, she is the symbol of disillusionment in marriage. After having her first son, she quickly loses interest in her husband, despises him, and turns her love to her son.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Gertrude Morel was born into a middle-class family, thus representing the women's zeal in raising their status, especially through education. Furthermore, she inherited from her family an unyielding temper, Puritan ideals, and it is still questionable how she ended up getting married to a miner. However, his middle-class upbringing and values are an impediment to her enjoying her married life. D. H. Lawrence created the character Gertrude Morel by using his mother, Lydia, as the model Lydia came from a better social and intellectual family than her husband. Therefore, her upbringing might have made it difficult for her to get used to the life of being married to a miner.
Mrs. Morel symbolizes the self-sacrificing mother who does everything in her power to ensure that her children live a better life. She does not want her sons to work in the mines like their father. Therefore, she makes sure they get a good education and respectable jobs. Despite her disillusionment about marriage and how it affects her relationship with her husband, she does not forget about her duty to her sons. When she falls out of love with her husband, she turns to her sons, William and Paul, for emotional fulfillment. The two boys, therefore, receive the brunt of meeting her emotional that it affects their love lives. Therefore, Gertrude Morel is the symbol of an overprotective mother. She is also a symbol of how her love is beneficial in the short-term but dangerous in the long-term.
Mrs. Morel is also portrayed as a symbol of the emotional power mothers have over their children. Mrs. Morel is responsible for her failing marriage and her sons’ difficulties in maintaining healthy relationships. Additionally, she influences her sons to look down on their father by openly showing how she despises her husband. They grow up believing that he is an alcoholic and an emotionless bully. Paul, for instance, cannot stand his father. These family dynamics are symbolically affirmed by an event that happens when Paul is an infant. Mr. Morel thrushes a drawer and cuts his wife's brow. A drop of blood falls onto the child and "soak through the baby's scalp. He watched, fascinates, feeling it soak in" (Lawrence et al., 1994, p.40). The event is symbolic of the merging of Paul and his mother's identities, thus foretelling the future relationships.
Walter Morel
In contrast to his wife, Walter Morel is the symbol of a virile and quick man full of life and joy. Though he is a miner, his personality makes him attractive to Gertrude the first time she sees him. His character, however, is the polar opposite of that of his wife. For instance, he is a miner in an age where he is dehumanized due to his occupation. Everyone, including his wife and children, looks down on him. However, criticism and subpar treatment have little to no impact on his life and character. He likes his life and finds joy in nature, as observes from his early morning walks in the fields.
Walter Morel is also the symbol of a simple and unsophisticated man. He is portrayed as an honest man. For instance, though he lies to his wife, it is done to hide his poverty and protect himself from her anger. Unlike other liars, however, he does not cover his personality and identity. In comparison, the cultured people that his wife hail from lie to cover their personality. Therefore, it can be said that his simplicity is portrayed by the nature of his relatively innocent lies. His only vice in the novel is that he drinks. However, he is not fully responsible. After his marriage, he had abstained and attempted to quit drinking. However, her domineering behavior drove him back to the bottle as the only way to find solace in his life. Walter Morel has lived a harsh and difficult life, and he prevailed. His character never changed, forever remaining the symbol of the simple, unsophisticated man.
While Gertrude is the symbol for the middle-class and their complex social lives, Walter is a symbol for the working class's common person. Unlike his wife, he is a person without any intellectual pursuits or content to boast of. However, the absence is more of a good thing. Instead of wasting time and energy in pointless pursuits, he enjoys life by remaining in touch with his environment and nature. His simplicity lies in his enjoyment of the basic things in life, such as spontaneous singing. From the description of his character, Walter is the symbol of what life should be. Everything else that comes attached to social status is unnecessarily complicating life. Whoever meets him for the first time is attracted to his magnetic personality. His simplicity and personality made it possible to marry Gertrude despite the difference in social and economic status.
Paul
Any discussion of D. H. Lawrence's mastery over symbolism is incomplete without the triangle between Gertrude, Walter, and Paul, their son. Paul is presented as the symbol of an artist. He finds fulfillment in art and nature. Arguably, his love for art was inherited from his mother while his father's love for nature. In the novel, Paul is a skilled painter. At the Nottingham Castle Exhibition, his landscape painting takes the first position and gets sold for twenty-five guineas. Like any other talented artist, Paul's are a symbol of real-life and a representation of a things' inner nature. In one of the conversations with Miriam, Paul explains some of his art features and how they look realistic.
It's because there is scarcely any shadow in it; its more shimmery, as if I had painted the shimmery protoplasm in the leaves and everywhere, and not the stiffness of the shape. That seems dead to me. Only this shimmeriness is real living. The shape is a dead crust. The shimmer is inside reality. ( p. 93 )
While Gertrude is the symbol of a mother's intense love for her child, Paul symbolizes the consequences of that love. Both of them are the symbol of the Oedipal complex. Due to his upbringing, Paul finds it difficult to have a healthy relationship with other women, such as Miriam and Clara. The portrayal of Paul and Gertrude's relationship is like the umbilical cord connecting the two was never severed at birth. When he was young, Paul was in poor health. Thus Gertrude had to pay closer attention to her. Paul became dependent on his mother from that early age and would follow her everywhere, like a shadow.
However, the Oedipal complex comes into play as Paul matures. He is delighted to watch his mother, and when they went out for walks, they are unmistakable from other lovers. There is a scene in the novel where the Oedipal complex becomes explicit.
"Well, I don't love her, mother," he murmured, bowing his head and hiding his eyes on her shoulder in misery. His mother kissed him a long fervent kiss. "My boy!'" she said, in a voice trembling with passionate love. Without knowing, he gently stroked her face ( p. 229 ).
In the scene, the physical intimacy between mother and son grows further. When Walter returns home and catches them in the amorous position, he is angry. He later gets into a fight over a pork-pie that was made for Paul. After almost fighting, Paul is the one that consoles his mother, taking the position and responsibility of his father. Note that these events, especially Paul's character and later personality, symbolize his upbringing and influence, especially by his mother. Therefore, Walter, Gertrude, and Paul are a symbol of the common struggles and conflict in ordinary life and family. Additionally, the three are a symbol of the complexities of both the Oedipal complex and love triangles. When the two symbols happen in the same family and are expressed in an easily understandable and relatable manner, the author's skill and mastery of symbolism are displayed.
Towards the end of the novel, Gertrude dies. The event is symbolic at different levels. However, they are of special significance to Paul. After her death, Paul is in transition, like purgatory, but he has the choice, go back to the land of the living or fade quietly into death. Paul chooses both. Gertrude's death is symbolic of Paul's death, the loving son, and the birth of Paul, the man. Paul, therefore, breaks any bond he has with Miriam. The breaking of ties is the symbol of the movement from the past and facing towards the future. Instead of returning to his village (death), he quickly moves towards the faintly humming and glowing town (life). Therefore, Paul, the man, has a strong desire for life. If Paul, the son, had been given a choice, he would have gone back to the village.
Miriam
However, the novel does not revolve around the three characters; otherwise, it would give the impression that they are the only human beings in the world, and their relationships are the only things that matter. Miriam is the symbol of everything society believes and passes down generations. It does not matter if the beliefs are true or not. For instance, she has an unhealthy attitude towards sex, which was common at the time the plot of the novel is set. Furthermore, her mother is responsible for instilling the beliefs. In Miriam's words: "Mother said to me, there is one thing in marriage that is always dreadful, but you have to bear it, and I believed it" (Lawrence et al., 1994, p. 150). Miriam's attitude towards sex is, therefore, symbolic of the extreme religious prejudice towards the act. On the other hand, Miriam is also a symbol of how women were supposed to act. She is afraid of every physical object and refrains from jumping, regardless of the height involved. Finally, she is afraid of the swing. These are were how women expected to behave and believe in the 20 th century, the time the novel was set.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the reader can use the author’s mastery over symbolism to understand the novel deeper; especially its meaning in real-life. Gertrude Morel, for instance, is the ultimate symbol of the mother figure. She represents the fundamental power women have over the emotional aspects and lives of their husbands and children. She is also a symbol of the strong the influence women have in different aspects of life. Walter Morel, on the other hand, is the symbol of a simple and unsophisticated man. Lastly, Paul is presented as the symbol of an artist who finds fulfillment in art and nature. The three characters put together are a symbol of different things at different levels. they are a symbol of the complexities of both the Oedipal complex and love triangles.
References
Lawrence, D. H., Baron, H., & Baron, C. (Eds.). (1994). Sons and lovers . Penguin.
