A Psychoanalytic Feministic Criticism Of D. H. Lawrences Lady Chatterleys Lover With Its Possibility Of Patriarchal Subversion

D. H. Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) was initially, especially after thern1960 trial, hailed as a great achievement in depiction of tender love as the foundation of anrnemotionally satisfying life for men and women. However, after 1970, the novel started gettingrncritical attention from leading feminist critics who took Lawrence to task for what theyrnperceived in the novel a thinly disguised patriarchal ideology, as endorsing only the malecenteredrnview of sexuality and heterosexual relationship as the only emotionally satisfyingrnsexual preference. The idea of womanhood as seeking pleasure and emotional fulfillment onlyrnthrough mothering has also attracted attention of some critics.rnThe present study tries to look at the novel from psychoanalytic feministic perspective withrnthe view that since Lawrence spoke openly against British mainstream culture, especiallyrnpresenting in his novels a pithy criticism of the prevalent colonialist capitalist mindset and thernprejudice of the bourgeoisie against working class people, he does stand for women’s freedomrnas well, and therefore, he does not endorse a patriarchal ideology. Thus, the present study is arnmodest attempt to show that the feminist reading of Lawrence’s novels, especially of LadyrnChatterley’s Lover, is definitely a misreading which doesn’t take into considerationrnLawrence’s views on the industrialist capitalist world, the world torn apart through WorldrnWar I and his anticipation of the stress on the unconscious, the body and the irrationalrnmotives in various areas of contemporary criticism.rnThe present study, through a reading of the novel from the psychoanalytic feministicrnperspective, arrives at the conclusion that Lady Chatterley’s Lover is an attempt to find arnsolution to the problems of man-woman relationship which, Lawrence felt, had gonerncompletely out of focus and thus scattered.

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