Women Versus Society in Sons and Lovers

D.H. Lawrence Sons and Lovers - photo by Lesley Lanir

Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence’s controversial novel is well known for its Oedipal complex theme; However, besides Freudian themes, the realistic setting at the turn of the nineteenth century illustrates Victorian society’s perception of women in Britain. Through the events in the lives of the female characters from two generations, Mrs. Morel, Miriam Leivers, and Clara Dawes and their attitudes to their position in society, D. H. Lawrence exposes the reader to the changing social improvements for working class women in Britain, from their roles as subservient domestics to functioning members of society.

Marriage Debilitated Women

One of the most debilitating conventions of Victorian society was the institution of marriage; a loveless union used primarily as an escape from the parental home that provided young women with economic security. Jenni Calder notes in her book, Women and Marriage in Victorian Fiction, 1976, that unmarried women in the mid-nineteenth century were viewed as, “a class of unfortunates” (58). Therefore, Gertrude Coppard’s degradation to the lower-class from her middle-class, yet impoverished, “good old burgher" (8) family reflects the necessity of matrimony.

Women Confined by Financial Constraints

Once married, the destiny of Gertrude Coppard, like many women from her ‘common class’ and generation, is to be responsible for the home. In her new role as Mrs. Morel, Gertrude nevertheless accepts her fate and busies herself with domestic chores. Besides housework, Mrs Morel employs her expertise at home economics to cope with the stifling financial constraints of managing her home on housekeeping of thirty shillings a week, an amount that leaves her “no opportunity of saving” (17).

Poor Divorce Laws

More than once, after being beaten, Mrs. Morel threatens to leave her husband (22) but a life of abuse is preferable to being on the streets. In A History of Their Own: Women in Europe From Prehistory to the Present, Volume II, 1989, authors Bonnie Anderson and Judith Zinsser point out that until the mid-nineteenth century, divorce was available only to the middle-class and upwards (360). Even though, parliament passed a Divorce Act in 1857, which in certain circumstances allowed for legal separation and divorce, according to Calder (165), it was not until 1878 that the Matrimonial Causes Act established that women who separated from their husbands due to physical abuse could claim maintenance.

Unequal Work Opportunities and Pay for Women

As Anderson and Zinsser reiterate throughout their book, women were basically domestic servants within a patriarchal household. Added to this, working class women were forced to provide an income in order to survive. However, limited education and few job opportunities were available to them. Employment usually consisted of domestic service, piece work at home, or work in factories and mines with low wages, usually one-half or two-thirds of men’s; so many women turned to prostitution in order to survive (259).

Formal Education Denied to Women

In the 19th century, women’s desire to liberate themselves could only transpire if they had a voice in society; however, first they needed to be educated. Anderson and Zinsser report that the Victorian patriarchal society, in their attempt to keep women and the social classes firmly in their destined positions, denied working class women formal schooling, remarking that education conflicted with the traditional beliefs in the separate roles of men and women state (185).

Basic Schooling Provided for Women

Finally, note Anderson and Zinsser, the 1870 Education Act made elementary education compulsory for both girls and boys, ensuring girls received basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills. Yet, although society provided females with basic education, women still received submissive work and remained politically impotent (185).

However, as Calder mentions, by the 1860's women began to translate their yearnings into active campaigning (159). The transformation in women’s public self-confidence can be recognised in the contrast between the characters of Mrs Morel, Clara Dawes and Miriam Leivers. Mrs Morel feels her social status does not extend beyond her home and family. Yet despite the stigmatism, Clara Dawes "lives separate" from her unfaithful, "brutal" husband (238-239), and “talks on platforms” (273). As a member of the women's movement Clara has "acquired a fair amount of education, and ha[s] taught herself French" (230).

Clara's attitude is definitely changing with the times and also that of Miriam Leivers. Although she is not a member of a woman's movement Miriam recognises the disequiblium of the “unjust” patriarchal society where "the man does as he likes . . . [and] a woman forfeits” (275).

So, Clara and Miriam, a generation later, reflect the ‘new’ 19th century woman. Clara in particular emphasises their changing social status when she remarks: "its not heaven [my friend] wants to get - it's her fair share on earth" (201). Clara Dawes thus transmits a universal message for all women.

Sons and Lovers not just about the Oedipus Complex

Oedipal interests in Lawrence's Sons and Lovers present a secondary theme to that of woman versus society in the last decades of the nineteenth century. D. H. Lawrence’s novel provides a survey of the considerable changes of women’s status in society in England during this time.

Sources:

• Anderson, B. and Judith Zinsser. A History of Their Own: Women in Europe From Prehistory to the Present, Volume II: Harper Perennial, New York, 1989.
• Calder, Jenni. Women and Marriage in Victorian Fiction, Thames and Hudson Ltd. London, 1976.
• Lawrence, D. H. Sons and Lovers, Wordsworth Editions Ltd. Ware, Hertfordshire, 1993.

First published Feb 20, 2011,  by Lesley Lanir on Suite101.com

Copyright Lesley Lanir. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.