A Freudian approach to D.H. Lawrence

The present thesis, which focuses on D.H. Lawrence and two of his significant masterpieces, seeks to display the critical role and the significance of childhood experiences in the formation of individuality. The principal purpose is to analyze the main characters of these novels according to Freudian psychoanalytical theories. This thesis explores the connection between the characters and their psychological states which account for their behavior. Both Sons and Lovers and Women in Love have various autobiographical traces, since both of them reflect the personality, the time, the experiences, and the psychological state of the writer.As an outcome, this study firstly gives the necessary theoretical background on both D.H. Lawrence and the relevant psychoanalytical discussion. Secondly, the literary discussion starts with the interpretation of Sons and Lovers according to the Oedipus complex. An inappropriate maternal relationship between the characters in this novel results in the destruction of Mrs. Morel?s son Paul, largely representative of Lawrence himself. Excessive possession by his mother creates a dependent person of him. Thus, he is a man that can neither love nor give himself wholly to other women, which means he becomes unable to achieve full satisfaction.This thesis then continues with the discussion of the main characters of Women in Love according to Freud?s topographical and structural models of the mind. The three levels of consciousness and the significance of the unconscious are discussed in the analysis of the four main characters by making some references to their childhood and previous experiences. Their intricate relations, their psychic worlds, and their choices are discussed differentially on the basis of their own individual backgrounds.By presenting such a detailed discussion based on Freud?s psychoanalytical theories, this thesis hopes to display the underlying reasons of the inner conflicts, and the deteriorations of the various characters created by D.H. Lawrence in both the novels discussed here, Sons and Lovers and Women in Love.