Women In Love- The body Flashcards
Gudrun and Ursula thoughts on marriage.
Spirited and independent women who, although not from the upper class, want to marry for experience but think it will end their current experience.
Erotic rights of women might be at stake if they get married
Constrains sense of independence.
Goes against societal structure but very modernist in nature- links to questions of the institution of marriage clouding identity
Triangles of desire.
Suggesting human desire circulates in part by seeing and imitating desire that another person displays.
Example: Gerlad loves Birkin but sees him desiring Ursula which contributes to his desire for Birkin but also to Gudrun as a substitute.
Repression
‘There must be a revolution to set out bodies free’- Lawrence
‘All her repressed subconscious fear sprang into being, with anguish’- corresponds with passionate burning inside Ursula but this frightens her and causes anxiety- shows repression and instinctual urges.
Only time they are free is when dancing with the cows- identity questions
Freedom of body and sexuality
Body becomes a source of rejuvenation, a maternal wellspring that heals and nourishes Gerald.
‘And she was the great bath of life, he worshipped her’
Electric at the Saracens Head.
New innovation- links to the new sexual electricity being explored by women in society during modernist period.
Although time may change, sex and sexuality stays the same.
Focus on the sisters
Formulated a female gendered perspective much like the writing from Joyce and Mansfield.
‘All the equality in the world is there by nature’
Not talking about women but about men’s equality- not right for everyone.
Prose style
Flouts ideas of gender and driven to express and articulate emotions of the characters through full prose word style
Gerald’s death
Gudrun verbal abuse and rejection of his manhood enrages Gerald and he tries to kill her, only to decide he doesn’t want to and he leaves, climbs the mountain and freezes to death.
Shows that sex and sexuality are engulfing and powerful.
Attractions
Intense physiological and physical attraction between Gerald and Birkin. Shows that all is not what it seems and sexuality is much deeper than what appears on the surface.
Identity is hard to completely describe.
The fig
‘The fig makes a show of her bursted secret… that’s how women die too’
Metaphor for vagina
‘You haven’t got any body, just your will and lust for power’
Birkin to Herminone
‘All you want is pornography. Watching animals in mirrors to make it all mental’
Birkin to H
‘I want you to be lost to yourself so we are different’
Talking to Ursula about wanting love
