D.H. Lawrence and the Challenge of Class Consciousness: Original Freedom and the Self

Abstract

The purpose of this analysis is to explore D.H. Lawrence's obsession with the oppression of class systems. He saw class as a depraved institution that robs the individual of originality. In both The Ladybird and "Daughters of the Vicar" Lawrence exposes the inherent self-consciousness and class-consciousness of the social order. His fiction presents the oppression that haunt members of class systems. The goal of my thesis is to evaluate his characters at varying levels of this consciousness, while exploring what it is that promulgates the consciousness. According to Lawrence, human beings deny their genuine nature in order to belong to a group, which inevitably forces them to live in a hyperconscious awareness of themselves and their place in the class system. Additionally, this thesis analyzes Lawrence's concept of the ideal individual who transcends consciousness and exists in an unselfconscious state. For Lawrence, this ideal individual possesses the capacity to lead most admirably.