“This thesis aims to analyze Lawrence's view of woman and his anti-feminism in Aaron's Rod, Kangaroo, The Plumed Serpent.
Lawrence’s view of woman is very important for him. Lawrence is called as an anti-feministic writer or a feministic writer according to his view toward woman.
When we devide Lawrence’s literary history as four periods, he is a feministic writer except the third period. Lawrence became anti-feminist in the third period.
In Aaron Rod, Aaron’s attitude to his wife is thoroughly patriarchal. Aaron’s disappearance from home proves that he is selfish and irresponsible. Aaron's giving up family is the step for the woman conquest. Aaron’s attitude to the woman conquest is exposed in the women whom Aaron met after his leaving from his wife.
Aaron and Lilly indulge in long misogynistic diatribes. Lilly who asserts that his wife must submit to him is the same as Aaron. Lilly and Aaron think that the right of man is declining after war. So they feel a sense of duty to revive the right of man. The comradely union of Aaron and Lilly is developed into the leadership theory that all women and the inferior men must submit to the leader who has the great spirit.
Lawrence finds that Frieda is the lady who is difficult to control as she is so obstinate and a lady of strong personality. As Frieda refused to give up her right, Lawrence and Frieda were in conflict each other. This conflict is exposed as the form of woman's submission to man and the man’s domination to woman in Kangaroo.
In The Plumed Serpent, Kate who married to Cipriano gives up her self and submitts to the phallic power of Cipriano. At the end of The Plumed Serpent, Kate appeals Cipriano to let her stay at him. The result is the culmination of anti-feminism. Kate gives up her self completely and submitts to the strong phallic power of man. Lawrence's man superiority is exposed through this process.
In The Plumed Serpent, when the man is active and dominative and the woman is submissive and dependent, the balance between man and woman is achieved. Lawrence strongly expresses his anti-feministic point of view that the man must display the strong leadership to revive the power and the right of man that is lost owing to the war and the woman must give up the self and the independence and submitts to the strong man leader.
Lawrence became anti-feminist after the first world war. The reason why he became anti-feminist from feminist is as follows: the first is that Lawrence has the antipathy against the movement of woman’s right that emphasize excessively the emancipation of woman, the second is the ever-increasing participation of woman into society after the first world war, the third is the fear of woman who is independent and has the strong personality owing to the discord with Frieda.
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