Lady Chatterley's Lover: A Love That Is Complete

Lady Chatterley's Lover: A Love That is Complete

"Lady Chatterley's Lover," by D. H. Lawrence was his last and most controversial novel he wrote. It was deemed as pornographic and banned for most of the 20th Century. According to Steve Hare, a writer for The Telegraph, " Lady Chatterley's Lover, first published in Italy in 1928 and subsequently banned in Britain, became the first novel to be tested under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act" (Hare 5). In 1960 the book was defended by some of literature's biggest names at the time. In 1961, after the court proceedings, Penguin released "C.H. Rolph's The Trial of Lady Chatterley, an edited transcript of the British court proceedings, including extracts from the book" (University of Melbourne 1). This book was also banned and due to a public outcry, it was reexamined again in 1964. The novel centres on the protagonist, Connie Reid, who was raised as a free spirit in a middle class family. Connie marries Clifford Chatterley, an aristocrat and shortly after he is sent off to fight in World War I. He returns alive but is paralyzed from the waist down, which causes him to be impotent. This tragedy puts an enormous dent in Connie and Clifford's marriage and Connie seeks solace in Oliver Mellors, the new gamekeeper at the Chatterley estate. These three characters are caught in an interesting type of love triangle because it is not a typical one. It does not involve the same type of suspense as in other novels. It has more of a passive aggressive type of nature to it. The three characters are so focused on their own personal journeys and the after effects that the war has had on their souls, that they aren't even able to recognize that this triangle exists. The theme of sexual freedom throughout the novel lays heavy on the love triangle between Connie, Clifford, and Oliver Mellors as they each scramble to overcome obstacles in search of their future selves and proving that in order for love to be complete, emotional and physical love must go together.

When Clifford Chatterley returns from war he is paralyzed, but does his best to stay pleasant and upbeat. "He remained strange and bright and cheerful, almost, one might say, chirpy...yet still in his face, one saw the watchful look, the slight vacancy of a cripple" (Lawrence 4). Clifford has come to realize how fragile life is and wastes no time becoming a successful writer and businessman. However, as Connie tends to his every need, she also observes how the war has affected his spirit. She sees how disassociated her husband is to his surroundings and to people in general, and how he has retreated into himself. "But she could not help feeling how little connection he really had with people. The miners were, in a sense his own men; but he saw them as objects rather than men, parts of the pit rather than parts of life.... He was not in touch. He was not in actual touch with anybody" (Lawrence 15). Although Clifford is now a hundred percent dependent on Connie, there is no physical contact whatsoever between them. They become more like friends living under the same roof. This causes Connie's restlessness and depression starts to set in at the reality that Clifford will never be able to sexually satisfy her. "Connie was aware, however, of a growing restlessness taking possession of her like madness....It thrilled inside her body, in her womb, somewhere, till she felt she must jump into water and swim to get away from it" (Lawrence 20). Clifford not bothered by his impotence and no longer sees sex as important. He is able to separate love from sex and even suggests to Connie that she should get pregnant by another man because he wants a child to inherit his fortune. Clifford weighs more importance on the raising of a child than he does on the biological factors. Connie does not consider this until later on in the novel. Her main focus is satisfying herself physically and thus begins a string of affairs with intellectual men who come to visit at the estate.

Connie has a reoccurring affair with Michaelis, a visiting playwright. "But occasional love, as a comfort and soothing, was also a good thing, and he was not ungrateful... he aroused in the woman, a wild sort of compassion and yearning, and a wild, craving physical desire" (Lawrence 30). Although Connie finds sexual enjoyment with Michaelis, the emotion is missing and she still feels a sense of loyalty to her husband. It is not until the arrival of Oliver Mellors, that she is realizes how empty her life is without an emotional attachment. Mellors possesses characteristics that Connie is not used to and this intrigues her. She ends up going to meet with him regularly in the woods and getting to know him. She yearns for him from afar. As time passes, Connie is clearly sinking into depression and her sister convinces her to end hire a local nurse, Mrs. Bolton, to care for Clifford. With the responsibility of her husband lifted, Connie is free to tend to her own needs