The Portrayal Of Distorted Man-Woman Relationship And The Pursuit Of Man-Woman Harmony

D.H. Lawrence is not only a great novelist, poet, essayist, but also an established dramatist. In his short literary career, he wrote eight full-length plays and two fragments. Like his novels, his plays were not fully accepted in his life time. Only three out of his ten plays were published and two performed when he was alive. However, because of the trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover in Britain and America (in which both courts gave their verdicts that the novel was not pornographic) and the popularity of television in the mid-sixties, his plays received more and more attention. In the past few decades all of his plays were published and performed. Some were even adapted to movies and television dramas, which were loved and admired by millions of people all over the world.His plays, A Collier's Friday Night, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd and The Daughter-in-Law, being regarded as colliery trilogy by some drama historians, are considered to be the best and have entered repertoire of many theaters. They are grouped together not only for their naturalistic mode, but also for their thematic concern about man-woman relationship, about the family life of British common people, especially the life of the colliers'families.Like most of his other works of this period, his colliery trilogy is mainly concerned with the exploration of a way to build a harmonious man-woman relationship, and consequently a better family relationship. The portrayal of distorted man-woman relationship and the pursuit of man-woman harmony define the theme. In A Collier's Friday Night, a portrayal of distorted family relationship is drawn. In this play, Mrs. Lambert, born in the middle class, resents her collier husband which incurs his severe complaint. For in the mining town, man is the bread-winner of the family, therefore is usually regarded as the master of the house, so the resent of the wife greatly damages his manliness. Under the influence of Mrs. Lambert, the children also resent and alienate their father. He bitterly notices all those and becomes coarser to defy the children's contempt. This makes the children hate him more. In the play, the...