Living As A "Child Of Nature"-An Eco-Ethic Reading Of Lawrence's Women In Love

David Herbert Lawrence is one of the most outstanding novelists in the English Industrial Age. In his short life, he produced about fifty volumes of works ranging over different literary types such as novels and short stories, plays, poems, essays, travels and personal correspondence. From the view of the writer of the thesis, among his prolific works, Women in Love might represent his unique creative power and profound literary attainments best. It is a comprehensive and complex novel which involves a lot of subjects such as nature, man, sexuality, love, marriage, family, friendship, and also works of art and education. Above all, it inquires into the relationship between the human world and the non-human world, questions human value and ethics and seeks to find a way to save the natural environment from deterioration and to prevent human life from degeneration.This thesis attempts to explore Women in Love from the perspective of eco-ethics by reading closely the novel and eco-ethic literature. It analyzes the eco-ethic consciousness and implications embedded in the novel by interpreting the moral relationship between man and nature. The novel reflects the conflicts between industrial development and the law of nature which cause the deterioration of natural environment and the perplexity and spiritual crisis of man in love and marriage; it conveys Lawrence's anxiety about man's loss of morality and criticism of the misuse of science and technology; it embodies Lawrence's prescient eco-ethic consciousness and implications for living as a"child of nature".The thesis is composed of five parts including the introduction and the conclusion.The first part presents the ecological problems and predicaments that man is facing now and introduces the factors which influence on the formation of Lawrence's philosophy of life and views on nature.The second part gives a brief literature review that highlights the previous studies made on Lawrence and Women in Love and presents a concise survey of the approach of eco-ethics. Besides, it introduces the approach adopted and the purpose and significance of the thesis.The third part digs into Lawrence's eco-ethic consciousness embodied in the novel, in which the setting, the themes and the characterization are probed into in detail. It analyzes human blind exploitation of nature and excessive misuse of science and technology and nature's rebellion against and retaliation on man for their destructive behavior. It reveals Lawrence's criticism of the so-called industrial civilization and his anxiety about man's loss of morality and responsibility.The fourth part demonstrates D. H. Lawrence's eco-ethic implications. Since human beings are the product of nature and belong to nature, they are required to improve their ethics, return to nature and revere nature, and thus to achieve the harmony between man and nature.The concluding part makes a general summary of the thesis. Eco-ethics is a new phenomenon of the late 20th century, yet the concepts of ecology and ethics remain an eternal theme in human history. As one of the greatest novelists in the English Industry Age, D. H. Lawrence, with his sensible insight, foresees the possible results of destruction in the process of violating the law of nature. With the deep social, cultural, ecological and ethic connotations, the novel is significant in revealing Lawrence's prescient eco-ethic consciousness and enlightening man to build a world where nature and man are in harmonious and healthy relationship.