The Irrational Factors In D.H. Lawrence’s Short Stories

D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) is one of the most outstanding modern writers in EnglishLiterature history. Lawrence is talented and of all trades, he is not only a writer, but also a poet,essayist, dramatist, critic, translator and painter. Exploring the relations between the sexes and therelentless critique of capitalist industrial civilization which represses humanity have been thefocuses of Lawrence’s creation. Lawrence has been committed himself to activating human flesh,instinct, bloodiness and other life impulses which are repressed by industrial civilization. But sucha talented writer’s artistic journey is full of ups and downs. Lawrence’s works have got popularcriticism and have been repeatedly banned. Fortunately, the critics of his works have undergone atransformational change in three decades after Lawrence’s death. His novels spread far and widein a short time, and become one of the study objects of the UK and the world literature. Overall,his achievements as a novelist are the biggest, but the high value has never been got by his shortstories. As a matter of fact, the short stories of Lawrence are also Lawrence’s excellent andoutstanding works due to distinctive subject and focused conflict in recent years although his shortstories have space limitations. In view of this, the author jumps out of the past research which onlyfocuses on Lawrence’s long novels and part of the famous poems, and pays attention toLawrence’s short stories, especially irrational factors that are manifested in his short stories, whichwill contribute to producing the new and deep understanding of Lawrence’s short works.The thesis is divided into a total of five chapters. In Chapter One, the author introducesbriefly Lawrence’s life, provides a literature review of Lawrence novels at home and abroad andexplains the purpose, significance and methods of the study.In Chapter Two, the author analyzes irrationality and irrationalism and discusses thedefinition and relationship between irrationality and irrationalism. Irrationality is human’s basicmental phenomena and cognitive form; irrationalism is a social trend of thought, the relationshipbetween them is the relationship between the source and the stream. Then the author analyzes theirrational features in Lawrence’s short stories. First is non-logical. In Lawrence’s short stories,some characters’ behaviors are unconscious illogical behaviors which are not in accordance withthe logic of life and develop in the track of day-to-day experience, and are less subject toregulation and norms of social etiquette and ethics. Next is emotional, in Lawrence’s short novels,we can see the emotions of the characters suddenly out of control and have some behaviors whichare inconsistent with their usual habits. Last is non-verbal. In Lawrence’s short novels, the way towake up the instinctive desire of the characters is often through some of the actions rather thanlanguage.In Chapter Three, the author selects Lawrence’s three representative short stories whichhighlight rational factors, they are Ticket, Please, The Prussian Officer, The Horse Dealer’sDaughter, and the author analyzes the irrational factors embodied in these three novels at length.In Ticket, Please, the hero Thomas constantly has intercourse with different women in order tomeet his own short-term happiness, which is consistent with Schopenhauer’s pessimistic theory ofirrationalism. The heroine Annie wants to possess Thomas regardless of spirit or flesh, which isthe result of the objectification of Anne’s survival will. And this fiction is filled with the conflict ofid and superego. In The Prussian Officer, the captain and orderly are unconscious to seek themeaning of existence on each other, the dialogue between their bodies has strong sexualimplication, and the life awareness of the orderly gradually wakes up in the torment of the captain on him. In The Horse Dealer’s daughter, the hero and heroine embody the mutual confrontation ofthe two instincts; the return of the hero’s and heroine’s ids makes them have courage to surviveand get rid of shackles in the society. The impulse of bloody consciousness makes the hero andheroine get a new life and love.In Chapter Four, the author describes Lawrence’s inheritance and breakthrough ofirrationalism. Under the influence of Schopenhauer’s survival will, Lawrence regards survival willas the basic driving force of the figures’ actions, which is mainly manifested in sexual attractionand spiritual acquisitiveness. Under the influence of Nietzsche’s life theory, Lawrence praisesbody, pays attention to the vitality of life, and has a deep critique of modern industrial civilization.Under the influence of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Lawrence admits the existence of “OedipusComplex”. Freud and Lawrence both regard unconsciousness and civilization against each other,but Lawrence believes that the unconsciousness is the original creative force, is the source of life.Freud stresses that to establish a stable personality must make the conflicts and struggles among“Id”,“Ego” and “Super-ego” maintain a balance, Lawrence agrees on that, too.The last Chapter is the conclusion. The irrational and irrationalism have both connections anddifferences. Having a correct view of the relationship between the two will help readers betterunderstand Lawrence’s short stories. The irrational features are a non-logical, emotional andnon-verbal in Lawrence’s short stories. Lawrence’s creations are greatly influenced byirrationalism. Schopenhauer’s survival will, Nietzsche’s life theory as well as Freud’spsychoanalytic theory become the ideological foundation of the creations of Lawrence. Thephilosophy of irrationalism enriches and deepens Lawrence’s understanding of the modernpeople’s psychological world, strengthens the social criticism of his novels, makes the charactersfull and deepens the theme. Lawrence focuses on the irrational spiritual world, and sees the realbeauty and hope in the pure state of human’s unconsciousness. We should see the positive sides ofirrationality, understand and trust the power of irrationality, we can pursue real self and have newlife. In-depth study of irrational factors in Lawrence’s creations will provide a new perspective forthe entire Lawrence’s study.