Paul Morel's Tragedy In Sons And Lovers From The Perspective Of Karen Horney's Neurosis Theory

As one of the most influential masterpieces of D.H.Lawrence,Sons and Lovers has gained a high reputation around the world.However,the descriptions of the complicated emotional involvements between the main characters,especially between Paul and his mother,Paul and his two lovers,have brought about enormous controversies.For a long time,psychoanalysis has played an important role in revealing the novel's theme and in analyzing the protagonists' characteristics and their relations.Based on psychoanalysis,researchers and experts have done a lot in interpreting Sons and Lovers.With the help of Karen Horney's Neurosis theory,this thesis mainly analyzes and reinterprets the causes of Paul's tangled life and how his inappropriate responses deteriorate his already awful situation.Horney's Neurosis theory claims that neurosis is not what someone is born with.Instead,it is brought about by social-cultural factors and results from disordered interpersonal relationships.Faced with anxieties,people tend to take different attitudes and create an idealized image to escape from or release these anxieties.That is called neurosis.This thesis discusses what kind of environment causes Paul's anxieties;what kind of character Paul develops;to release these anxieties,what kind of response Paul chooses to deal with the people around him,especially with his mother and his two lovers;through Paul's whole life,what exactly causes his unhappy life.Firstly,this thesis discusses Paul Morel's family life.The conflicting and insecure environment in which Paul grew up makes him extremely uneasy and anxious,which is the root of his neurotic trend and personality.Born in an ordinary mining family,Paul experiences the same trouble as most of the working-class people do.Besides,the mismatched unhappy marriage between Paul's parents,illiterate miner Walter Morel and wellborn arrogant Gertrude Coppard,not only alienates the couple from who they are but leads to an abnormal relationship between family members,putting Paul into huge anxieties.Secondly,on the basis of Paul's relationships with the people around him,especially his Platonic love with Miriam,his flesh love with Clara and his strong reliance on Mr.Morel which is far beyond in a normal mother-son relation,this thesis illustrates Paul's neurotic personality and analyzes his confusion of actual self and idealized self in self-alienation.This thesis concludes that Paul is tortured by his struggle between his eagerness to get away from the people around him and his thirst for being well-received,thus twisting his inner world as well as his relationships with others.Being stuck with the reliance on his mother and not able to have an independent romantic relationship with other women makes Paul's life miserable,and the confusion of his own self-images finally brings about his tragedy.By employing Horney's Neurosis theory,this thesis attempts to reinterpret Paul's tragic life,offering readers a new perspective to better understand the causes of Paul's tragedy.