RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

II
THE RAINBOW - THE MODERN WOMAN IN QUEST
Critics generally agree that The Rainbow is one of
Lawrence's best works in fiction.
It is, I may say, Lawrence's
most daring story because he shifts from the analysis of the.
inner life of a single character, like in Sons and Lovers and
The Trespasser, to a critical plunging into the lives of several
characters.
The story of the Brangwen family is not only the
story of three generations.
It is indeed a family chronicle,
but the idea of the book is not just to present the story of a
-family through its three generations.
The novel marks the
historical changes
England was going through from the year of
1840 on. At the same time that the novel denounces the invasion
of 'civilization' (industrialism) which destroys the life of an
agrarian society (The Marsh farm) it also shows a deep and
progressive modification in the main quests of the characters.
What Tom Brangwen wanted in his search for balance with Lydia
Lensky is transformed into a différent quest in the second
generation through Anna and Will, and is totally changed in
Ursula's generation.
It may also be said that one generation