T H E S I S
T H E S I S T H E S I S
12 God’s act of ‘electing* those chosen few whom he means to save, rather than the efforts of the individual toward salvation. The puritan god is a God of fear, an angry God who threatens continual damnation rather than the merciful God of the New Testaments Puritan reformers understood that it was necessary to 11 purify” religion and the State, unifying them and unifying the religious sects (a goal they never achieved)«, But the term puritan” came finally to be generally applied to overprecise moralists or to reformers intent on such mat- ters as the abolition of alcohol and tobacco, and as an extension, on matters of sex and general behaviour. "They wanted a Christianity so pure that it would admit of no toleration, no joy, no colour, no charity even; an austere religion which frowned on easy pleasure and punished vice in the sternest possible way... Calvin taught that free will did not exist and that men were predestined from the beginning of time to go to either heaven or hell... Old Testament became the book of Law, pleasure was regarded as sinful, moral crimes were savagely punished,”(ELS131) Three hundred years later, under Queen Victoria(l837-1901), especially during the Industrial Revolution, the theological inference of Puritanism lessened in England, for reason was much in conflict with religion. Yet there was a re-hardening of its psychological and moral influence, Victoria herself being a reformer and a moralist. D.E.Lawrenee*s mother, Lydia Beardsall, was Congregational- ist, one of the sternest branches of Protestantism under Victoria and her children were brought up in her faith, which had puritanic roots. Born in 1885, Lawrence was educated in this rigorous belief, under the guidance of his tempennentally puritanic mother.
33 The actual meaning we find in dictionaries today for "puritan” is "a person of or affecting extreme strictness in religion or morals.’* The Victorian moralists associated puritan- ism with middle class to what the Lawrences belonged. Lydia Beardsall’s education laid a great emphasis on Law (the Bible) and later on, young Lawrence would use what he learned from the Scriptures in his writings. G.H.Ford says that Lawrence was affected by the Bible in the composition of The Rainbow and dedicates a whole chapter to this. (DDM 115-137) Lawrence’s prophetic side and preacher’s habits are also indications of his biblical background. So that in a broad sense the background of Lawrence's family was really puritanical# Indeed his mother's father was a minister, but his father seems to have had no religious education. However, some critics even call his mother a "back-street Victorian age Puritan”. from Lawrence himself: Harry T. Moore does not go so far but quotes ’From early childhood I have been familiar with Apocalyptic language and Apocalyptic image: not because I spent my time reading Revelation, but because I was sent to Sunday school and to Chapel, to Band of Hope and to Christian Endeavour, and was always having the Bible read at me or to me.u(TIH38) In his introduction to Sext Literature» and Censorship Moore adds: "Lawrence, growing up in the Nottinghamshire coal-field in the decline of the Victorian age, was conditioned by that era and by the Congregationalism of the miners’ bethel of his childhood.”(SLC 8) R. Aldington states' that religion was a more important factor in Lawrence’s puritanic background than education and adds: "The family were Congregationalists, a fact in which Law-
- Page 1 and 2: Mo ï»e THESIS D. H0 IAWBENGE: SEX
- Page 3 and 4: Esta Tese foi julgada adequada para
- Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations Mbs
- Page 7 and 8: vil PGB - Portrait of a Genius« Bu
- Page 9 and 10: R E S U M O D« H. Lawrence fez do
- Page 11 and 12: Chapter I INTRODUCTION A, A, Victor
- Page 13 and 14: 3 misunderstood sexual theme, is go
- Page 15 and 16: 5 identical reasoning: nThere can s
- Page 17 and 18: 7 attitudes. In this respect, it is
- Page 19 and 20: 9 rence ’s works in his book The
- Page 21: Chapter II PURITANISM DEFINED Histo
- Page 25 and 26: 15 and lie alone right. Having run
- Page 27 and 28: 17 presents the Freudian imbroglio
- Page 29 and 30: 19 it is perhaps worth noticing tha
- Page 31 and 32: 21 but in many other parts of the b
- Page 33 and 34: or inhibited action we are tempted
- Page 35 and 36: 25 And about Cyril (himself) he sai
- Page 37 and 38: 27 The tall meadow-sweet was in bud
- Page 39 and 40: 29 genitals. Certainly Lawrence's p
- Page 41 and 42: 31 Of course, one can imagine how i
- Page 43 and 44: 33 'Good Lord, Emily! But he is dea
- Page 45 and 46: 35 cock just quoted in the two prev
- Page 47 and 48: 37 frustrated: Mr, and Mrs. Beardsa
- Page 49 and 50: 39 So far, Lawrence’s early views
- Page 51 and 52: hi rainbow arch; it is the “toget
- Page 53 and 54: ^3 Lawrence said in his defence: "T
- Page 55 and 56: ubbing passage of The White Peacock
- Page 57 and 58: eautiful."(TRB 238) Why afraid? Bec
- Page 59 and 60: Chapter V LAURENCE AND PORNOGRAPHY
- Page 61 and 62: 51 sions then is Freud’s theory o
- Page 63 and 64: 53 male, in a negative or sundering
- Page 65 and 66: 55 he directly faced the censors an
- Page 67 and 68: 57 "the whole question of pornograp
- Page 69 and 70: 59 Girordias, (11) famous editor an
- Page 71 and 72: 61 secret".; Neither can be of any
12<br />
God’s act of ‘electing* those chosen few whom he means to save,<br />
rather than the efforts of the individual toward salvation. The<br />
puritan god is a God of fear, an angry God who threatens continual<br />
damnation rather than the merciful God of the New Testaments<br />
Puritan reformers understood that it was necessary to 11 purify”<br />
religion and the State, unifying them and unifying the religious<br />
sects (a goal they never achieved)«,<br />
But the term puritan” came finally to be generally applied<br />
to overprecise moralists or to reformers intent on such mat-<br />
ters as the abolition of alcohol and tobacco, and as an extension,<br />
on matters of sex and general behaviour.<br />
"They wanted a Christianity so pure that it would admit of<br />
no toleration, no joy, no colour, no charity even; an austere<br />
religion which frowned on easy pleasure and punished<br />
vice in the sternest possible way... Calvin taught that<br />
free will did not exist and that men were predestined from<br />
the beginning of time to go to either heaven or hell...<br />
Old Testament became the book of Law, pleasure was regarded<br />
as sinful, moral crimes were savagely punished,”(ELS131)<br />
Three hundred years later, under Queen Victoria(l837-1901),<br />
especially during the Industrial Revolution, the theological inference<br />
of Puritanism lessened in England, for reason was much in<br />
conflict with religion. Yet there was a re-hardening of its psychological<br />
and moral influence, Victoria herself being a reformer<br />
and a moralist.<br />
D.E.Lawrenee*s mother, Lydia Beardsall, was Congregational-<br />
ist, one of the sternest branches of Protestantism under Victoria<br />
and her children were brought up in her faith, which had puritanic<br />
roots. Born in 1885, Lawrence was educated in this rigorous<br />
belief, under the guidance of his tempennentally puritanic mother.
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