T H E S I S

or inhibited action we are tempted to relate Lawrence’s sensuous
pleasure in nature to his puritanism, as deflection of his sexual
unfulfilment. In fact, Anthony Beal, an English critic, says that
"in his first novel, The White Peacock, he (Lawrence) is nearer
his mother's world; in the last, Lady Chatterlev's Loverf very
far from it«*’(ABL U-)
Lawrence's sensibility is implied in the various ways he
describes the physical immediacy, from the first to the last novel:
auditory, tactile, muscular, and synaesthetic as well as
visual imagery* He started this kind of writing in The White
Peacock, using “art nouveau“ elements of scenery, i.e«, using
landscapes, plants, flowers, animals, and birds to convey a tentative
treatment of sex in nature* The whole body functions as
a “receptor“ for the sensations of naturee Thus, sex itself is
seen in a kind of haze, unclear and obscure, euphemistically.
The plot and the narrative angle also reinforce the hypothesis
that Lawrence was immature or at least that both in form and content,
his sensual love of natural detail is qualified by his puritanism.
Before I develop this point of view and relate it to
the novel, a brief plot-outline is necessary*
The Beardsalls (the Lawrences) and the Saxtons (the Chambers)
live on opposite sides of the valley of Nethermere (Eastwood)«
Their very differences create a subtle attraction and the
story unfolds around two couples: Lettie Beardsall and George
Saxton on the one hand, and Cyril Beardsall and Emily Saxton on
the other.
Among the secondary characters there is the “dark figure“
of a gamekeeper, Annable, who plays a small but important role