T H E S I S

79
Maybe they are the truth some critics dare not face. Lawrence
himself says that books like LCL are ’necessary for us today.'1
Lawrence not only wants to ’purify*’ these words but also
the physical acts in which they are used. He denounces the false
puritan morality that considers these acts of the body dirty and
shameful, and in this respect he becomes an anti-puritan« He
reinstates the necessity of purifying sexual acts as a means of
awakening to life« In LCL, through Connie-Mellors1 relationships,
he tries to give meaning and beauty to the sexual act when it is
considered by the puritans only a necessary mechanical function,’
His method is to describe in detail the different stages of sex-
uality, from the simple preliminary acts of tenderness to the orgasmic
crisis. Examining some passages from page 120 to 185, we
can see how difficult it is for Lawrence to overcome the natural
inadequacy of words to describe sexual sensations. The orgasm
is especially almost indescribable because it really is part of
our mysterious and unknown self* The fact is that no other pleasure,
no other bit of happiness can be compared to the pleasure of
the paroxysm of the final crisis of coition. 1
Freud asserts:
’The most intense pleasure of which man is capable, (is)
the pleasure in the performance of the sexual act*”(GIP 3&5)
One can see how the spirit that animates this part of the
novel (pp«?120-185) could be divided in a set of erotic phases*
from touching and tenderness to orgasm and ’*phallic mystery51« In
the first passage the sexual act is tender and only later on the
woman is aware of the man’s mysterious stillness:
’Then with a quiver of exquisite pleasure he touched the
warm soft body, and touched her navel for a moment in a