Sons And Lovers : Mrs.Morel’s Inflence

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Gertrude’s ill-treatment of her husband and intense passion for her children originate from observing her own parent’s relationship. Even though Gertrude “resembled her mother in her small build,” and “hated her father’s overbearing manner towards her gentle, humorous, kindly-souled mother,” she still retains her father’s temper and need to dominate. Furthermore, during her first relationship with the prospective businessman John Field, Gertrude declares ‘”If were a man, nothing would stop me'”, alluding to her temperament and what attitudes she most likely picked up from her father.

The brief descriptions of Gertrude’s family life suggest that her father, George Coppard, aggressively controlled her mother. From Gertrude’s later actions, it seems that she subconsciously learned through observation that love meant having power over another person, an idea that pervades the treatment of her husband and sons in the novel Sons and Lovers. Gertrude’s belief that love equates to power is most evident in her relationship with her husband, Morel. In this relationship, Gertrude unconsciously assumes the role of her father.

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When Gertrude and Morel first meet, she is attracted to ow Morel differs from her father, describing Morel as “soft, non-intellectual, warm, a kind of gamboling” as opposed to George, “proud in his bearing… and rather bitter… who ignored all sensuous pleasure” . Though Gertrude seems to consciously dislike her father’s character, she is unwittingly very similar to him and she unconsciously marries someone whom she can domineer like her father did her “gentle, humorous, kindly-souled mother”.

Gertrude is also initially attracted to her husband, because of his use of the common dialect and his job s a miner, which she perceives as “noble” instead of just his only way to make a living. Mrs. Morel’s initial elevation in class, education, and refinement primes her to assume control over her husband. In addition, Gertrude continues to act the part of her father in her marriage with Morel. After the honeymoon period, and once she finds out that Morel has no money but a drinking problem, she begins to abuse him.

In fact, in the moment that Mrs. Morel first learns that her home is owned by Morel’s mother and that Morel has yet to pay off the wedding, Lawrence describes her with “She was her ather now” . Lawrence also writes that Gertrude “had her high moral sense inherited from generations of Puritans. It was now a religious instinct… lf he sinned, she tortured him. If he drank, and lied, was often a poltroon, sometimes a knave, she wielded the lash unmercifully” . Here, it is clear that Mrs.

Morel, Puritanical like her father, has unconsciously assumed his role in oppressing his spouse, a battle “[Morel] could not endure” . As Gertrude’s love for her husband fades, she turns all of her affection to her children. This is even more isconcerting, as she asserts power over her sons in the same way her father did her mother and she did over Morel, her influence leading to a perpetuation of the love as dominance cycle and her sons’ ultimate demise. Mrs. Morel’s dominance over her sons is most evident in her backhanded control over their love lives.

Gertrude imposes herself onto Paul’s and William’s lives so much that she takes the place of a lover. By being their lover, Mrs. Morel does not allow her sons to find women of their own, reducing their lives to anxiety and loneliness. Mrs. Morel’s dominance over William leads to his death, as he is strangled between his fianc©, Lily, and his mother. When William first gets sick, the doctor describes the illness as “pneumonia, and, he said, a peculiar erysipelas, [a skin disease], which had started under the chin where the collar chafed, and was spreading over the face” .

The fact that William’s illness targeted his lungs and the area around his throat alludes to death by strangulation, as he is pulled between his domineering mother and a fianc© whom he wants to be able to ove. Mrs. Morel mourns for her son, unaware of her role in his demise, and she continues to perpetuate her love as dominance cycle with Paul. Mrs. Morel imposes upon Paul’s relationship with Miriam. Gertrude constantly tells Paul how “common” Miriam is, and waits up late for him, like his wife, when he stays out late with Miriam, trying to make him feel guilty.

Paul even realizes at the end of the novel that his mother has been the root of his failed relationships, and he asserts that “‘l shall never meet the right woman while you live'”. Paul’s nly means of freeing himself from his mother’s dominance is to kill her, another dominating act disguised as love, following Gertrude’s path. The two sons that Gertrude most loved and dominated also seem to feel that domination is true love, thereby following in Gertrude’s footsteps, both sons abusing their lovers.

William as a child emits some of the same sentiments as his mother when she was young. Just as Gertrude hated her father for his “overbearing manner,” “William… hated [Morel], with a boy’s hatred for false sentiment, and for the stupid treatment of his mother” . Furthermore, William, ike his mother, begins to abuse Lily, his fianc©e, once he realizes she is not the perfect women he imagined. In the same way that Mrs. Morel built up a hatred for her husband, “And so often, William manifested the same hatred toward his betrothed”.

The same behaviors are seen after William’s death, with Paul. Paul’s relationships also suffer because of what he learned from his mother. Paul’s longest and first serious companionate relationship with Miriam ultimately ends, because he feels Miriam wants to possess all of him, something to which both he and his mother object. In a conversation with Mrs. Morel, Paul explains why he cannot marry: ‘”l even love Clara, and I did Miriam; but to give myself to them in marriage couldnt. I couldn’t belong to them”‘.

This way of thinking is fitting, since Paul feels like he must completely govern another person for it to count as love, and because he unconsciously understands that he still belongs to his mother. In his novel, Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence paints a cyclical view of love, in which characters define love by how they view their parents’ relationship. For this reason, Gertrude Morel, growing up in a household in which her father ominated her mother, views love as power over another person.

Perpetuating the cycle, she then assumes the role of her father by dominating her husband, Morel, and her two favorite sons, William and Paul. Moreover, after viewing their mother’s domination over their father, the two boys internalize her love and power belief, and act the same way in their own relationships, to terrible consequences. Though a cyclical view of love need not be negative, in Sons and Lovers, it only results in strife and a death of love that seems bound to be forever repeated.