Illicit Love- Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover- D.H Lawrence

If you know me at all, you know I absolutely love D.H Lawrence- I have read practically everything he's written. Not that that's of any importance to you, I just figured I should mention it :-) 

Summary

The story was written in 1928 (modernism), about a woman, Constance (Lady Chatterley), and her affair with the gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. Her upper-class husband, Clifford Chatterley, has been paralysed from the waist down due to a war injury. It was Lady Chatterley's unsatisfaction with her marriage to Clifford that led her to have her affair with Oliver. It is through her affair that she realises that love is a physical experience, not a mental one. Why should you take some time out of social media and read this book? Dude, its porn. No really, a lot of sex in this one. In detail. Trust me. 

Theme and Analysis

Its love in a physical form which is apparent in this book, some themes which I noticed were: 

-Sex- NSFW, I'm warning you now. Don't open this link unless you're truly ready for it

-Lust- There is this strange idea in the book, of lust, even though Oliver speaks of the degradation of women, the same way Clifford does, Lady Chatterley laps up anything Oliver says but can't stand it when Clifford does... she's attracted to him physically, a lust for him, which binds this relationship together.

-Illicit Love- This is pretty obvious too, there is an affair which happens between Lady Chatterley and Oliver, its scandalous because she's still technically married to Clifford. 

Important bits you can memorise

Sex in 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'-  This book is pretty dirty, if you haven't already noticed. However, the way sex is described is a whole lot more philosophical, so don't expect any 50 Shades of Grey in this book. Lawrence describes sex as the way for two people to connect. It is the way to restore beauty and realism in life. Good sex gives wholeness not just bragging rights. 

Quotes about this: "It is curious what a subtle but unmistakable transmutation it makes, both in the body of men and women: the woman more blooming, more subtly rounded, her young angularities softened: the man much quieter, more inward, the very shapes of his shoulders and his buttocks less assertive, more hesitant." All I can say... 

Love in 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'- In this book, sex precedes love. Lawrence in his modern vies, insists that you cannot have love without sex, and its the only way love can really be expressed. There is no such thing as meaningless sex. This is because, sex connects two people to become a whole lot closer, which is what sparks love (I swear, this is according to Lawrence, I make no comment about this). So basically, first comes sex, then comes love, then comes a marriage, then comes a baby in a carriage (the nursery rhyme really skipped out on the order of this) 

Quotes about this: "She felt a sudden, strange leap of sympathy for him, a leap mingled with compassion, and tinged with repulsion, amounting almost to love" Here, Connie is unsure whether or not she loves Oliver, or if its just sex, but later, realises that its because of the sex that she is in love with him. 

Freedom and Confinement in 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'- Connie- like everyone in this book, if you think about it- is alone. She realises that Clifford's company is not actually a substitute for human interaction. They find that the way to human connection is real, human sex. I really feel like all I have talked about so far is the importance of sex. I mean, you really need to read the book to get it, I swear that's practically all its about! There is a lot of entrapment in the book, where Connie is in an unhappy marriage, Clifford is in a wheelchair, Hilda is trapped in a prison of convention. There is no real sense that it is so easy to break out of. Even divorce isn't the easy way out, as you would tell by the end of the novel, where Clifford doesn't agree to a divorce. 

Quotes about this: "One was less in love with the boy afterwards, and a little inclined to hate him, as if he had trespassed on one's privacy and inner freedom. For of course, being a girl, one's whole dignity and meaning in life consisted in the achievement of an absolute, a perfect, a pure and noble freedom" This is about how Connie realises she needs to be free from Clifford, that was, until she met Clifford and went on a wild crazy sex journey with hi, you know, usual standard stuff. 

Tone and Analysis Overall

Lawrence writes in free indirect discourse, whereby we get the chance to go inside everyone's minds. The idea is to combine elements of narrators voice, with elements of the characters voice, without using quotation marks or 'he said' 'she said' tags. There are also a lot of nature imagery which is sprinkled through the book, but this is less important, I find. Also, he uses irony, even when he names the characters, the main characteristic of 'Constance' (as in one who is faithful and not going to cheat) is the one who ends up having an affair. Ah, I love Lawrence.