Necessary Physical Contant in D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love and Plato's Symposium D.H. Lawrence’s novel, Women in Love, presents a complex model of female-male and male-male relationships. Lawrence’s model relies heavily on a similar model presented in Plato’s Symposium. The difference between the two works lies in the mode of realization; that is, how one goes about achieving a ‘perfect’ love relationship with either sex. Lawrence concentrates on corporal fulfillment, characterized in his recurring reference to obtaining a “blood oath,” while Plato concentrates on a mental, or “divine” bond. Lawrence’s concentration on corporal fulfillment of love only superficially differs from Plato’s concentration on the mind: both come to the same philosophy of bodily exchange as being a necessary component of relations with either sex. As Barry J. Scherr points out in his article on the relationship between Women in Love and the Symposium, “ ‘Excurse’ [chapter 23] has been recognized by critics as a ‘central chapter’ of Women in Love” (210). The reason for this appraisal is that “Excurse” presents both a realization and articulation of Lawrence’s view of female-male relationships through the characters of Birkin and Ursula. The transmittance, or “Excurse,” comes through bodily exchange: “[Ursula] traced with her hands the line of his loins and thighs … It was a dark flood of electric passion she released from him, drew into herself. She established a rich new circuit … released from the darkest poles of the body and established in perfect circuit” (358). It is through sexual intercourse, or, in the very least, bodily contact, that the connection between Ursula and Birkin is established. Scherr states that “This scene betwe... ... middle of paper ... ...al connection to take place in order to establish a meaningful bond. These bonds, if properly achieved, are the ideal models of relations between the two sexes. Superficial differences between the two works’ philosophies manifest in a difference in importance: Lawrence stresses the physical connection as paramount, while Plato describes that both physical and mental connections are necessary. Works Cited Griffith, Tom, trans. Symposium of Plato. Los Angeles: University of California P, 1989. Hecht, Jamey. Plato's Symposium: Eros and the Human Predicament. New York: Twayne, 1999. Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love. New York: Random House, 1922. Scherr, Barry J. "Lawrence's ‘Dark Flood:’ A Platonic Interpretation of ‘Excurse’" Paunch 64 (1990): 209-246. Strauss, Leo. On Plato's Symposium. Ed. Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago P, 2001.
Images of male homosocial and homoerotic relations pervade Athenian culture. From plays to poetry and jugs to the justice system one can find these relations represented pictorially and in words. But do all these images align with each other or are there irreconcilable differences between them? To look at this question we will take two small pieces of culture, a philosophical treatise, Plato's Symposium and the lyric poetry of Theognis and Anacreon.
The meaning of love is as intricate and unique as the purpose that it serves. It seems that the nature of love is found in the mind, the body and the soul. In Plato’s Symposium each member of the drinking party gives their own interpretation of love. As each speaker engages in their discourse, the concept of love is evaluated from different angles. According to Phaedrus, homoerotic love is the highest form of love and that sacrificing oneself for love will result in a multitude of rewards from the gods, while Pausanias believes that there are two forms of love: Commonly and Heavenly. As a physician, Eryximachus claims that love appears in every part of the universe, including plants and animals and that protection results from love. Before starting his speech, Aristophanes tells the group that his discussion about love may seem completely absurd, as he explains that in the beginning one body had two people who were eventually split in half by Zeus. This is meant to explain why people are constantly looking for their “other half”. Moreover Agathon, the poet the symposium is celebrating, critiques the previous speakers by stating that they failed to praise the god of love. He claims that love rejects feebleness and embraces youthfulness while also implying that love creates justice, courage and wisdom.
In the LGBT community, they develop intimate relationships in the same stages as heterosexual couples however they resolve conflicts more positively. Due to them being in a relationship with the same-sex partner, they approach roles in a relationship and marriage using egalitarianism. We all give and receive love differently. Knox & Schacht discuss the different types of loves styles a person’s desires from their relationships such as ludic, pragma, eros, mania, storge, and agape. These different love styles also express how lovers can understand and relate to one
Finally, even though, for a long time, the roles of woman in a relationship have been established to be what I already explained, we see that these two protagonists broke that conception and established new ways of behaving in them. One did it by having an affair with another man and expressing freely her sexuality and the other by breaking free from the prison her marriage represented and discovering her true self. The idea that unites the both is that, in their own way, they defied many beliefs and started a new way of thinking and a new perception of life, love and relationships.
Women play a key role in this novel in many ways. In the case of...
In the pre-modern view, love relationships were regarded as necessary for society to flourish. In The Symposium, love relationships had a general progression. One must love a single body. Then, realize that all bodies are beautiful. Finally, one must love another for one’s soul, and not just for one’s body; as we age, this physical beauty of the body fades. Love of the soul would last for the lifetime. Loving one’s soul leads to beautiful discourse. This beautiful discourse allows us to experience beauty itself, the ideal goal sought after by Plato. Love was not simply an emotion either, but rather a spirit within that connected beings; it was the compulsion for the good in another. Now, like sex, it is everywhere, in our romantic comedies...
Eupriedes, Medea and Sappho’s writing focus on women to expose the relationships between a variety of themes and the general ideal that women are property. The main characters in both pieces of literature demonstrate similar situations where love and sex result in a serious troll. These themes affected their relationship with themselves and others, as well as, incapability to make decisions which even today in society still affects humans. Headstrong actions made on their conquest for everlasting love connects to sacrifices they made to achieve their goal which ultimately ended in pain. Love and sex interferes with development of human emotions and character throughout the course
Morrison, Jago. "‘Who Cares About Gender at a Time Like This?’ Love, Sex and the Problem of
The ultimate act of consummation between a man and a woman is depicted by Wright as the deepest and most profound expression of pure love that can be mutually partaken in by two fellow human beings. Such an event involves truly uniting the opposite polarities of human existence, male and female, in a selfless act that plays a crucial role in Woman To Man’s underlying interpretation of the human condition. There is an almost animalistic and primal yearning ingrained in the human condition for physical union between a man and woman, as exemplified by the juxtaposed symbolism of the male “hunter” and his prize, the “chase”, that he seeks. Such an attitude towards the physical facets of sexual passion is reinforced by the polysyndeton of “the strength that your arm knows, / the arc of flesh that is my breast, / the precise crystals of our eyes”, highlighting the magnitude of the bodily pleasure derived from this unification. However, there are clearly deeper and more emotionally significant ramifications arising internally, with the combined amorous fervour between male and female capable of producing an even greater gift, that of new life. The result...
The Woman in Love, a section taken from Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, describes her theories on men and women in love and the vast differences and purposes they think love is for. This book was published in 1949, and with this in mind we can understand the way she describes women as the weaker sex and how dependent women are on men. In the beginning of the text she states that “The word ‘love’ has not all the same meaning for both sexes, and this is a source of the grave misunderstandings that separate them...love is merely an occupation in the life of the man, while it is life itself for the woman(683).” This first quote from this chapter is important because it really outlines what she is about to get at throughout the entire...
In classical Greek literature the subject of love is commonly a prominent theme. However, throughout these varied texts the subject of Love becomes a multi-faceted being. From this common occurrence in literature we can assume that this subject had a large impact on day-to-day life. One text that explores the many faces of love in everyday life is Plato’s Symposium. In this text we hear a number of views on the subject of love and what the true nature of love is. This essay will focus on a speech by Pausanius. Pausanius’s speech concentrates on the goddess Aphrodite. In particular he looks at her two forms, as a promoter of “Celestial Love” as well as “Common Love.” This idea of “Common Love” can be seen in a real life context in the tragedy “Hippolytus” by Euripides. This brings the philosophical views made by Pausanius into a real-life context.
While courtly love may seem like a fixation of the ancient past, the model courtship, in which two young people fall in love and e...
Love and beauty is another theme that recurs in Greek discussion, especially in Plato’s dialogues. In the Phaedrus and especially the Symposium, Plato discusses the nature of erotic love and give the argument for the ultimately transcendental object of love: Beauty. In both dialogues, Plato presents Socrates as a quintessential philosopher who is a lover of wisdom, and through his great speeches we are able to grasp Platonism and Plato’s view on the interesting theme.
Spilka, Mark. The Love Ethic of D.H. Lawrence. (1955): 244. Rpt. In TCLC. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 16. Detroit: Gale, 1985. 289-293.
Containing innumerable sub-themes, Women in Love holds a singular theme to which all others may be tied: sexuality. Opposed to employing subtleties, D.H. Lawrence opts for uninhibited writing when defining the sexuality of his characters. There are a variety of methods by which Lawrence is able to achieve a novel which exemplifies full disclosure on a topic generally viewed as not only private but indecent. These methods include the following: analysis of animals in the natural state, study of art, and graphic description of a variety of encounters. Sex, being considered an animalistic encounter by Lawrence, can be explored through the study of the utilization of the following animals in the story: Gerald Crich’s horse, Birkin’s cat Mino, and Winifred’s rabbit Bismarck. In the instance of Gerald’s horse, Gerald asserts his power over his horse in order to break the horse of its immediate instinct to enter into a panicked frenzy when hearing loud noises. While dining with Birkin, Ursula witnesses Birkin’s tomcat Mino physically dominating a female stray cat with who Mino wishes t...