5 The Influence of Oedipus Complex in Modern Society 14
6 Conclusion.... .. 16
Bibliography..... 17
1 Introduction
With the development of society, many emotions may be changed. The pure emotion between mother and son may become deformative. This love can change to Oedipus Complex. No one can clearly make a comment on this love. But many scholars started studying this kind of emotion, including litterateurs. One of the famous writers is D.H. Lawrence. So this paper will explain the emotion, Oedipus Complex, from his outstanding work Sons and Lovers.
The writer, David Herbert Richards Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter. His works, among other things, represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialization. In them, some of the issues which Lawrence explores are emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. The background of the author is like the characters he created in the novel. His father was a miner, lacking of education. His mother came from the upper class with high education. The huge cultural difference led to their different ideas, thus they always argue with each other. But these differences also have some benefits. Lawrence learnt much social experience from his father, and also got much love from her mother. However, because of her mother’s heavy love, Lawrence had serious Oedipus Complex.,源^自#751\文-论|文]网}www.751com.cn
Lawrence’ s well-known piece Sons and Lovers (1913) is an autobiographical novel, written in 1913. The chief source of this book is D. H. Lawrence’s youth. The Modern Library placed it ninth on their list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. As many famous critics said, it is an outstanding work, and it was full of many eloquent meanings. The most splendid part of the book is its reality. Lawrence described the situation and the content of the Morels carefully.
The book is about Paul’s love story and the Morels’ living life. The mother in this book was a woman of considerable culture, but she married with a miner of low culture. Heavy labor made his father alcoholic and high-melted. It led to their marital discord. So Mrs. Morel gave all her love to her son, especially the second son, Paul. In order to make up that she gave his birth without love, Mrs. Morel brought up Paul by all her love. The abnormal maternal love made Paul confused in the relation with other woman, whether a friendship formed in childhood, Miriam or married woman, Clara. Paul cannot really love them until his mother died. The book presented many thesises. The most piercing point is the relation between Mrs. Morel and his son, Paul. And it was also the first in the English language to explore ordinary working-class life. No writer before or since has written so well about the intimacies enforced by a tightly-knit mining community and by a family where feelings are never hidden for long. Paul Morel is caught between his need for family and community and his efforts to define himself sexually and emotionally. Lawrence’s powerful description of Paul's relationships makes this a novel as much for the beginning of the twenty-first century as it was for the beginning of the twentieth.
2 The General Concept of Oedipus Complex
With the development of the society, many kinds of emotion may change. The emotion between sons and their mothers become different. So it causes the Oedipus Complex, which has caused much human’s attention.
2.1 The Origin of Oedipus Complex
Oedipus was a character from a Greek mythology and became a synonym of the Oedipus Complex in psychoanalytic theory. The king Laius and his queen Jocasta of Thebes, located in the middle of Greece, were not fertile. So they came to pray for children to Temple of the Sun, but the prophet said their son might kill Laius and marry with Jocasta. Jocasta gave birth to a child soon. In order to prevent being killed by his son, Laius decided to throw this infant in the hill and use shackle through his legs to ensure he would die. As a result, the servant cannot bear to kill this infant. He gave it to a sheepherder in Corinth. This infant was adopted by king Polybus and queen Merope，named with Oedipus. 《儿子与情人》中的恋母情结研究(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_51385.html