Date of Award

Fall 12-1-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

James F. Wurtz

Second Advisor

Brendan Corcoran

Third Advisor

Mark Lewandowski

Abstract

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the feminist movement in England was making significant progress, effectively influencing the leading artists and scholars of the time to consider the nature of female oppression and to do their part to invoke change. Among these figures, D.H. Lawrence emerged as a provocative voice on gender and sexuality. To this day, his work remains a source of significant contention, often due to the controversial representation of gender and sexuality in his novels. For decades, feminist critics have debated Lawrence’s characterization of women, some accusing his work of misogyny, with others praising his careful portrayals. However, while feminist scholarship illuminates a great deal about representations of women and hegemonic power, masculinity studies may offer a look at some of the undertheorized elements of Lawrence and gender. Considering that Lawrence was a leading literary voice on gender and sexuality during the Modern Era, his literature provides an excellent platform for offering a comprehensive study of gender. The White Peacock set the tone for Lawrence as a novelist, as he often used his fiction to illustrate the realities of lower- and middle-class life in early twentieth-century England. Woven into these stories is a concrete commentary on the effects and influences of hegemonic power on both male and female characters. In this paper, I will illustrate how these forces impact the lives of Lawrence’s characters and assess the overall message that Lawrence sends about masculinity.

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