摘 要

小说《虹》戴维·赫伯特·劳伦斯的一部杰出且具有争议性的作品，同时也是是劳伦斯篇幅最长的小说，诗意盎然，而又塑造具有象征意义的女性形象。本论文，突出一家三代三位女性Lydia, Anna，和Ursula的形象描写与性格研究，通过分析这三位不同社会时期的女性的形象，从而看出十九世纪女性自我意识的发展及作家对那时女性困境所作的深刻思考。

关键词：D.H.劳伦斯；《虹》；女性形象；女性的自我意识

Contents

1. Introduction................................................................................................................1

2. Demonstration............................................................................................................2

2.1 Lydia’s Awakening Image ......................................................................................2

2.1.1Characterization of Lydia ......................................................................................2

2.1.2Lydia’ pursuit of self-awareness ...........................................................................4

2.2 Anna’s Contradictory Image....................................................................................5

2.2.1Characterization of Anna ......................................................................................5

2.2.2 Anna’s defense for self-independence..................................................................6

2.3Ursula’s Rebellious Image .......................................................................................8

2.3.1Characterization of Ursula ....................................................................................8

2.3.2 .Ursula’s exploration of self-emancipation...........................................................8

3. Conclusion................................................................................................................10

Notes.............................................................................................................................11WorksCited...................................................................................................................12

Bibliography.................................................................................................................13

A Study of the Woman Images in the Rainbow

1. Introduction

D. H. Lawrence(1885-1930), one of the most prolific writers in the-20^th -century English literary history, wrote diverse works including novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, and literary criticism, etc. He was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, central England. Lydia Lawrence, his mother, is a well-educated woman, fond of reading. Arthur Lawrence, his father, is a miner, fond of drinking. So Lawrence grows up under the rich social experience of his father and the noble care of his mother. But his mother makes greater influences on him, as a result of which, he produces the Oedipus complex, which is one of the source of inspiration in the process of his literary creation. In the age of Lawrence’s life, Women’s Liberation Movement was rising, and Lawrence became a representative of women's right in his own means.

The Rainbow is one of the representative work of D.H. Lawrence, as well as his longest novel. It tells the story of three generations of Brangwens's life experience reflecting the modern people’s confusion, misery, struggle and longings. The Rainbow also shows three generations of different female images, Lydia, Anna, and Ursula. Their own life, marriage and values are different, and then their different life roads reveal the track of the development of women's self-awareness, self-independence, and self-emancipation.

There are many studies about Lawrence and his work from different perspectives. In his doctoral dissertation, Sufism and the Quest for Spiritual Fulfillment in D. H. Lawrence’s the Rainbow (2000), Fereshteh Zangenehpour uses Sufism¹ to interpret the spirit in The Rainbow, and notices the characters’ inner experience. In Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890 － 1930( 2005), Daniel R. Schwarz thinks that Lawrence wrote a biblical chronicle of the family in his novel, at the same time reflecting Lawrence’s pursuit of the form of value, and the reality of sex. Daniel R. Schwarz also thinks that the pursuit of the passionate sexual relations between men and women is appropriate. Compared to the rich variety of literary criticism of Lawrence abroad, there are few researches of The Rainbow in our country, which mainly includes ecological criticism and archetypal criticism, existentialism, narratology, and so on. As Zhang Lin studies The Rainbow in the perspective of ecological criticism, he concludes that Lawrence directes criticism at the capitalist industrial civilization through the description of natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology, revealing the damage to the entire ecosystems and expressing his pursuit of human ecological spirit and the vision of the beauty of the world.

This thesis is focusing on the female images of three generations. By analyzing their characterization, I intend to disclose the development of the women characters' self awareness. This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part discusses Lydia's awakening image, including her characterization and pursuit of self-awareness. The second part analyzes Anna's contradictory image, including her characterization and defense for self-independence. The third part elaborates on Ursula's rebellious image, including her characterization and exploration of self-emancipation.

2.Demonstration