Psychological Conflict, Desire, and Female Selfhood in D. H. Lawrence’s Fiction
Abstract
This paper studies the psychological conflicts experienced by major female characters in the fiction of D. H. Lawrence. While Lawrence’s women have often been discussed in relation to patriarchy and sexuality, they also require attention as figures of inward division, repression, desire, emotional dependency, fear, and resistance. Focusing on Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the paper argues that female selfhood in Lawrence is created through psychological struggle. Gertrude Morel, Miriam Leivers, Clara Dawes, Ursula Brangwen, Gudrun Brangwen, and Constance Chatterley are not fixed types of mother, beloved, rebel, or sexual woman. Each is shaped by a conflict between inner desire and outer expectation. Psychoanalytic criticism is useful for understanding these conflicts because Lawrence repeatedly represents identity through attachment, rivalry, unconscious need, bodily awakening, and the fear of losing the self in relation. Yet these psychological conflicts are also historically produced by a world moving from Victorian restraint toward modern forms of sexuality and individualism. Lawrence’s achievement is to show that female identity is not simply chosen; it is formed through struggle with family, love, body, memory, class, and the unconscious.
How to Cite
Vishav Dev Sharma, Suman Devi, "Psychological Conflict, Desire, and Female Selfhood in D. H. Lawrence’s Fiction", Vol. 3, Issue 12, 27-03-2026, pp. 111-122.
