- 著者
-
佐藤 文子
- 出版者
- 駒澤大学北海道教養部
- 雑誌
- 駒澤大學北海道教養部論集 (ISSN:09136509)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- no.7, pp.15-26, 1992-10
This particular novel, The Fox (1912) has showed its theme most beautifully and somewhat psychedelically. In this paper, I would like to consider the author's feeling toward woman that is running beautifully in this novel, consulting his works, Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious (1921), Fantasia of the Unconscious (1922). The story begins in this way. Two women, both of them are around thirties, are working in the country of England, making their living by poultry. One is Banford and the other is March. Both are called by their surnames and both are spinsters. Banford is a small, thin delicate girl wearing spectacles. She, however, was the principal investor of the farm, because her father gave her the capital to make the farm, for she was not likely to get married. Lawrence insisted that the spectacles symbolized intelligence and knowledge and knowledge was the cause of destruction of women's happiness. Lawrence hated this type of overknowing women. On the other hand, March was more feminine, although she was wearing a linen tunic coat buttoned up to her throat and putting gaiters on her legs like men, she, herself was a woman. March was an androgyny that is, she was female inside and Lawrence wanted this kind of woman, here. Lawrence described Banford and March as follows; Aha, there went March, striding with her long, land stride in her breeches and her short tunic. Banford would have little iron breasts, he said to himself. For all her frailty and fretfulness and delicacy, she would have tiny iron breasts. But March, under her crude, fast workman's tunic, would have soft, white breasts, white and unseen. Soft, white tender breasts symbolizes life and tiny iron breasts symbolizes death. March was taciturn and was always paralized by the unconsciousness that comes from her inner self. This constant attitude of her characterized March. Since Banford was a principal investor of this farm, March took the man's role, that means, March had to work three-fourths of the work and that kept her tired and hystellic sometimes. One evening, a young soldier named Henry appeared in this farm. To march, he seemed to be a fox because he was quite similar to the fox which she saw in the field a year ago. The boy started talking with them and approached especially March. Why did he approach? March was attractive and described as an ideal woman, androgyny. Here, the author, disguised as Henry rushed into the female homestead and directed this story and had it developed. That is, a sexally capable male is to interfere with a lesbian couple's relationship and to dominate one of the partners. In this way, a story of the psychological relationship, a triangle mating complex of love and hatred begins. Henry proposed marriage to March. Banford was bewildered to hear the story and the conflict with March was deepened. As the three people's relationship got into more deeper antagonistic situation, March was compelled to a situation that she had to put herself to the side of Banford as a partner of the community in the farm and the side of Henry. After having made the procedure of marriage, Henry promised March to take her to Canada. However, the Henry's train started to leave for Salisbury Plain, March's heart was again returned to the sane and safe Banford. March broke off the engagement. Henry got an antagonistic feeling against Banford. In his mind was one thing-Banford.…One thorn rankled, stuck in his mind. Banford. In his mind, in his soul, in his whole being, one thorn rankling to insanity. And he would have to get it out. He rushed to the farm after receiving the letter. He met March at the farm and helped her with the work of chopping off a big dead branch. He concentrated on his mind to hit Banford who had been watching his cutting underneath. It was his consciousness that had worked to its extremity and had splitted a branch. Henry killed Banford. He won. However, the love between the two peorle got an dark shadow and it could not be what it had been. Poor March, in her goodwill and her responsibility, she had strained herself till it seemed to her that the whole of life and everything was only a horrible abyss of nothingness. …You pluck flower after flower-it is never the flower. The flower itself-its calyx is a horrible gulf, it is the bottomless pit. They pushed happiness and both were failed. When he picked the flower, it's not a flower anymore. Even after the Banford's death, March could not submit herself to Henry, for she had been taking the man's rote in the community life and could not quite get rid of the way. The crux of this novel is that March was caught between assertion of self and submission of self, that is total consciousness or total lack of consciousness. And her dillenma is left unresolved. Lawrence stressed his opinion that women should submit themselves to men. Even if they worked to their uppermost, they can't defeat men. Suppose men are the oak trees stretching their branches on the earth, women should be like the seaweeds swaying forever under the water and should never get their heads above water, only when they died, as a washing corps they come upon the surface. As far as they are in the water, they are green and what's more, seaweeds are stronger than the oak trees on the earth. These oak trees will die in the severe sunshine or a terrible wind or rain. Women should be like these seaweeds. And women should be married. Both sexes should give life each other and women should create a new life and that is a most essential and supreme life of female. Humanbeing should have the eternal renewal of like, recurring life and death by the mystical sexual life. Lawrence insisted that humanbeing can receive the unconsciousness through the touch of both sexes, and people can create a definite and stable daily activity through their eternal life. Accordingly, in the modern intellectually civilized society, people should recover life by restoring the suppressed intuition, instinct and the unconsciousness.