Resisting Tragedy in Sons and Lovers (1913)

Of Sons and Lovers, Lawrence wrote “it is a great tragedy, and I tell you I’ve written a great book” (Lawrence, The Selected Letters of D. H. Lawrence 49). This statement has prompted many critics to consider his novel as essentially tragic. Its descriptions of the family, marriage and sexual relationships, tainted with hues of bitterness, pain and destruction dramatize the tragedy of the characters who face important, life-changing conflicts. Besides Gertrude and Walter Morel’s disastrous ma..