Chiyo Fujiwara
Kobe College, Japan
Lawrence's Reading of George Eliot's Modern Tragedy: from The Mill of the Floss to Sons and Lovers
D. H. Lawrence at the beginning of his writing career was greatly influenced by George Eliot's early works and he was particularly fond of The Mill on the Floss during his Eastwood period.
Sons and Lovers can be read as a 'modern tragedy' because Paul's inward struggle and unconscious yearning for liberation from his mother is deeply connected with the great change at the turn of the century both in the social structure and in people's consciousness. Similarly, in The Mill on the Floss, Eliot delineates the growth of her moral conscience which ironically drags her into a tragic destiny. Maggie strives to protect and share against the threat from the changing economic structure and new greed and grievances, but which is too narrow to allow her independent spiritual quest through emotional and intellectual dilemmas. Here Lawrence must have found a 'modern tragedy'.
Both authors handled their personal history as literary materials for their works, and tried to produce tragic novels which represent the clue to the problems of modern British society. Furthermore, I would examine Lawrence 's interpretation of the term 'tragedy', as it appears in his writing, and compare it with that of Eliot who loved Greek tragedies and Aristotle's Poetics.