HUMAN NATURE AND SOCIAL RELATIONS IN D.H. LAWRENCE'S “ESSAYS ON LOVE”

Abstract

D.H. Lawrence’s “Essays on Love” (1930) can be seen as a philosophical and cultural defense of his novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. In this work, Lawrence critiques society’s conventional view of the relationship between body and soul, while also seeking to redefine the role of love and sexuality in human existence. He upholds natural human instincts as a counterpoint to the emotional detachment of modern technological civilization, and he challenges artificial moral codes that, in his view, contribute to the decline of human nature.