In his reading of The Scarlet Letter Lawrence offers an interesting theory of how women like Hester Prynne become witches and fall into a state of moral and sexual corruption, or what religious people call sin.
According to Lawrence, when the female soul "recoils from its creative union with man", it becomes possessed by malevolent forces and starts to exert an invisible and insidious influence in the world. The woman herself may remain "as nice as milk" in her daily life and continue to speak only of her love for humanity, but she becomes subtly diabolic and sends out "waves of silent destruction" that undermine the spiritual authority of men and their social institutions.
Thus it is, continues Lawrence, that our forefathers were not altogether fools in their fear of witchcraft and the burning of witches not altogether unjustified.
What do I think of this curious contribution to sexual politics? Not much. It's obviously untenable and hateful in its misogyny. One is reminded of the televangelist Pat Robertson, who also claims that women who desire autonomy and independence are intent on practicing witchcraft, smashing capitalism and becoming lesbians.
The only difference is that Lawrence recognises that evil is as necessary as goodness and that we ultimately need witchcraft as a power of malevolence in order to destroy "a rotten, false humanity" that wallows in its own idealism and phallocratic stupidity.
Note: for quotes from DHL see Studies in Classic American Literature, CUP, 2003, pp. 89 and 93.
Ah,the finely trained academic mind does seem to run along certain rails and frequently fails to understand, or rather fully intuit the validity of, the wise words of the shamanic writer such as DH Lawrence who adventures beyond fixed tracks of thought and whose ( always life-affirming ) moral boundaries encompass territories the narrowness of current correct thinking can't countenance.
ReplyDeleteWhen Lawrence offers us his stupendously exciting and liberating criticism of American classics, such as The Scarlet Letter, he is not theorising, he is speaking to us directly from his dark blood consciousness, as only a shaman of his calibre can, and, being true to his very blood, cannot be subjected to the sneering rationalities and restrictions of academic theory. And, in the unholy mess we are in, we need heed his words, now, more than ever.
Naturally, one's mind may occasionally recoil from what his more extreme seeming assertions, but in one's blood, if one's blood is indeed alive, his words hold powerful and significant sway.
We would have to be kidding ourselves if we believe all feminist thinking is as white and nice and wholesome as milk> On which subject, according to Professor Campbell in The China Study ( as well as many other scientific accounts ) milk marketting conspires to defy an inate lactose intolerance and to, in fact, damage our health. Cows, or more correctly CALVES milk creates acidity in the body causing calcium to be leached from the bones, thus contributing to osteoperosis. We kid ourselves if we believe that certain feminist thinking has been to no subversive or insidious detriment.
Bravo Lawrence for being true to the voice of your blood !
It is always too easy to stigmatise and hate a great true fearless mind, like Lawrence's ( which listens to it's blood ! ) as having committed unjustifiable acts of misogyny ( just a convenient and lazy label, really, with which to dismiss and banish uncomfortable ideas ! )when all around us we see the appalling evidence of the corruptive effect of the female soul recoiling "from its creative union with man". A disaster on a vast scale !
All around us we see the damaging consequences of the idealism which Lawrence repeatedly targets and rails against. As for "phallocratic stupidity" there is no more obvious example of that than this present Government. . .hell bent, as June approaches, on the phallocratic madness of murdering ( ultimately ) over 100,000 magical, secretive, innocent badgers in order to defend bad animal husbandry within the dairy industry. Oh, no ! Milk is NOT nice, really !