On the book LADY CHATTERLEYS LOVER Research Paper

On the book LADY CHATTERLEYS LOVER - Research Paper Example At first, the term fidelity does not appear to be consistent with the main plot in Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The title itself implies infidelity. The main plot centers around an adulterous wife, Connie Chatterley whose husband is rendered impotent as a result of an injury sustained in the war. Lady Chatterley, an aristocrat then takes up an affair with Mellors, the gamekeeper (Lawrence 2009). The question of fidelity arises in a way that challenges normative values existing at the time. While Lady Chatterley is unfaithful to her husband and breaks ranks with her own class, she is faithful to her lover (Niven 1979, 184). Although Mellors is complicit in Lady Chatterley’s adultery and is married himself, he himself is entirely faithful to Lady Chatterley. According to Gabriel and Smithson (1990), â€Å"Mellors seeks the approval of one woman only† (69). The lovers’ fidelity to each other however, calls for infidelity to their respective spou ses. However, from Lawrence’s perspective, he was not concerned with what might be characterized as â€Å"photographic fidelity†(Wuchina 2009, 172). In other words, Lawrence was more concerned with feelings that commanded fidelity rather than a sense of detached duty. This message is communicated through Mellors who, reflecting on his intimate encounters with Lady Chatterley, observed that: The connection between them was growing closer. He could see the day when it would clinch up, and they would have to make a life together (Lawrence 2009, 142). Wuchina (2009) points out that Mellors has â€Å"no second thoughts, or guilt† (174). This is because, â€Å"in its essentials, the relationship, the mutual attraction, is essentially legitimate† (Wuchina 2009, 174). The legitimacy is founded on the fact that Lady Chatterley was in a loveless marriage and was making a particularly difficult sacrifice. In fact, Mellors observes of Lady Chatterley: She was nicer t han she knew, and oh, so much too nice for the tough lot she was in contact with!..But he would protect her with his heart for a little while. For a little while, before the insentient iron world and the Mammon of mechanized greed did them both in, her as well as him (Lawrence 2009, 136). Mellors was obviously referring to the fact that Lady Chatterley was quite young. She was only 23 years old and was trapped in an unusual situation, one that she was too young and perhaps too naive to cope with. Lady Chatterley was for the most part confined to the companionship of her wounded husband and his circle of friends with whom she was essentially bored. As Daum (2008) observes, this is a situation that the young Lady Chatterley had to endure each day and it could not have been easy to cope with (3). Yet in this youthful innocence, the moral code of the times commanded fidelity from Lady Chatterley. Lawrence (2009) immediately draws attention to the fallacy of the moral code of the times. The novel opens with the caution â€Å"ours is essentially a tragic age† (5). Lady Chatterley was trapped in a time where, the First World War and its consequences were still fresh. She was therefore tethered to a marriage in which she could not find happiness and had yet to learn the meaning of life. As the plot moves along, a poignant issue necessarily arises. Is it fair to expect the young Lady Chatterley in the circumstances in which she finds herself to be faithful to her marriage