Citation

Aisu W, Fen G. Forum for World Literature Studies 2022; 14(2): 191-203.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

The Trespasser focuses on the story of the main character Sigmund's extramarital affairs, addressing ethical dilemmas, ethical choices, and ethical tragicality. Sigmund's ethical dilemmas reflected in two aspects: One is the imbalance between Sigmund's emotion and social morality, namely, the disequilibrium between physical pleasure and social moral norms, aesthetical freedom and social moral responsibility, individual experience and social moral cognition. The other is the conflicts between his multiple ethical identities, including the conflicts between the identities of husband and lover, and between the identities of father and lover. Additionally, it reveals his ethical choice of emotional freedom over social morality in the former ethical dilemma, as well as its constant escape via space transfer in the latter ethical dilemma. The former choice reflects the preference of physical pleasure, aesthetical freedom and physical experience over social moral norms, social moral responsibilities and social moral cognition. While the latter choice displays the ethical path of "lover-family-suicide" through the spatial framework of "leaving home-returning home-abandoning home," which is intended to present the tragic outcome of individual's ethical dilemmas. The ethical tragedy has two causes. On the one hand, man is incapable of truly knowing his own body and of incorporating social morality into the experience of self. On the other hand, man disregards what the society demands of him. Meanwhile, these ethical dilemmas and choices reveal not only Lawrence's critique of the industrial capitalist society's suppression of humanity, but also his compassionate values of life. © 2022 Shanghai Normal University. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

D. H. Lawrence; Ethical Choice; Ethical Dilemma; The Trespasser