Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Intellect vs. Bodily Experience
Nature vs. Machinery
Class, Consumerism, and Money
Gender and Sexuality
Catastrophe, Continuity, and Tradition
Summary
Analysis
As time passes, Connie begins to feel increasingly restless, though she will not admit this feeling even to herself. Sometimes she goes to the woods just to get out of Wragby, though she feels “no connection” with nature—or with anything, for that matter. Concerned, Sir Malcolm suggests that Connie should take a lover.
Just as Clifford seems to be permanently shellshocked by his time in WWI, Connie now shows some of the same emptiness and remove. As always, Sir Malcolm believes that sex and physical intimacy are the only remedies visceral enough to counteract this kind of intellectual ennui.
Themes
Literary Devices
That winter, a young Irishman named Michaelis comes to stay at Wragby. Michaelis is a playwright, acclaimed across the U.K. and the U.S. for his satirical plays, most of which poke fun at rich people. Because of this subject matter, London’s high society refuses to engage with Michaelis. Still, his work has made him wealthy (he has an impressive house and great clothes)—and for men like Clifford, a friendship with Michaelis might be helpful publicity. Connie is impressed with Clifford’s strategic thinking, though she resents his obsession with “the bitch-goddess” of success.
Though the novel has thus far presented Clifford primarily as harmed and harmless, his assessment of Michaelis shows Clifford’s calculated approach to status and fame. It is interesting that the concept of success is gendered female, as “the bitch-goddess”; this terminology makes success at once seem tempting (“goddess”) and unkind (“bitch”), a dichotomy to which the men in Connie’s life will hold Connie.
Themes
Clifford turns his nose up at Michaelis, who is clearly an outsider in proper society. But Connie finds herself drawn to him, with his strange mix of disillusionment and a childlike desire to fit in. Sometimes, Connie even finds Michaelis handsome, comparing his face to the “timelessness which the Buddha aims at, and which negros express sometimes” as a result of “race destiny.” Michaelis senses Connie’s attraction—and he has had affairs with Englishwomen before.
Connie is drawn to Michaelis because he lacks the very hereditary status that Clifford possesses (and that has trapped Connie into being a “Lady”). Lawrence’s allusions to “race destiny”—and his derogatory descriptions of Black features elsewhere—are a hallmark of his work, which is frequently criticized for its overt racism.
Themes
One day, Connie invites a bored Michaelis up to her sitting-room. The two sit by the fire, discussing their families and Michaelis’s status as a “lonely bird.” Again, Connie is struck by how the man can at once see “everything” and seem so much like an infant; she feels her attraction for Michaelis in her “womb.”
Connie’s conflation of attraction with “bird”-like vulnerability hints at one of the novel’s major thematic ideas: like a bird, sex is both a part of nature and something fragile, beautiful but hard to capture.
Themes
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Michaelis asks to hold Connie’s hand, and she gives in, moved by his almost hypnotic power. Soon, the two are having sex. Afterwards, Michaelis is convinced that Connie will “hate” him, while Connie feels no remorse; her only concern is keeping the affair from Clifford. Connie assures Michaelis that she thinks he is “nice,” and this cheers him greatly.
It is interesting to note how little courtship there is between Connie and Michaelis; even after they have had sex with each other, the most effusive compliment Connie gives Michaelis is that he is “nice.” Unlike with Clifford, then, physical attraction seems to take precedence here over good conversation.
Themes
At lunch, Clifford is critical of Michaelis. Privately, Connie respects that Michaelis is unscrupulous about pursuing success, whereas Clifford is so timid. When Michaelis appears, holding flowers and looking sad, Connie reflects that she is in love with him. With her lover nearby, it takes all her energy just to stay focused on her embroidery. Later that evening, Connie promises to meet Michaelis again in his room.
Though Connie does not explicitly make this connection, Michaelis’s aggressive approach to success (feminized as the “bitch-goddess”) is akin to his aggressive sexual desire. Meanwhile, Clifford’s more hesitant grabs at success reflect his sexual impotency.
Themes
Michaelis looks especially childlike when he is naked and excited during sex; he always orgasms first, leaving Connie unsatisfied. Fortunately, Connie soon learns to use Michaelis’s still-erect penis to have her own orgasm, even after he has finished. When Michaelis leaves Wragby, the affair continues via letters and occasional meetups in London. Back at Wragby, Connie is more cheerful than ever, and her new demeanor fills Clifford with joy.
Though Connie appears to be more attracted to Michaelis than she was to her Dresden lovers, she still has some of the same sexual habits: rather than giving herself over to the sensations of sex with Michaelis, she uses him as a “tool” to achieve her own orgasm. This utilitarian approach to sexual pleasure, especially when it comes from women, will be the subject of much critique in the novel.
Themes
