The Awakening of Female Sexual Consciousness in Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Abstract

Sex is an ancient and mysterious theme. In all ages, as human beings’ unrest desire and their way to continue with their generations, sex is also a sacred and eternal melody whether in the east or in the west. However, it is a long process for human to know sexual desire from ignorance, to release female sexual consciousness from bondage. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is based in England in 1920s when the industry was prosperous and machine crushed human nature, the bourgeoisie were selfish and hypocritical. People were indifferent to each other while their nature was twisted on different level and their inner beings and original nature could not be freed. Sex is the truest way to express oneself, to exhibit the most original sexual instinct in one’s inner being. But at that time, sex was regarded as something filthy that could not be spoken out. Women were far more restrained by the social moral standards and finally were made into dull puppet that could only walk.

Based on Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the social background and Lawrence’s entire lifetime, this paper describes our heroine Connie’s changing attitude towards sex in different period of her lifetime—girlhood, the early married life，the late married life. And further more analyzes the awakening process of Connie’s sexual awareness and its reflection in different aspects. In the end, this paper reveals the importance of female sexual consciousness in fulfilling woman as a natural person and shows its great influence of female sexual awareness in realizing the liberation of women as a gender group.

Key words: sex, female, sex consciousness, natural person, women’s liberation