Juan Tomás Matarranz Araque
At home and abroad: sexual and gender constructions in D. H. Lawrence's drama
The aim of the paper is to analyse Lawrence's plays focusing on the ways in which the characters' origin and geographical mobility, as well as the settings in Britain and abroad, are used to shape a whole series of conceptions about gender difference; it also intends to show how the author's ideas develop from his first play in 1909 to his last dramatic writings in the mid 20's.
After revising the representation of the different locations in Lawrence's full eight plays, which range from his native Midlands to Europe or Ancient Israel, it will follow a study of Lawrence 's changes in his ideas of gender differences throughout his dramatic production. It will be done with the theoretical support of modern gender studies inspired in Foucault and in pragmatics. Next, it will be analysed how Lawrence's plays show an evolution in the conception of sexual difference, either by marking a linguistic variation when identifying otherness and identity; or by highlighting a socio-economic difference expressed in terms of hierarchical position between the sexes; travels also have a consequence in the lexicon used by characters, and also in their attitude towards knowledge. There is a clear evolution in the plays regarding the character's conception of the whole society: whereas men are the measure of the whole world, women tend to be excluded, but they are incorporated to the establishment in some of his last plays.
As a conclusion, it will be considered how all these elements affect the creation of psychological and gender differences in relation with early twentieth century society.