『연애하는 여인들』에 나타난 자기애적 주체

Abstract

This paper examines some aspects of narcissistic subjects represented in Women in Love, focusing on the deep psychology of Gudrun and the relationship between Gerald and Gudrun. As Freud once suggested, there can be fundamental differences between man and woman as to the type of love-object choice, but the development of narcissistic subjects is deeply affected by sexual difference as well. When Gudrun returns back home, Beldover, she finds the place filled with some strange atmosphere derived from the miners, who are yet to be automatized by machinery. Therefore, it is to Gerald, the Napoleon of industry, that she decides to project her desire and self in a vicarious way. While Gerald expresses himself unconsciously and unrestrained, which is the main reason why Gudrun begrudges his mobility so painfully, she always avoids direct contacts with people and suffers from extreme self-consciousness. Also she envies Ursula’s natural fullness of being and obsessively needs connection with other people. With the death of his father, Gerald's defensive fortifications of patriarchal order threaten to collapse. He comes to Gudrun out of a raging narcissistic impetus, and their relationship is reduced to that of mother and infant which she ultimately finds repellent. The family history of the Criches, which ends up a patriarchal tragedy, shows how Gerald was raised and how his instrumental self was formed. After departing England, Gudrun has ascendancy over Gerald in their battle of wills by employing her own defensive way of behavior; she utilizes the snowy peaks of Alps and rat-like Loerke as her supporting weapons to win the war against Gerald. She is, however, as deficient and impaired as he. Even though she uncovers the spurious values of the world Gerald represents, just doing that could never be enough in finding a new way of life.