Gudrun and Ursula
Women in Love: How do the sisters differ?
In Women in Love, two of the most crucial characters are the sisters Ursula and Gudrun. Both of these characters undergo psychological development throughout the story, which lets the reader analyze and distinguish their personalities. D.H Lawrence strategically portrays these characters differences through the expression of their opinions and their relationships, meanwhile he lets them grow into two total opposite persons. At the start of the novel, the sisters are seemingly similar, or at least tend to agree and respect eachothers opinions. The reader is introduced to these characters through a discussion of the idea of marriage between the sisters, at the very beginning of the novel. In this discussion, the reader gets their first impression of the Gudrun and Ursula. Ursula and Gudruns ideas repell eachother even from the start, since Ursula contradicts Gudruns statement that marriage is “bound to be an experience of some sort” (7) when she claims that it is instead “the end of experience” (7). This shows that Gudrun is looking for marriage to relieve her boredom in the isolated life of a woman, meanwhile Ursula is fearful of marriage. This fear can be recognized by the fact that Ursula has rejected many good marriage opportunities, because she is “tempted not to” (8). At this point in the novel Ursulas character is quite undeveloped, which is illustrated by a similie: “she seemed to try to put her hands out, like an infant in the womb, and could not, not yet” (9). Gudrun, on the other hand, is portrayed as confident, admirable person, even through her sisters eyes. “Ursula adrmired her with all her soul” (10). Her beauty is a huge contrast to the gritty, ugly Beldover setting, which also contrasts her even more to Ursula. Only in the first chapter, Ursula and Gudrun have already been distinguished as two quite different people, both physically and psychologically. Gudruns confidence contrasts greatly to
In Women in Love, two of the most crucial characters are the sisters Ursula and Gudrun. Both of these characters undergo psychological development throughout the story, which lets the reader analyze and distinguish their personalities. D.H Lawrence strategically portrays these characters differences through the expression of their opinions and their relationships, meanwhile he lets them grow into two total opposite persons. At the start of the novel, the sisters are seemingly similar, or at least tend to agree and respect eachothers opinions. The reader is introduced to these characters through a discussion of the idea of marriage between the sisters, at the very beginning of the novel. In this discussion, the reader gets their first impression of the Gudrun and Ursula. Ursula and Gudruns ideas repell eachother even from the start, since Ursula contradicts Gudruns statement that marriage is “bound to be an experience of some sort” (7) when she claims that it is instead “the end of experience” (7). This shows that Gudrun is looking for marriage to relieve her boredom in the isolated life of a woman, meanwhile Ursula is fearful of marriage. This fear can be recognized by the fact that Ursula has rejected many good marriage opportunities, because she is “tempted not to” (8). At this point in the novel Ursulas character is quite undeveloped, which is illustrated by a similie: “she seemed to try to put her hands out, like an infant in the womb, and could not, not yet” (9). Gudrun, on the other hand, is portrayed as confident, admirable person, even through her sisters eyes. “Ursula adrmired her with all her soul” (10). Her beauty is a huge contrast to the gritty, ugly Beldover setting, which also contrasts her even more to Ursula. Only in the first chapter, Ursula and Gudrun have already been distinguished as two quite different people, both physically and psychologically. Gudruns confidence contrasts greatly to