Fatima Jinnah Women University

Criticism: Literary Theory and Practice

Assignment:
A Psychoanalytic Reading of the Selected Text

Submitted by:
Moneeza Rafiq
Roll No:
2014-M.Phil Eng (Lit)-012
Submitted to:
Dr. Munazza Yaqoob
Date of Submission:
12-12-14

A Psychoanalytic Reading of D.H. Lawrences The Shadow in the

Rose Garden
This story revolves around Frank and his wife where the main conflict is emotional tension
between the two characters because of the wifes past. According to Freudian psychoanalysis,
the actions and behaviours of human beings are driven by the unconscious which contains our
fears, impulses, desires and other conflicting emotions (Tyson, 2006). This paper will attempt to
unravel Frank and his wifes character through Freuds theory.
In the beginning of the story, the husband Franks behavior and actions reveal his
unconscious which, according to Freud, can often manifest itself through our behaviour. While
waiting for his wife to join him for breakfast, Frank turns to look at himself in the mirror, and a
look of self-commiseration mingled with his appreciation of his own physiognomy (Lawrence,
1914, p. 135) is what he sees. This follows with a description of his jacket and clothes that had a
smart and self-confident air (ibid). Frank is attempting to construct his personality and identity
through his apparel. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Frank suffers from a low selfesteem, and an insecure or instable sense of self. According to Freud, low self esteem is the
belief that we are less worthy than other people and do not deserve any rewards. When Frank
sees his wife standing at the bedroom window, he sees her gazing across to the sea, apparently
ignorant of him (ibid). He is irritated by the fact that she remained abstracted and ignorant of his
presence. Through Mrs. Coates the housekeepers dialogue, we are told that Frank was less than
his wifes stature and he is not her equal in rank. Frank cannot sustain a feeling of personal
identity because he has married a woman above his station; therefore, he feels the need to act
according to her class by wearing clothes that will shape his identity for him. His low esteem
also comes from the fact that his wife does not seem to enjoy his presence. He perceived that
she wanted to be rid of him (Lawrence, 1914, p. 138). These factors contribute to Franks
growing anxiety regarding his wifes behavior and will consequently result in the outburst that
makes up the climax of the story. The fact that the wife in the story kept her husband waiting to
join him in breakfast shows that she is ignorant of his feelings, and this adds to the anxieties of
Frank, who does his best to suppress his emotions. He, planted on the hearthrug, watched her
rather uneasily, and grudgingly indulgent (p. 136).

The cottage that they have come to live at is where Franks wife used to live before she
married him, she feels home here. However, she does not want to associate with her previous
society. Dont say who I am, or that I used to live here. Theres nobody I want to meet
particularly, and we should never feel free if they knew me again (p. 137). She further says, I
dont want my past brought up against me, you know (p. 137). According to Freuds theory, this
desire of hers to avoid being seen publicly and recognized in her old town is, in fact, her desire
for the repression of some painful past event that she does not want to be brought up; She
seemed to be avoiding her surroundings, as if she remained safe in the obscurity of her parasol
(p. 138). From here on, her actions seem to be driven by her Id, i.e. the part of the unconscious
that governs our desires and impulses which go against the general norms of the society, for
example, she is yearning to gain access into a courtyard where she is not allowed. Once she
enters the garden, nostalgia overcomes her movements; She went down one path, lingering, like
one who has gone back into the past (p. 140). Clearly the repressed feelings stored in her
unconscious are being exposed. What she experiences here is a sort of regression to a former
psychological state which had a child-like innocence and bliss, and while wandering in the
garden she is reliving her past. She is fixated with the old days of her romance and engagement
with her fianc Archie before he left her, and it is revealed later in the story that she only came
back to her hometown to find the places where she used to meet her lover.
In the garden, Franks wife comes face to face with the person she has been
unconsciously searching for. Her lover Archie comes before her, however, this is the point where
she begins to experience trauma. She could not move. Seeing his hands, with the ring she knew
so well upon the little finger, she felt as if she were going dazed. The whole world was deranged.
She sat unavailing (p. 141). This is the moment where she not only experiences a horror but
relives the trauma she faced when she lost her lover years ago. According to Freud, the death
drive or Thanatos is the theory that human beings are inclined to destroy themselves physically
or psychologically and their inner conflicts can be seen as a form of suicide. Franks wife, in
spite of the fact that she was told that Archie is dead, continues to search for him at old places
where she used to meet him. This act of hers can be seen as a sort of death drive, her desire to not
only go back to the past but also to put herself through a psychologically painful experience.
What she felt in the garden was not just joy but pain as well. Her face began to shine,
transfigured with pain and joy (p. 139).
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When faced with the fact that her lover is no longer the same person and does not
recognize her, Franks wife becomes conflicted between denial and acceptance. Her eyes
searched him and searched him, to see if he would recognize her, if she could discover him (p.
142). Once the realization sinks in her mind that she has lost her lover forever, she rushes back to
her home and locks herself in her bedroom. It was as if some membrane had been torn in two in
her, so that she was not an entity that could think and feel (p. 143). In order to protect herself
from further psychological damage, she uses the defense mechanism called avoidance, by
keeping to her bedroom and not talking to anyone, she is trying to withdraw from her
surroundings and repress the agonizing feeling of loss within herself.
This behavior of Franks wife eventually culminates into an argument with her husband.
Frank who already feels an inferiority complex because of her, eventually lets his unconscious
emotions out and his Id takes over his Ego which keeps balance between primal emotions such
as anger, and acceptable behaviours: His anger rose, filling the veins in his throat (p. 144).
Being constantly ignored by his wife who refuses to tell him whats wrong, he realizes that he
did not exist for her, except as an irritant (p. 144).
All his suppressed anger against her who held herself superior to him filled and
blackened his heart. Though he had not known it, yet he had never really won her, she
had never loved him [] He had always given way to her. But all the while, injury and
ignominy had been working in his soul, because she did not hold him seriously, and now
all his rage came up against her. (Lawrence, 1914, p. 144)
Both husband and wife are eventually overcome with their anger towards one another, and
Franks wife reveals to her husband that she had a fianc named Archie who went away to fight
in Africa and got a sunstroke, which led to his death. Her sudden outburst towards her husband
can be seen as a displacement or a displaced aggression which means taking out your emotions
and anger on someone else instead of the person who is the actual cause of it. Signs of neurosis
are evident in Franks wife while she reveals the truth. Her gestures show her internal struggle:
She was squatted in her white dress on the bed, carefully folding and refolding the hem on her
skirt (Lawrence, 1914, p. 146). Her failed relationship with her ex fianc can be seen as a
source of her lack of intimacy with Frank. According to Freudian psychoanalysis, fear of
intimacy or emotional involvement with another human being keeps us at an emotional distance
with people so that our old wounds would not come to surface (Tyson, 2006). By not permitting
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ourselves to get close to significant others, we protect ourselves from the painful past
experiences that intimate relationships eventually dredge up (Tyson, 2006, p. 16). Her
emotional detachment with her husband can be seen as her refusal to allow herself to have a
healthy relationship or let go of her past. At last he had learned the width of breach between
them. She still squatted on the bed. He could not go near her. It would be violation to each of
them, to be brought into contact with the other (Lawrence, 1914, p. 148).
Some of the objects in the story, if read through Freuds dream symbols, can be seen as
indicators of the characters unconscious. For example, Frank repeatedly picks apples from the
garden, this habit is noticed by one of the servants. According to Freud the apple and other fruits
are symbolic of female sexual organs, which in turn reveals Franks inner sexual anxiety
regarding his wife. The rose garden too, is a symbol of female sexuality and the pipe which
Frank smokes can be seen as a phallic symbol. All of these objects contribute to reveal the sexual
tension between the two characters.
According to Lacan, the Imaginary Order is the world of fullness, completeness and
delight. The loss of this Order results in a lack which prompts our unconscious to always seek
the lost object of desire (Tyson, 2006). For Franks wife, her old flame, Archie was her
Imaginary Order. We loved each other, and we were lovers we were (p. 147). The loss of her
lover can be equated to a loss of the Imaginary Order, and as a result, Franks wife continues to
look for some way to regain that Order. Frank realizes that his wife has come back to her old
home in order to establish some sort of reconnection with her lost lover: So youve been
looking at your old courting places! (p. 147). The object petit a, i.e. any object which puts a
person in touch with their repressed desire for the lost object, would be the rose garden for
Franks wife, which reminds her of her days of happiness with Archie and it is the place where
she meets him after he has lost his senses. In conclusion, a psychoanalytic reading of the short
story reveals different kinds of unconscious impulses were stored in the minds of the characters
and that their actions were driven by those suppressed desires.

References:
Lawrence, D.H. (1914). The Shadow in the Rose Garden. In Dr. N. R. Butt (Ed.). (2009). A
Selection of Short Stories and One-act Plays. Lahore, Pakistan: Caravan Press.
Tyson, L. (2006). Critical Theory Today. (2nd Ed). USA: Routledge.