Emotions and the Ethical Life in D. H. Lawrence

This essay discusses the problem that Lawrence presents to those, like Martha Nussbaum, who view the novel as a major contributor to our ethical knowledge. Nussbaum's case rests on the Aristotelian belief that properly tutored emotions play a large role in our ethical lives and that the novel is especially well suited to record the nuanced play of these emotions. Yet Lawrence posits a self that is 'impersonal', something beneath character and its emotions. If emotions are then merely derivative of the movements of this deeper self (in essence irrational) can Lawrence's novels be said to enhance our ethical awareness at all? This essay argues that, for Lawrence, emotions do play a crucial, though highly unusual and non-Aristotelian, role in our ethical lives.