Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Connie knows that her affair with Michaelis (or Mick, as some call him), is doomed, especially since his whole personality is built on his isolated, outsider status. Besides, there are now new regular visitors to Wragby: General Tommy Dukes, astronomer Charles May, and a man called Hammond, another writer. All of these men prioritize “the life of the mind,” believing that other things—money, love, sex—are secondary.

Now, the men are arguing about the “sexual problem.” Hammond is still mad about the time May tried to flirt with Hammond’s wife, prompting Dukes to argue that Hammond sees women primarily as a means of bolstering his own reputation. May, on the other hand, believes that sex—like money—is a necessary evil if one is to truly have access to focused thought. May thus argues for promiscuity, annoying Hammond.

Dukes begins to wonder if sex is just another form of communication, only using bodies instead of words. When pressed, Clifford will only say that he thinks sex can “perfect” preexisting intimacy; he is embarrassed by the whole conversation. Connie listens in, and though she never says anything, she knows the men depend on her presence for their conversation to really flow. She dislikes Hammond and May; she likes Dukes, but none of them compare to Michaelis.

Connie, too, cares about the life of the mind, even if she finds that these men put too much emphasis on it. On another evening, Dukes discusses the difference between mental prowess and real knowledge, which he argues stems from “your belly and your penis as much as your brain.” Dukes believes that severing the body from the mind is inorganic, like “a plucked apple.”

The conversation turns to Bolshevism, which Dukes believes is the most mechanical philosophy of all; in both Bolshevism and capitalist industry, Dukes feels, men become mechanized (“our deepest feelings we force according to certain ideas. We drive ourselves with a formula, like machines”). In his opinion, then, Bolshevist Russia is the only country that is honest about its human machinery.

Dukes even reveals that he does not believe in love—not when it is concerned with property and success (as Hammond’s marriage is), nor when it is about sex between the androgynous-looking young people of the post-war era. Connie breaks into the conversation, arguing that there are still some nice women—and the men are frustrated that she has been listening in, despite the fact that she is sitting right there.