Below you will find five outstanding thesis statements for “Women in Love” by D.H. Lawrence that can be used as essay starters or paper topics. All five incorporate at least one of the themes found in the text and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary “Women in Love” by explaining different elements that could be important in an essay. Of course,  you are free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from “Women in Love” by D.H. Lawrence at the bottom of the page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay. Before you begin, however, please get some useful tips and hints about how to use PaperStarter.com in the brief User's Guide…you'll be glad you did.

Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #1: Definitions of Beauty

Attention to detail is important in Women in Love—detail to people, place, and objects. Consider the different definitions of beauty that are offered by each character and write an essay in which you define beauty through them. You may choose to write only about one character, or compare and contrast their definitions. Be sure to address notions not only of physical beauty, but other forms of beauty that are not so visible. This topic could also form the basis for a good argumentative essay in which you argue about the ultimate message conveyed in the novel concerning beauty. A good question to consider might be how important beauty is throughout “Women in Love” and what this indicates about the society depicted.

Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #2: The Psychology of Industrialization

In contrast to beauty—indeed, a threat to it—is the backdrop of industrialization in Women in Love. The industrialized space is at times so oppressive that it becomes a character. Consider one or more passages in which the industrialized space is described vividly. Examine how the images in your selected passages contest the definitions of beauty, which are so important to the characters. As you are writing this, remember to take into account the historical conditions, both in literary and straight history terms, that helped shape the narrative.

Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #3: Issues of Gender in “Women in Love”

Many of the characters in Women in Love do not conform to traditional gender norms. Choose one or more characters and offer an essay in which you compare and contrast their negotiation of gender roles and the significance of their modes of resistance. You may wish to situate your observations within an historical framework, drawing from secondary academic texts. Explain why these forms of resistance are important to the development of the novel’s theme.

Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #4: Images of Nature

Just as industrialization is important to this novel, so too is nature, which represents an important counterbalance. Consider the many ways in which images of nature are used in this novel. Focus your essay by selecting one particular function of nature. One example may be to examine female characters and the ways in which they are described in comparison to nature. Develop an essay in which you offer the symbolic significance of these nature images.

Thesis Statement/Essay Topic #5: Love

As is the case with nature, beauty, and gender, each of the characters has his or her own definition of love. Again, select one or more characters and offer an essay in which you compare and contrast their definitions of love. Explain what experiences have shaped these definitions. Select the definition that makes the most sense to you, and explain why it is appealing to you. 

This list of important quotations from “Women in Love” by D.H. Lawrence will help you work with the essay topics and thesis statements above by allowing you to support your claims. All of the important quotes from “Women in Love” listed here correspond, at least in some way, to the paper topics above and by themselves can give you great ideas for an essay by offering quotes and explanations about other themes, symbols, imagery, and motifs than those already mentioned and explained.  Aside from the thesis statements above, these quotes alone can act as essay questions or study questions as they are all relevant to the text in an important way. All quotes contain page numbers as well. Look at the bottom of the page to identify which edition of the text by D.H. Lawrence they are referring to.

“I get no feeling whatever from the thought of bearing children.” (55)

“Not many people are anything at all…They jingle and giggle….” (73)

“They had not the faintest belief in deep relationship between men and men, and their disbelief prevented any development of their powerful but suppressed friendliness.” (83)

“When we have knowledge, don’t we lose everything but knowledge?” (91)

“Well, if mankind is destroyed, if our race is destroyed like Sodom, and there is this beautiful evening with the luminous land and ttrees, I am satisfied.” (111)

“She was rich, full of dangerous power. She was like a strange unconscious bud of powerful womanhood. He was unconsciously drawn to her.” (148)

“Now she realized that this was the world of powerful, underworld men who spent most of their time in the darkness….They sounded also like strange machines, heavy, oiled.” (174)

“He would never, never dare to break her will, and let loose the maelstrom of her subconsciousness….” (202)

“One is tired of the life that belongs to death….” (254)

“I suppose we do love each other, in some way.” (255)

Reference:  Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love. New York: Penguin, 1950.

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