D.H. Lawrence’s The Prussian Officer (1914) was influenced by the rise of interest in the human subconscious. In this story the subconscious becomes a realm of repressed passions. This results in uncontrollable forces that lead to the severe conflict between the two main characters: the aristocratic Captain and his simple orderly. Lawrence weaves these forces together throughout the story. The forces unfold in a logical progression of events. First, the class separation and military rank division provide the necessary conditions for the perverse conflict to develop between the Captain and his orderly. His position of military and social dominance makes possible the manifestation of the Captain’s homoerotic passion for his orderly. Finally, the orderly’s repressed feelings, which result from his continued and inevitable subjugation from the Captain, lead to the revolt and ultimate destruction of the being.
The first force to develop between the Captain and the orderly results from their separation in military and social rank. The forty year old Captain “was a Prussian aristocrat” and “a gentleman, with… fine hands and cultivated movements.” This contrasts to the orderly’s youth and the way he “received life direct through the senses, and acted straight from instinct.” Something undiscovered in the Captain’s subconscious makes him aware of his orderly as “free and self-contained”, and this “irritated the Prussian.” The captain allows this irritation to grow to the point of acting out his undiscovered feelings on the orderly. This manifestation is first seen when the orderly accidentally spills a bottle wine. The Captain “started up with an oath, and his eyes, bluey like fire… held those of the confused youth.” This event also triggers a landslide of subconscious mental events in the orderly as his natural being is challenged. One first perceives the nature of this struggle as the Captain trying to control and exercise his power over his free spirited orderly. A perverse master-slave relationship is developing, but why?
Clues come in various forms, which lead to the conclusion that the force behind this power struggle is the result of Captain’s repressed homoerotic desire for his orderly. First, one learns that “no woman had ever moved [the Captain] to [marriage].” After sleeping with “the occasional mistress” his eyes become “more hostile and irritable.” One notices that the captain, though “infuriated” with his orderly, thinks of his orderly’s limbs as “handsome.” Lawrence says that the “young soldiers being had penetrated through the officer’s stiffened discipline, and perturbed the man in him.” In a traditional Romantic story one would see a man being enchanted by a woman’s movements resulting in his inner being being transformed into life by such an experience. But, this is not Romantic literature. It is the modern psychological exploration into the mind of the Prussian enemy by an English writer. Lawrence manifests the Prussian Captain’s subconscious homoerotic desire for his orderly through perverse displays of power. In one event, after perceiving that his orderly has a “sweetheart”, the Captain slaps his orderly in the face with the end of his belt. In a related event the Captain brutally kicks his orderly repeatedly for failure to reply to an unnecessarily asked question. The Captain displays violent signs of jealousy over his orderly’s relationship with a woman. After each attack the Captain feels perverse pleasure, while the orderly’s subconscious continues to consume his conscious experience.
In the final stage of their conflict, the force of the orderly’s subconscious manifests into the violent murder of his Captain, and the suicide of his own being. After each episode with the Captain, the orderly feels more and more alone in the world in which he once acted instinctually. This begins after the wine-spilling incident that led the harsh gaze of his Captain. “Some of the natural completeness in [the orderly] was gone.” This continues to escalate as a result of the continued subjugation at the hands of the Captain. The orderly feels “himself being put out of existence. Finally, the orderly’s subconscious takes over. He becomes unaware of his physical discomfort as his inner being gives him a “curious mass of energy.” As the company’s march continues, the Captain and his orderly find themselves alone in the woods. The orderly watches his Captain devour the provisions that he has just fetched him “in mechanical obedience.” Suddenly, the orderly’s instinct sets him maliciously upon his Captain. In the ultimate display of power, the orderly extinguishes the life of his Captain. This revolt of the subconscious is the only way to end the orderly’s suffering at the hands his sadistic tormentor. However, this culmination point caused the orderly to feel “as if he were rent in two by a strong flame.” The act that saves him condemns him. “There was a heavy relief in the orderly’s soul,” “but now he had gone beyond himself.” We remember the orderly at the beginning of the story who acted at home in the world. It was the Captain who had the “look of a man who fights with life.” But, this is no longer the same orderly. The psychological forces at work have divorced him from his natural role in the world. “He was divided among all kinds of separate beings.” As he stares at the mountains, recognizing in them that which he now lacks, the orderly slips into a sleep from which he will never awake.
