The Rainbow, By: D. H. Lawrence: A Review

The Rainbow is a tale of epic proportions which follows three consecutive generations of the Brangwen clan into the 20th Century in England. Focusing more on character development than events, the plot is fragmented to maximize the pattern of how each generation of women followed different paths surrendering their spiritual zeal in exchange for a life of passion and earthly pleasures. Yes, this book is about passion.

On page one of the forward of The Rainbow’s sequel Women in Love D. H. Lawrence says, “Let us hesitate no longer to announce that the sensual passions and mysteries are equally sacred with the spiritual mysteries and passions.” Of course religion was taken for granted in early 1900s England, but Lawrence informs the reader that religion only results from two things – fear and love. Most of the characters in The Rainbow consciously think little of their spiritual faith and carry out the religious rituals as a matter of social habit, if at all. Their fear and love are directed elsewhere.

The second generation protagonist, Anna, is envious of her husband Will’s devout faith so she makes a religion of giving birth, bearing a child every other year–nine or ten in total. She seeks immortality through future generations, and she slyly lures Will from his reverence of organized religion to a dark, passionate, erotic lifestyle. The Rainbow was considered pornographic when first published in 1915 and banned for quite some time.

Lawrence writes on page 222, “Their children were mere offspring to them, they lived in the darkness and death of their own sensual activities… this is what their love had become, a sensuality violent and extreme death. It was all the lust and the infinite, maddening intoxication of the senses, a passion of death.”

Protagonist of the third generation and the oldest of Anna and Will’s children, Ursula, despises her mother and the brood of children she produced. She would do just about anything to escape the kind of bondage she witnesses at home.

She also turns away from religion. In response to a sermon preaching, “Sell all thou hast, and give to the poor,” she is utterly repulsed. Her thoughts, “One could not do that in real life… nor could one turn the other cheek.” Page 268.

She has visions of equality for women, freedom and independence. She struggles to find self fulfillment in earthly things… a passionate affair with another woman and premarital sex with a man she might marry. Against her parents wishes, she takes a job teaching, which is one of the few respectable professions available for women in that era. She sees a rainbow, arched to the heaven – breaking the perpetual circle of bleak darkness. Her quest for self fulfillment carries over to the sequel Women in Love.

Lawrence’s prose is beautiful but sometimes annoying as he frequently repeats sentences two or three times, voices repetitive thoughts, lingers too long on morbid themes and fiendishly sees everything in a deep psychological intensity. Through several entire chapters I just wanted the book to be over, but when I finally read the last chapter, surprisingly, I wasn’t quite ready for it to end. Lawrence’s innovative approach to taboo topics of the early 1900s and his provocative language earned him a permanent high ranking in the world of American literature.

Rated 3.5 Stars.
I use a rating scale of 1 to 5. Books rated 1, I seldom finish. Books rated 2, I usually finish but would never recommend to anyone. 5 is the highest rating.