From Romance to Ritual: myth, ritual and subversion in D. H. Lawrence's "The Virgin and the Gipsy".

D.H. Lawrence's prose has always been characterised by a fierce attack on the tab„„s imposed by bourgeoi«ie, and by an interest in the mythic which as Ene Gould has pointed out, «lies in the eternal battle between the natural and the c.vUised .> (1981-219). The context in whieh The Virgin and the Gpsy was wntten remforoed lawrence's appeal for myth in sueh a way that the Engush writer dee.ded to join bis voiee to that of bis contemporaries and advoeate a revival of myth. The am. of tbis paper is to present The Virgin and de Gipsy as a work that holds strong hnks witb the themes and structures of some classic fairy tales but whieh dev.ates from the sociahsing functions imposed on the folk tale from the IT'" eentury onwards. I 11 try to demonstrate that the aim of the tale is to aebieve a reestabhshment of the neat, original relationsbip between man and nature in what is in fact an apology of ntual and myht.