Comment on the representation of women in The Rainbow.

In the novel, The Rainbow, Lawrence brings a whole new image of women to the forefront. Women are presented as spiritual, close to nature.... sexual beings. In the novel, Lawrence's female characters are afforded the opportunity to explore themselves..... they find a new sense of conciousness, and in turn, they reveal a new sense of reality to the men in their lives. When Tom met Lydia, “He was nothing. But with her he would be real” (40).

Over the course of the novel, women embrace those things that make them happy. The are not constrained, Anna embraces motherhood; Ursula is tested by the constraints of her religion, she rejects marriage, and she explores her sexuality; Lydia struggles to hold onto her past while trying to build her future.