World Journal of Educational Research

ISSN 2375-9771 (Print) ISSN 2333-5998 (Online)

Vol. 5, No. 1, 2018
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjer

Original Paper

Analyses on the Setting, Plot and Characters in the Novel “the

Horse-Dealer’s Daughter” by D.H. Lawrence

Yang Yu1*
1
School of Foreign Studies, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan, China
*
Yang Yu, Henan Polytechnic University, Henan, 454000, China

Received: December 5, 2017 Accepted: December 16, 2017 Online Published: December 18, 2017
doi:10.22158/wjer.v5n1p19 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/wjer.v5n1p19

Abstract
As a world-famous writer, D.H. Lawrence was fairly proficient and professional in the descriptions of
characters in his works. In this story, through the objective narrations of the story, the vivid image of
Mabel was presented before the readers. And this paper tries to have a brief analysis of the story from
the perspectives of setting, plot, characters and point of view of the author.
Keywords
D.H. Lawrence, Mabel, social position, depression

1. Brief Introduction of D.H. Lawrence

As a world-class literary craftsman, D.H. Lawrence had done monumental contributions to British
literature as well as world literature. Lawrence was not only a novelist, but also a storywriter, critic and
painter. At the beginning of 20th century, great changes had take place in almost every aspect of British
society. With the rapid development of mechanical technology and modern science, the traditional rural
society was inevitably influenced by these changes. People’s inner worlds, view of value, view of life
are also changing imperceptibly. The balanced relationship between human and nature had gradually
lost. Emotion, desire and instinct of people at that time were distorted. This kind of distortion mainly
embodied in the sharp transformation of the relationship between man and woman. The brand new
living environment drove them into a tenser and tenser relation web; meanwhile, they also became the
victim of the new environment.
Just influenced by the transitional age, Lawrence had put the brand of age on the figures of his works.
In a number of works written by him, the relationship between man and women are quite peculiar,
sometimes even repressive. These characters often bore a split spirit and transfiguration of personality.
Under certain circumstances, the conflict between man and woman would be continuous, never

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stopping. Lawrence was rather good at describing the psychological changes. Through the describing of
certain characters in his works, Lawrence presented us with a vivid portrait of people’s inner world.
Exactly speaking, highly symbolized, but involved readers in deeply thinking. The short story “The
Horse-Dealer’s Daughter” is not an exception.

2. Synopsis of the Short Story

The short story is about the unfortunate destiny of Mabel-the horse dealer’s daughter. Mabel was a
stubborn, silent, but strong-willed woman. She was cold in appearance, however, warm in heart. The
horse dealer, who was Mabel’s father and finance pillar, died and left the whole family nothing but
large amount of debt and threatening. Among the four children of the family, the three brothers of
Mabel were all frightened at the collapse of the family and the sense of disaster in which they were
involved left them no inner freedom. They were eager to find way out for themselves without anyone
caring about Mabel. What’s more, they planned to expel Mabel from the family. Mabel felt desperate
and decided to commit suicide in a pond. Fortunately, pity Mabel happened to be saved by Ferguson, a
doctor of the village. The depressed girl suddenly found that Dr. Ferguson was the very person she was
looking for. At last, when they seemed to be falling in love with each other, however, Mabel was
confused by Dr. Ferguson’s hesitation and uncertainty of love.
This thesis tries to have a detailed analysis on the short story from the perspectives of setting, plot,
character and point of view. With the help of analysis, the predetermined destiny of Mabel and the
intention of the author can be better illustrated.

3. Analysis of Setting
The short story began with a question: “Well, Mabel, and what are you going to do with yourself?”
asked Joe, with foolish flippancy. The simple question conveyed a kind of tension: questioning and
being questioned. From the incisive question and foolish flippancy of Joe, we can more or less infer the
unfavorable and secondary status of Mabel in the family. From the story, we can know that Mabel used
to live in a rich family: the house was ample, the furniture was luxurious. Ordinary speaking, the whole
should have lived in an easy and comfortable life. But Lawrence depicted a different vision: “The
dreary dining-room with its heavy mahogany furniture, looked as if it were waiting to be done away
with”. Lawrence described the dining-room as “dreary”, the heavy mahogany furniture as “heavy”,
“looked as if it were waiting to be done away with”. All of these setting transferred us a piece of
information, that is, the glorious and sufficient life had been history. Moreover, the setting symbolized
the destiny of poor Mabel would be the same as the dining-room and furniture, waiting to be done
away with. Although Mabel seemed to be healthy in physical, however, her inner world was as empty
as the ample house. She could do nothing to transform the current situation except waiting for the
sentence of destiny. When describing Mabel decided to commit suicide, Lawrence had a carefully
illustration of the setting: “The night was falling. It was grey, deadened, and wintry, with a slow, moist,
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heavy coldness sinking in and deadening all the faculties”. Wintry, grey, night, and here did not
indicated the season or time, but creating the atmosphere of death. The setting set up a type of
mysterious and horrible atmosphere, providing proper environment for the following plot-the suicide of
Mabel. Night had the power of concealing and covering truth. The suicide of Mabel was arranged in
such a background to strengthen the tragic destiny of Mabel as well as emphasize the theme of the short
story.
Through the carefully design of setting, the author establish a reasonable and proper state for events to
come. The expectations of readers will also be aroused. In this short story, more information about
Mabel would be better understood. The character of Mabel was more concrete and revealing.

4. Analysis of Plot
The plot of this short story can be said very simple, however, involving people in deep thinking. With
the collapse of family, Mabel completely became the ignored role in the family. Her three brothers
slanderously nicknamed Mabel as “sulkiest bitch”. She had long been serving for the family but no one
understood her and helped her. The only person she loved was her beloved mother. The great contrast
between ideal and reality caused her the idea of “joining her mother”. Under this situation, Mabel chose
to drown herself to get rid of the endless pains. But she was saved by Dr. Ferguson and the love buried
in the bottom of her heart was once again aroused by the kind-hearted doctor. Meanwhile, Dr. Ferguson
seemed also fall in love with Mabel. Plot reached here should have come to an end. At this very
moment, the hesitant attitudes of Dr. Ferguson made Mabel involve in the uncertainty of her love and
life once again. To Mabel, although she had the same demanding like any other women, it seemed that
her destiny was always making game of her and never gave her what she craved for. From the
beginning to the end, Mabel was always in the marginalized position, also, never got the appreciation
of life. She resisted the unfair life with her silence and deeds.

5. Analysis of Characters
As for the characters of the short story, no doubt, Mabel was the central character since all the clues and
plots were designed for her. Mabel, the daughter of the horse dealer, was always living in a hostile
environment, being cursed by her three brothers as bull dog, the sulkiest bitch that ever trod, etc.
However, she did not show fierce reactions but used silence to resist and endure all the insults. When
Mabel faced Dr. Ferguson, her repressed love totally broke out. After being saved by Dr. Ferguson, she
noticed that it was the doctor who saved her, took off her wet clothes and covered her with a blanket.
She instinctively assumed the kind-hearted doctor had fallen in love with her. The love in the bottom of
her heart was evoked once again. She requested, even half-begging Dr. Ferguson to make the promise
of love: “Do you love me then? She shuffled forward on her knees, and put her arms round him, round
his legs, pressed her breasts against his knees and thighs, lunching him with strange, convulsive
certainty. You love me. I know you love me”. Maybe she was oppressed too long and too much; this
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was the first time that she found there was still someone caring her in this world. So she showed her
love with a near-crazy way. These simple words vividly portrayed us another Mabel: yearning for love
and being loved, which can be said a thorough outbreak of Mabel. From this scene, Mabel revealed us
the firm, brave side of her personality. So was hard to define Mabel’s characters in a single aspect. The
conflict between her appearance and inner heart decided that Mabel was a woman with mixed
characters: cold in appearance, warm in heart; silent, stubborn, sullen to her enemy, but also
strong-willed, brave when facing her love.
Ferguson was a kind-hearted doctor with extremely high profession moral. He saved Mabel from
drowning and gave her the hope of life. Facing the Mabel’s love, he only stood and stared at her,
fascinated. His soul seemed to melt. On one hand, he saved Mabel mainly out of the profession
intuition of a doctor. Even if facing the naked body of Mabel, he did not get any obscene idea but
helped her out of danger. Maybe he never thought of loving Mabel or not before. On the other hand, he
was shocked by Mabel’s frankness. Ferguson didn’t predict Mabel would show love to him. In order
not to let her down, Ferguson’s inner world started a fierce a war: love or not. He hesitated between a
doctor and a man. Finally, he kissed Mabel, but the conflict between the social ego and subconscious
ego seemed never stopping.
Other characters in the story, although not belonged to the central ones, also played an important role.
Without those so-called flat characters, the image and personality of Mabel could not be fully presented.
At the first few paragraphs, the author introduced Mabel’s three brothers with very concise words, even
without describing their clothes or physical appearance. Only by their dialogue with Mabel and tone of
speaking, we can infer their characteristics and personalities more or less. Facing the collapse of the
family, none of them were willing to take the responsibility to help the family out of the jam. To Mabel,
her three brothers were her biggest enemy rather than relatives. All the words and behaviors of them
showed us that inexorability, selfishness and cold-blooded are the best modifications of their characters.

6. Analysis of Point of View

Generally speaking, young women like Mabel should be lively, charming, and attractive. They can
easily get the admiration of young gentlemen. In this short story, Mabel was an exception. Her destiny
was awkward and full of hardships. To Mabel, the suffering on the physical was not so tough to put up
with; nevertheless, the heavy pressure on her psychological part seemed to be unconquerable. Without
love, without sympathy, without future, life was so cruel that made her like walking clay. From
beginning to the end, Lawrence always took a sang-froid, neutral, nonchalant, seeming acquiescent to
the fascist treatments and to the fascist ideal of super manhood, glorifying the brute, the callous, the
violent, as a statement of man power. In the voice of persona, the writer speaks of his own words, his
own. Just influenced by his misogyny, the whole story permeated with the distinguished feature of
Lawrence. The description of Lawrence was just like telling us a vivid story without any showing any
sympathy or making any private comments. Lawrence gave every one of us full trust on our
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appreciation, imagination ability that all of us could understand the essence of the story through his
meticulous description. From his objective but skillful depiction, the vivid image of Mabel was
presented in front of us.

References
Feng, J. Q. (1995). A Critical Biography of D.H.Lawrence. Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art
Publishing House.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
Hei, M. (1991). Lawrence’s Essays on Literature and Arts. Guilin: Lijiang Publishing House.
Simpson, H. (1982). Lawrence and Feminism. London: Croom and Helen.

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