Throughout the story, you can tell that Lawrence has a strong attitude towards the characters. For example, he depicts Ted as an angry, jealous man. He is filled with unreasonable rage.” This illustrates how Lawrence depicts Ted as an angry man. He used the word “unreasonable” to convey that there was no initial reason for Ted to get angry and that he’s getting angry for no reason.
“She was rousing all his uncontrollable anger.” This shows that Lawrence has depicted Ted as someone who, once they get angry, cannot be stopped. He has used the word “uncontrollable” to show how powerful and dangerous Ted can be when he is angry; no one can control him. As you can see from this, Lawrence’s attitude towards Ted is that he thinks of him as an ill-tempered, raging person.
More evidence of this is when he makes Ted use language such as “you stray-running little bitch”. This shows more how Lawrence’s attitude towards Ted is that he is a very unpleasant character to be around. At the start of the book, I got the feeling that Ted was quite a sweet, nice guy but had some level of temper on him. I think Lawrence wants us to have an unsure feeling about whether we like Ted or not.
Although he hits his wife at the end of the story, his wife wasn’t exactly the innocent party by winding him up with the stocking. Lawrence’s attitude towards Elsie is that she is quite big-headed and in love with herself. Throughout the story, he depicts her as someone who thinks she is beautiful and that her position in her and Ted’s relationship is where she is the one that the other person is lucky to have. Evidence of this is “She looked down at her pretty legs.” Lawrence has done this to show that she thinks she is beautiful and that she likes the way she looks.
Also, Lawrence’s attitude towards Elsie is that he depicts her as a character who isn’t scared and is quite cheeky at times. Evidence of this is Pf! She sneered. Do you think I’m frightened of you?” This shows that even though Elsie is probably frightened of Ted, she isn’t going to show it in front of him. Instead, she is cheeky and pretends that she isn’t frightened of him. In my opinion, Lawrence’s attitude towards Elsie is that she’s not that innocent in the violence of the relationship. Throughout the story, you can see that she is constantly winding Ted up about how she has received a Valentine’s gift from another man.
She was rousing all his uncontrollable anger,” although this shows that Ted’s anger is uncontrollable. Elsie is rousing it and making it worse. Lawrence has done this to show that at the time, men didn’t just go around and hit their partners. They did it for a reason, and Ted’s reason was that she wound him up, and eventually, he broke. Finally, Lawrence’s attitude towards Sam Adams is that he’s not the best-looking guy around, but he knows how to treat a woman. One of the reasons why Elsie seems to like Sam Adams is that he has the romantic side, whereas Ted doesn’t.
For example, Sam Adams got Elsie a white stocking. In those days, to get someone a stocking seemed to be quite an intimate gift. Lawrence has done this to show that it’s not just some stupid fling that’s been going on for a couple of months; it’s quite a deep affair that’s been going on for two years. Overall, Lawrence’s attitude towards Sam Adams is that he is quite a romantic character and that he knows how to woo a woman. For example, getting Elsie the white stocking and writing that romantic poem.
E for Elsie, nice nettle gelsie.” Overall, Lawrence’s attitude towards each of his characters is that he depicts Ted as an angry man who could have a romantic side. He depicts Elsie as a beautiful woman who is big-headed and very cheeky. Finally, he depicts Sam Adams as a mysterious, romantic man who is slowly destroying Ted and Elsie’s relationship.
