H Lawrence's novel, "Sons and Lovers," portrays three females whose tragedies lie in the fact that they merely function as "stones" in Paul's life. In the story, we see Mrs. Morel, pitifully living with an Oedipus complex, which enables her to be a powerful hermaphrodite, gaining access to power. Another character, Miriam, is imprisoned by Victorian morality, but her world is not purely spiritual and she desires much more from her life. Clara is a woman who makes Paul feel like a real man, but he is only able to see he physical attributes and nothing more. .
Lawrence uses these women to represent soul, spirit, and flesh; helping Paul pursue his goal of becoming a perfect man. Daniel in his The Consciousness of D. H. Lawrence: "An Intellectual Biography " (1986), wrote "In fact, the three women, mother, Miriam, and Clara all made Paul feel that he was imprisoned"." .
Towards the end of the novel, Paul ends the three relationships and moves on. He has proven himself to be a patriarchal, self-centered, and sadistic male chauvinist. What the three women have in common, however, is a type of control over Paul. And ultimately, this ascendancy leads to his destruction. .
Paul's mother, Mrs. Morel, is his "soul" support and is the most important person in Paul's life, but appears to be viewed as her husband's property". Even if she was hit by her husband, she had to do much for her husband. Furthermore, she did not know exactly how much her husband earned. Because according to the habits, woman must go out when man counted money in the room. This was only one side of Mrs. Morel's tragedy, like all the other women, Lawrence shows her as a sufferer of the Victorian morality. .
Another tragedy that lied within Mrs. Morel was that she was not a pure "housewife ", "She went into the front garden, feeling too heavy to take herself out, yet unable to stay indoors. The heat suffocated her. And looking ahead, the prospect of her life made her feel as if she were buried alive ".