''The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd'' is a play by the English writer
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
. It was written in 1911 and the revised version was published in 1914 by
Duckworth & Co. in London and
Mitchell Kennerley
Mitchell Kennerley (August 14, 1878 – February 22, 1950) was an English born American publisher, editor, and gallery owner.
Life
He was born at Burslem, England.
He was the manager of the New York branch of John Lane, the London publisher, f ...
in New York. It is the dramatisation of Lawrence's short story "
Odour of Chrysanthemums
"Odour of Chrysanthemums" is a short story by D. H. Lawrence. It was written in the autumn of 1909 and after revision, was published in ''The English Review'' in July 1911. Lawrence later included this tale in his collection entitled '' The Prussia ...
".
Plot introduction
Mrs. Holroyd is married to a loutish miner, who drinks, apparently patronizes prostitutes, and apparently brutalizes her. When a gentlemanly neighbor makes romantic advances to her, she wishes her husband dead. Sooner than she hoped, her wish comes true—when her husband dies in a mining accident.
When Charles Holroyd's body is brought home from the mine, and his wife and mother must wash him and lay him out for his funeral, we see for the first time the other side of the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Holroyd—now, when it's too late.
Real life connection
As in many of Lawrence's works there is a real life connection to ''The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd''. Even though his uncle had been killed in a pit accident before Lawrence was born, the story would be told often in the family. The real life 'Mrs. Holroyd' was in fact his aunt Polly, who "lived in a tiny cottage just up the line from the railway crossing at
Brinsley
Brinsley is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. The church of St James was built in 1837–38 from Mansfield stone, the chancel being added in 1877. The village is split into two sections, Old Brinsley which is within Brox ...
, near
Eastwood Eastwood may refer to:
Places
;in Australia
*Eastwood, New South Wales
**Eastwood railway station
**Electoral district of Eastwood
*Eastwood, South Australia
;in Canada
* Eastwood, Ontario
*Eastwood, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood
;in the Ph ...
." Lawrence may have borrowed the surname from the company that his elder brother Ernest worked for in London: John Holroyd and Company.
[Marlan, Michael. ''D.H. Lawrence - The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd and the Daughter in Law. Heinemann: London''] However, the personal experience of the issues that are discussed in the play, such as the drunken miner's evening absence and the mother's scornful hate are the experiences of his own mother and father rather than his aunt's family's.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Widowing Of Mrs Holroyd
1914 plays
Plays by D. H. Lawrence