Harlequinade in “Ladybird” by D.H. Lawrence

The article is devoted to the carnival reading of the novella “Ladybird” by D.H. Lawrence. By identifying harlequinade imagery and studying its interweaving with ancient plots in the text of the novella, the role of the carnival context in reflecting the “Lawrenceian” worldview is established, namely, the writer’s reflections on the consequences of the First World War and ways to overcome the emotional wounds received in the war. The author of the article shows how D.H. Lawrence, who throughout his life was equally inspired by Italy with its carnivals and masked performances, and psychoanalysis in the person of C.G. Jung, created a polyphonic masterpiece, which, on the one hand, imitates English pantomimes, combining the “divine” with the “farcical”, and on the other hand, unites the archetypes of human culture and implements a dialogue between philosophical teachings and traditions. A detailed analysis of the images of the characters demonstrates their similarity with Harlequin, Columbine and Pierrot, and also reveals a word game in the text of the novella and allusions to pantomimes popular in England in the 18th-19th centuries: “Ladybird; or, Harlequin Lord Dundreary” (1795) and “Furibond; or, Harlequin Negro” (1807). The images of the harlequinade are used by Lawrence both as an illustration of his own version of psychoanalysis, the “Harlequinade of the Unconscious”, and as a reworking of the ideas of Jung and Nietzsche. In addition, harlequinade allows the writer to bring the plot of the novel into the timeless space of the carnival, where the metaphorical procession of the “debunked gods” - the main characters - in the “underworld” of the unconscious allows them to pass through the purifying carnival fire and be reborn to a new life. The harlequinade in the novella is both one of its dimensions, and a variant of healing psychodrama, and one of the reflections of the Lawrence’s model of the interaction between micro- and macrocosm.