The Virgin and the Gypsy (1930)

A real, wild bodice-ripper of a book, but much better written because D.H. Lawrence whether he was writing his deep, intense novels or frippery like this, wrote really well. I don't like romances much but this one was quite good, if a bit silly and unlikely, but then that is often the point of romance books anyway. In this case, because the book is so old and it does read in a dated way too, it could be excused by saying it was 'of its day'. ( )

I loved this story so much, I sat my parents down and read it aloud to them. They seemed to enjoy it too.

Prior to reading this short novel, I had read 'Sons and lovers' also written by D.H. Lawrence, quite a depressing tale of psychological entrapment and twisted sexuality, far from an average light holiday read. I was probably close in age to Yvette, the main female character, when I read 'The Virgin and the Gypsy', and I was also brought up in a fairly strict religious environment. I think it was the raw earthiness of the encounter between Yvette and her 'lover' that both attracted and frightened me at that stage of my own development. It is a testament to Lawrence's true understanding of human nature that this story continues to resonate with readers today.

In The Virgin and the Gipsy, Lawrence repetitively uses the word “clean” to emphasize and contrast concepts of purity. In addition, he uses conflicting colors, such as white and black, or shades, such as pale and dark, in his physical descriptions of the various characters. Specifically, he sets up Yvette as white and pale, like an open flower or a “snowdrop,” and the gypsies as black and dark, like a “shadow.” Between these two extremities are the Saywell family, described in various shades of gray, dingy brown, mottled red, and jealous green.

Yvette is attracted to the allure of the gypsy’s darkness. It is the polar opposite of her white virginity, her purity, and yet in its own way, the darkness is just as clean, pure from the hypocrisy of the rectory. Within Yvette is a hint of this darkness, a desire for wild, individual freedom. The young men, those she calls the “house-dog men,” see this dark quality in her, “a touch of the tall young virgin witch about her.” (76) The dark shadow is consciousness, the awareness of oneself as an individual.. While Yvette is a virgin, both sexually and spiritually naive, she has a strong desire to break free, to discover and experience life.

Lawrence, mediating Yvette’s thoughts, is careful to always mention the cleanliness of the dark gypsies. They are swarthy, black-haired, and given animal-like traits; they have a pagan purity akin to nature, more ancient than the stale religious morality of British society. The gypsy wife had a “dark-wolf face,” but “seemed clean;” the gypsy children look from under dark locks, “but they were clean;” even the outdoor gypsy camp was “kept perfectly clean.” (37-43, 81)

In stark contrast, the rectory is described as foul, a “stagnant, sewerage sort of life, where sewerage is never mention , but where it seems to smell from the center of every two-legged inmate, from Granny to the servants...” The gypsies live a free live, in the fresh air of nature. “In the rectory there was never fresh air. And in the souls of the people, the air was stale till it sank” (52)

“Cleanliness” and “purity” are thus words used to describe a state of mind and existence. Under the adults of the rectory, Yvette is stifled and trapped, unable to break free. Her elders wallow in the stagnant filth of their own hypocritical morality. Yvette, a free spirit, is drawn to the lifestyle of the gypsies, who live in the open air, pure and clean.

Yvette’s mother, She-who-was-Cynthia, is called an “imperishable white snow-flower” (6). The label, given by Granny, is meant to remove an blame from the rector in his wife’s behavior; she was a pure, perfect woman when he married her. Ironically, however, the description is a truer representation of the real She-who-was-Cynthia, as she was and is. Like Yvette, she is a free-spirit, pure as a snow, who could not be restrained by the stale morality of her husband.

The Jewess’s fiancé, Major Eastwood, is described as connected with “winter sports,” again referencing the image of white snow—purity (87). He, like the gypsies, lives for the moment and for happiness, without ambition for a higher position in society or vast amounts of wealth. He is free from the “morality” of the common folk, and thus clean.

Finally, the idea that traditional morality and social taboos are unclean is underscored by the symbolism of the flood waters. The filth of the rectory is washed away, as is the queen of morality, Granny. Yvette survives, being reborn naked and clean. The naive virgin has been deflowered in a spiritual sense (and perhaps even sexually), gaining a new awareness through her personal connection with the gypsy. Like her mother, she remains a white flower, spiritually pure.

Almost nothing happens the entire book. Oppressive like The Great Gatsby feels. Two sisters, father and a fat matriarch propel the little action. Innocence and simplicity are squelched by distrust and self-righteousness. A flood at the end of the book brings in a bit of surrealism which doesn't feel like Lawrence at all. ( )