"Wedding at the Marsh": Lawrence's Rhetorical Strategies in Chapter V of "The Rainbow"

The article explores the rhetorical strategies of Chapter V of D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rainbow”, which represents a central moment of transition in the novel. On the one hand, the chapter posits a stylistic alternative to the dominant features of the novel from a syntactic and lexical point of view, on the other it anticipates the thematic developments that characterise the second generation of the Brangwen women, Anna and Ursula. The central section contains a close reading of Tom Brangwen’s wedding speech to reveal a discourse that not only parodies the author’s own rhetorical strategies but also reflects the need to transcend the limitations of the male world-view that dominates the first part of the novel.