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The Prussian Officer Analysis

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“The Prussian Officer,” a dark and twisted story by D. H. Lawrence, illustrates the frustration from the pent-up sexual regression of a Prussian officer, and his subsequent abuse of his orderly. The short story details the psychology to of two German soldiers, and how the cruelty experienced led to a maddened violent outburst. The two characters are opposites, the Captain, a Junker aristocrat, who lost his wealth to gambling, is distant, irritable, and unmarried. The orderly, Schoner, is young, handsome, and full of life. Schoner has a loving relationship, while the Prussian officer’s mistresses always leave him bad-tempered. The Captain and his young orderly juxtapose each other. The Captain embodies suppression, and the orderly has a “natural spontaneity”. Over the course of the story, the two inherit qualities of the other through the cruelty they endure. The Captain suffers from suppressed sexuality and finds himself attracted to Schoner. In this time period, such feelings were shameful and forbidden, especially endearment for a lower rank. The cruelty the Captain experience’s is society’s pressures and limitations, and this subsequently turns to anger toward and abuse of the orderly. The Prussian officer becomes determined to break his obedient orderly as a subconscious expression of his sexual repression. The psychological and physical cruelty endured by the characters lead to an epic resolution. The officer is an aristocrat and a high army rank. He has an

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