Стилистический анализ рассказа У.С. Моэма "The Escape"

STYLISTIC ANALYSIS 

William Somerset Maugham

«THE ESCAPE» 

William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the 20th century. The trend he belongs to is realism with slight ifluence of expressionism. A novelist, a dramatist, and a short-story writer, he gained an outstanding reputation with his prominent books “Of Human Bondage”, “The Moon and Sixpence”, and “The Razor's Edge”. The observer of the first decades of the 20th century, Maugham is deeply critical of the morals and the narrow-mindedness of his contemporaries. In general, Maugham's novels and short stories could be characterized by great narrative facility, an ironic point of view, cosmopolitan settings, and an astonishing understanding of human nature. Realistic portrayal of life, keen character observation, and interesting plots coupled with beautiful, expressive language, a clear, unadored style, have truly made Somerset Maugham a modern classic.

«The Escape» is a short story of the socio-psychological type. Stories of this type are common for W.S. Maugham, who likes to depict and satirise existing social vices through feelings and relationships of his characters. To stress this fact, the exact time and place of action are not indicated in the story, which gives it the impression of a faceless common occurence, possible to happen at any time in any place.  

The narrator introduces us to a man and a woman, the friends of his. The man, Roger Charing, is an aging fellow with a good fortune behind him. The woman, Ruth Barlow, is a shrewd, manipulating young widow, determined to get married again to a prospective man. With her seeming pathos and fragility, Ruth manages to win Roger's feelings at first, but as their romance goes on, he falls out of love. The two are already engaged by the time, and by no means would the thrifty bride let her prey escape. W.S. Maugham reveals the elegant plot the man designs to get out of the situation untouched. By making a promise to marry his bride as soon as they find a perfect house to live in, Roger manages to prolong the engagement for two years, while they are inspecting hundreds of houses they could possibly purchase. Roger pretends to never be satisfied with any of them, and Ruth, sick and tired of the never-ending house-hunting, finally loses her patience and breaks up with him. She leaves, unaware of the fact she was tricked.           

The story explores the theme of relationships between two people, but also touches upon the social problem of planned marriages, the general insincerity that exists between men and women (particularly in marital affairs), and with the problem of people's dependance upon the public opinion. It was not at all uncommon in Maugham's times that every girl strived to find a disposable husband to secure her future; so, in my opinion, a the idea of the story is addressed to women. The author implies that men are not that easy to manipulate, and the women who think the opposite are likely to be brought down a peg or two.       

The plot structure of the text is closed. It involves the exposition, the development of events, the climax and the denouement. The exposition depicts Roger and Ruth as a loving couple and reveals the ironic attitude of the author to their match. The development of the acton starts as Roger falls out of love, and the narrator leads the reader throughout the two-year period of their house-hunting. The climax occurs as Ruth loses her temper and refuses to see her bridegroom anymore, and their final exchange of correspondence makes the denouement. 

The composition of the text is amazingly heterogeneous for a short story. First of all, the narration  constantly switches from third person, when the author simply tells the story of the characters, to first person, as the author participates in the plot himself as a friend of the personages. Moreover, author's digressions are inserted here and there to show his attitude to the situation. There are also dialogues, both between Roger and the author and between Roger an Ruth. The descriptions are  rare (e.g. the description of Ruth's eyes), and in the end of the story we find insertions from other style: two personal letters the characters exchange at their break-up. 

To condense the two-year period of relationships between characters into a short story, the text is built upon the principle of reccurrence with incomplete representation as a supplementary principle.   

The recurrent elements are the events of Roger's galant courtship, such as showering his bride with gifts, as well as innumerous attempts of the couple to select a house. Incomplete representation is    realised in almost complete absence of descriptions, the characters being portrayed by actions instead of words. 

The language of the story is the neutral language of an educated person. The humorous effect is achieved with bookish language in descriptions of a love affair: the man about to be married is conscious of his danger and the necessity for immediate action; a dumped woman is eager to assess her wounded feelings at an immoderately high figure (business language). On the semantic level we find vocabulary related to marriage and courtship (to announce a marriage; love letter cliches like “Your news shatters me”, “I shall never get over the the blow”); pet names (“poor dear”); as well as some vocabulary related to estate (“chambers”, “furnished rooms”, “residences”, “(estate) agents”, parts of the house like basement, attic, roof, stairs, kitchen).   

The general tone of the story is ironic and humorous. The author takes the mocking standpoint from the very beginning, comparing a marriage affair initiated by a woman to a life threat. Even the word “marriage” is humorously paraphrased by him to sound like something menacing.

  I have always been convinced that if a woman once made up her mind to marry a man nothing but instant flight could save him. Not always that; for once a friend of mine, seeing the inevitable loom menacingly before him, took ship from a certain port (with a toothbrush for all his luggage, so conscious was he of his danger and the necessity for immediate action) and spent a year travelling round the world; but when, thinking himself safe (women are fickle, he said, and in twelve months she will have forgotten all about me), he landed at the selfsame port the first person he saw gaily waving to him from the quay was the little lady from whom he had fled. I have only once known a man who in such circumstances managed to extricate himself.

  With this ironic air, the author introduces the main characters. Roger Charing is not at all young, and on most occasions careful with the opposite sex. But, meeting Ruth Barlow, he completely loses his head.

  His name was Roger Charing. He was no longer young when he fell in love with Ruth Barlow and he had had sufficient experience to make him careful; but Ruth Barlow had a gift (or should I call it a quality?) that renders most men defenceless, and it was this that dispossessed Roger of his common sense, his prudence and his worldy wisdom. He went down like a row of ninepins.

  Why would a wise and sensible man suddenly fall for woman's charm so mindlessly? Mrs. Barlow is a person who knows how to pull heart strings for her own advantage. She has long elaborated a manner of behaviour men fall for. Women are expected to be weak, to arouse sympathy and the urge to protect them, and the shrewd Mrs. Barlow, who has more than once been married, is perfectly aware of this trick. She plays it out artistically.

  This was the gift of pathos. Mrs. Barlow, for she was twice a widow, had splendid dark eyes and they were the most moving I ever saw; they seemed to be ever on the point of filling with tears; they suggested that the world was too much for her, and you felt that, poor dear, her sufferings had been more than anyone should be asked to bear. If, like Roger Charing, you were a strong, hefty fellow with plenty of money, it was almost inevitable that you should say to yourself: I must stand between the hazards of life and this helpless little thing, or, how wonderful it would be to take the sadness out of those big and lovely eyes! I gathered from Roger that everyone had treated Mrs. Barlow very badly. She was apparently one of those unfortunate persons with whom nothing by any chance goes right. If she married a husband he beat her; if she employed a broker he cheated her; if she engaged a cook she drank. She never had a little lamb but it was sure to die.

     That is how Roger sees th lady of his heart, but the narrator is though observant enough not to be deceived by the image Mrs. Barlow makes up with so much effort. On the very first meeting of theirs he had looked through her and discovered she was scheming. The author's digression in the plot brings back his memories of the moment. We see the real Ruth, the woman with an utter belief she can bring men down to knees by simply looking pathetic, and with no decency within.     

  I knew she was stupid and I thought she was scheming. My own belief was that she was as hard as nails.

  The first time I met her we had played bridge together and when she was my partner she twice trumped my best card. I behaved like an angel, but I confess that I thought if the tears were going to well up into anybody's eyes they should have been mine rather than hers. And when, having by the end of the evening lost a good deal of money to me, she said she would send me a cheque and never did, I could not but think that I and not she should have worn a pathetic expression when next we met. 

  His friend, however, is infatuated. Not only is he in love with the woman, but his gallant courtship seems a kind of good deed for him; the attempt to secure and please a helpless little creature. Meanwhile, Ruth's scheme works on him: they get engaged. 

  Roger introduced her to his friends. He gave her lovely jewels. He took her here, there, and everywhere. Their marriage was announced for the immediate future. Roger was very happy. He was committing a good action and at the same time doing something he had very much a mind to. 

  But this won't last. Suddenly, Roger realises his love was just a moment of whim and his eyes open on the scheme he had fallen to. Of course, after that happy family life is not even a matter to be discussed.   

  Then, on a sudden, he fell out of love. <..> Perhaps it was merely that this pathetic look of hers ceased to wring his heart-strings. His eyes were opened and he was once more the srewd man of the world he had been. He became acutely conscious that Ruth Barlow had made up her mind to marry him and he swore a solemn oath that nothing would induce him to marry Ruth Barlow.

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  Still, they are already engaged, and in Maugham's times, unsetting an engagement was not at all an easy task. Breaking of an engagement would immediately arouse rumours, and the ex-couple would find themseves in in the situation of everyone's disapproval. At that time people were deeply dependant on public opinion; moreover, women were thought to be more decent in personal affairs than men. A  bride, who was turned down, could demand compensation on break-up, and the public opinion would give her full support. The following extract shows the excellent example of W.S.Maughams skill to portray social narrow-mindedness through concrete life situations: 

  But he was in a quandary. Now that he was in possession of his senses he saw with clearness the sort of woman he had to deal with and he was aware that, if he asked her to release him, she would (in her appealing way) assess her wounded feelings at an immoderately high figure. Besides, it is always awkward for a man to jilt a woman. People are apt to think he has behaved badly. 

  Roger is a careful man. He understands the social situation around him, and realises that to preserve his good reputation he has to put on a mask as if nothing happened. He acts accordingly:    

  Roger kept his own counsel. He gave neither by word nor gesture an indication that his feelings towards Ruth Barlow had changed. He remained attentive to all her wishes; he took her to dine at restaurants, they went to the play together, he sent her flowers; he was sympathetic and charming.  

  However, the way out has to be found, and the plan is already born in Roger's head; the plan to make Ruth leave on her own. That would kill two birds with one stone for him: to get rid of a woman who thinks him disposable, and to keep up appearances. Luckily, Roger is enough rich and has enough time at his disposal to put the plan into action. He makes an agreement with Ruth to get married on a certain condition: buying a house; and the house-hunting quest begins. Of course, the narrator makes it obvious that Roger has not for a single moment considered buying one. He is never satisfied with any of the houses; he's so critical it should become suspicious.  

  They had made up their minds that they would be married as soon as they found a house that suited them, for he lived in chambers and she in furnished rooms; and they set. about looking at desirable residences. The agents sent Roger orders to view and he took Ruth to see a number of houses. It was very hard to find anything that was quite satisfactory. Roger applied to more agents. They visited house after house. They went over them thoroughly, examining them from the cellars in the basement to the attics under the roof. Sometimes they were too large and sometimes they were too small, sometimes they were too far from the centre of things and sometimes they were too close; sometimes they were too expensive and sometimes they wanted too many repairs; sometimes they were too stuffy and sometimes they were too airy; sometimes they were too dark and sometimes they were too bleak. Roger always found a fault that made the house unsuitable. Of course he was hard to please; he could not bear to ask his dear Ruth to live in any but the perfect house, and the perfect house wanted finding. <..> They looked at hundreds of houses; they climbed thousands of stairs; they inspected innumerable kitchens. 

  And finally in the end, Ruth grows suspicious, and more than once she questions her bridegroom whether they are going to be married or not. These questions are yet not the sign of her desire to leave, so Roger beseeches her patience, in fact, taking time to annoy her even more. He needs her to leave. They keep looking at houses, and more and more the woman suspects she will not be taken to the altar. In the end, she revolts, bringing the story to the climax: 

  They set out on the chase again. They looked at more houses and more houses. Ruth grew silent and scornful: her pathetic, beautiful eyes acquired an expression that was almost sullen. There are limits to human endurance. Mrs. Barlow had the patience of an angel, but at last she revolted. 

  Ruth asks sternly, whether she would be married to or not. It's hard to say whether she actually realises she wouldn't. The author claims she's not an intelligent woman. Probably she still hopes the marriage will take place, and just sees her fiance now as a pedantic and hesitating fellow, who can't advance into action on the weird reason they can't find a perfect house. She tests him, and when Roger, again, starts talking about houses instead of saying “yes”, she makes up her mind to do away with him. Probably, she thinks such marriage won't do her any good.

  She refuses to see him, and a week after they break, on her (most likely made up) grounds she found another marriage candidate. Notably, Roger still keeps up appearances to the very end. He is gallant, he tries to bring her back, and in with his final letter he encloses – probably, with a good deal of mockery within – a list of houses for her to choose her future residence from.     

  Ruth Barlow took to her bed. She would not see Roger and he had to content himself with calling at her lodgings to enquire and sending her flowers. He was as ever assiduous and gallant. Every day he wrote and told her that he had heard of another house for them to look at. A week passed and then he received the following letter:

Roger,

  I do not think you really love me. I have found someone who is anxious to take care of me and I am going to be married to him today.

Ruth.

He sent back his reply by special messenger: 

Ruth,

  Your news shatters me. I shall never get over the blow, butof course your happiness must be my first consideration. I send you herewith seven orders to view; they arrived by this morning's post and I am quite sure you will find among them a house that will exactly suit you.

Roger 

This is the end of the story. At that moment there was no love, there was no even the sympathy between them. It was Roger’s victory. He achieved measurable gains at this story. In this portion of the text the tone changes, it is still ironical, but there appears some serious element.  

This story carried me with its eternal intrigue – the war between male and female, playing games between the sexes. We may be in earnest about it or may try to ignore it, but it really takes place and this problem will exist until the end of human history.