The linguistic analysis of the text ‘The lotus eater’ by William Somerset Maugham

Ann Tarasova 42 em

The linguistic analysis of the text ‘The lotus eater’ by William Somerset Maugham.

William Somerset Maugham is an outstanding English writer of the 20^th century. He is known as a successful novelist and short story writer.

Maugham’s keen and observant eye, subtle irony and brilliant style made his books extremely popular all over the world.

The text ‘The Lotus Eater’ is about a man whose name is Thomas Wilson. Giving up regular and stable life in London, Thomas Wilson, charmed with the beauty of the island Capri, comes here to live. Having sold all the property he bought an annuity for 25 years. The character lives in comfort and simply enjoys the life. Time passes and 25 years are over, Wilson is to pay for the rent, but he is out of money. Thomas tries to commit suicide, but unsuccessfully. He dies after 6 years.

The aim of the linguistic analysis of a literary work is to help the reader get an insight into the plot of the literary text, its theme, the problems, facts of life and the characters.

This text under analysis is a piece of fiction, i.e. a psychological story which is written in the first-person. The author uses the first person narration to show his personal attitude and to raise reader’s attention.

The text consists of 4 literary components: narration, description, dialogues and digression. The narration actually is used in the whole text. The author gives us the description of the island Capri where the narrator spends the month of August at a friend’s villa, and where he meets Thomas Wilson. Also the description can be found when the narrator tells us about the appearance of Thomas Wilson and when Thomas tells about his first visit of the island. The author gives us the dialogues between the narrator and his friend, between Thomas and the narrator. The digressions can be found at the beginning of the text when the author meditates about two types of people and when the author inserts the story about two cities- Sybaris and Crotona.

The text has a close plot structure because it has all parts of the plot.

In the exposition the author poses the main problem. The author tells us that there are two types of people, those who ‘lead the lives that circumstances have thrust upon them’ and those who ‘have boldly taken the course of their life into their own hands’. The atmosphere of the ordinariness of life of first-typed people is created to a certain extent by use of a kind of simile, which is called allusion: (like tram-cars, as scrap iron, as round pegs in square holes); reiteration: backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. Using such expressive means and stylistic devices, the author shows us how routine and dull the life is. From this passage we also find out the reason of the narrator’s wish to meet Thomas Wilson. The reason is that Thomas is the second rare type of people. The leading stylistic principle of this extract is reiteration: I was curious, I had a notion, I thought I should. It shows us how strong the narrator’s will of being acquainted with Thomas is. Speaking of the complication, it starts from the very moment of the acquaintance between Wilson and the narrator and lasts till the climax. Here we find out interesting facts about the main character’s previous life and all the problems and difficulties he has had to experience before coming to live to Capri for ever. He has a sorrowful story of his previous life. There is no anyone who can easily be more alone in the world than he is. His wife died of bronchial pneumonia and the kid got blood-poisoning and died. Speaking about the problems and difficulties which he has overcome before coming to Capri, I can make a conclusion that he is a very determined person with a strong will, because he gives up his prestigious job in bank and sold all his property to buy an annuity just for twenty-five years. It is worthy of note the story about two cities – Sybaris and Crotona. People from Sybaris just enjoyed their life and in Crotona they all were really industrious. The man of Crotona came over and wiped Sybaris out, the same happened to people of Crotona. So, nothing remained of those two cities. One could say, that probably by this story Wilson wants to show that everything will come to an end one day, so there arises the question whether it is worthy of living for work’s sake? Another interesting moment that is to be noted is the story about the German who came to the island for lunch, but stayed for 40 years. So Wilson says that he is not the only who has made such decision and he is also in right to do the same. The most strained moment of the story is the climax – Wilson’s attempt to commit suicide after 25 years of adorable life. Having no money, no courage to make a decision Thomas gives way to his feelings and tries to commit suicide in his tiny room. He decided to commit a suicide when he came first to the island. But the suicide is failed, because his character turns out not strong enough to commit it. It is Assunta who finds him and Wilson is taken to the hospital. After the climax comes downfall. When the narrator tells us about Wilson’s afterlife or, to be more exactly, existence. As the result of all the difficulties he could not overcome the main character is no longer in his right mind. The outcome is Wilson’s death. He has endured that miserable life for six years. Thomas died on the mountainside, watching the scenery that appealed to him a lot. By making up such end, the author shows us that during 25 years Wilson was living for the sake of beauty, it had become his goal and, apparently, the goal was obtained.

The theme of this particular text is ‘man and fate’, and supportive themes are ‘man and nature’ ‘man and work’. The main message of the text is ‘man is an architect of his own fortune’, and supportive messages are ‘the advantages and disadvantages of carefree life’, ‘the results of doing-nothing’, and ‘pernicious love towards nature’.

The development of the plot is based on the emotional conflict (man against himself) and mental conflict (man against environment). The character suffered from the emotional conflict as he was unable to endure changes he had to undergo after 25 years of carefree life. As for the mental conflict, it is necessary to note that Wilson was the master of his own fate and it was he who had regulated his life that way.

Like any other texts, ‘The Lotus Eater’ has its own protagonists and antagonists.  Due to the fact that the narrator tells us a story about a man who accomplished a feat, i.e. took his fate in his own hands, I can presuppose that Thomas Wilson is the only one protagonist. 

As for antagonists, there are several of them. The first antagonist is Thomas’s traits of character. The author demonstrates us that Wilson underwent cardinal changes in his character. Before coming to the island, Wilson used to be a static bank manager who led an ordinary life.  As for his private life, there was also nothing to boast about. Wilson’s wife and child had died, so he had nobody to depend on him. Henceforth, he was to take boldly the course of his life into his own hands and he did. The second antagonist is Wilson’s fate. The main character was the master of his own destiny, but the thing is that it turned out badly for him. Also Thomas is a dynamic character, because changes at the end of the text. At the beginning of the text he was a determined and venturesome person who had boldly taken the course of his life into his own hands. But at the end of the text we can see that his strong will, courage and resoluteness left him and carefree life drew him mad. Speaking of Assunta, the master’s wife, who helped Thomas about the house, I can say that she is a foil character, because the author contrasts Assunta’s way of life with Thomas’s one. Being a laborious, hard-working person, she is the direct opposite of Wilson. By means of this contrast the author presented us two representatives of people of different types, i.e. those who ‘lead the lives that circumstances have thrust upon them’ and those who ‘have boldly taken the course of their life into their own hands’. Assunta is a person of the first type and Thomas- of the second one.

Over the whole text the author shows us the characters in action and gives us a minute description of appearance, which lets us either judge or justify them. Consequently, we can state that the presentation is indirect and direct. At the beginning of the text the author gives us an indirect presentation of Thomas Wilson. Meditating about uniqueness of people who ‘have boldly taken the course of their life into their own hands’ the author introduces Thomas Wilson, as a representative of this type of people, that is why I can make a conclusion that he was a determined, courage, venturesome person with a strong will who had accomplished something improbable. Speaking about direct presentation we can find it when the author describes in details Thomas’s appearance and clothes. In this minute description the author uses such epithets as gentle and kindly (smile), carefully brushed (hair), prim (face), commonplace (man) which help us to imagine his nice and charismatic picture. To prove the fact that Thomas looked as a determined and charismatic person the author uses a kind of simile, which is called allusion: he compares Wilson with “a manager of an insurance company”. It is also interesting to note that describing the main character mostly two colors are used – blue and grey (blue shirt, grey hair, pepper-and-salt trousers). All these means serve to present Wilson as a calm, even-tempered and serene person. The author introduces a very effective simile describing the Wilson’s look: It’s an absurd comparison, but suppose you threw a stone up into the air and it didn’t come down but just stayed there…. This stylistic device helps us to look at Thomas’s soul- it was empty where indeterminacy reigned.

Thomas really accomplished a feat, he gave up his prestigious job in bank and sold all his property to buy an annuity and went to live to Capri Island, becoming closer to nature, but I can draw a conclusion that he is irresponsible and light-headed person, because he bought an annuity just for twenty-five years. He didn’t foresee that he would live more than 25 years. That is why his life turned into existence after 25 years of carefree. His terrible love to nature and irresponsibility led to unfortunate results. The conditions under which the main character had to live became not very comfortable. The author uses such epithets as ramshackle, speaking about his bed, pretty rough, speaking about the food which he had to eat, and also author uses the idiom ‘meat once in a blue moon’ to prove that the food was rather simple and monotonous. To show the madness and aloofness of the main character, to show that Thomas tried to avoid people and even withdrew himself the author uses a kind of simile, which is called allusion, the author says ‘when he sees you coming he runs like a hare’ or ‘like a hunted animal, had made for safety’.

Speaking about Assunta, the author presents her indirectly. Taking into consideration the fact that she worked all her life, helping Thomas about the house, and after 25 years sheltered poor and mad Thomas and treated him like a child I can presuppose that she was a kind, generous, responsible and hard-working person.

Due to the fact that setting consists of details as the time of the year, certain parts of the landscape, the weather, colour, sounds, we can see it when the narrator describes the moment when he got acquainted with Thomas Wilson (It was on the Piazza in Capri, a little before sunset, when most of the inhabitants, native and foreign, gather together to chat with their friends in the cool of the evening. There is a terrace that overlooks the Bay of Naples, and when the sun sinks slowly into the sea the island of Ischia is silhouetted against a blaze of splendour. It is one of the most lovely sights in the world; The instant of overwhelming beauty had passed and the sun, like the top of an orange, was dipping into a wine-red sea. We turned round and leaning our backs against the parapet looked at the people who were sauntering to and fro. They were all talking their heads off and the cheerful noise was exhilarating. Then the church bell, rather cracked, but with a fine resonant note, began to ring. The Piazza at Capri, with its clock tower over the footpath that leads up from the harbour, with the church up a flight of steps, is a perfect setting for an opera by Donizetti, and you felt that the voluble crowd might at any moment break out into a rattling chorus. It was charming and unreal.). The setting provides a realistic background, evokes the necessary atmosphere, i.e. the beauty of the nature of the island and help to understand why the main character was head over ears in love with this place.

The author's choice of characters, events, situations, details and his choice of words is by no means accidental. Whatever leads us to enter the author's attitude to his subject matter is called tone. Like the tone of voice, the tone of this story communicates sorrow. (It had never occurred to him that after twenty-five years of complete happiness, in this quiet backwater, with nothing in the world to disturb his serenity, his character would gradually lose its strength. He seemed to have no longer a will of his own.)

The title of the story is symbolic and content-making as we know the legend about “The Lotus eater “: In the “Odyssey”, an epic poem attributed to Homer we find a description of a beautiful land of lotus eaters. The inhabitants of this land made every new-comer eat lotus, the fruit of which caused a happy dreamy state, forgetfulness of the past and a distaste for activity, so that the one who has eaten lotus forgot his native country and remained in the Lotus for ever.  Undoubtedly, the Wilson’s story is similar to the legend.