Maurice (novel)

E. M. Forster's Maurice

Maurice is a novel by E. M. Forster. A tale of homosexual love in early 20th century England, it follows Maurice Hall from his schooldays, through university and beyond. It was written from 1913 onwards. Although it was shown to selected friends, such as Christopher Isherwood, it was only published in 1971 after Forster's death.

Forster resisted publication because of public and legal attitudes to homosexuality — a note found on the manuscript read: "Publishable, but worth it?". Forster was particularly keen that his novel should have a happy ending, but knew that this would make the book too controversial.^[1] However, by the time he died, British attitudes, and law, had changed.

The novel was made into a film Maurice (1987), directed by James Ivory and starring James Wilby as Maurice, Hugh Grant as Clive and Rupert Graves as Alec.

A stage adaptation, written by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham, was produced by SNAP Theatre Company in 1998 and toured the UK, culminating with a brief run at London's Bloomsbury Theatre. Shameless Theatre Company staged another production in 2010 at the Above The Stag Theatre in London.^[2]

Plot summary

We first encounter Maurice Hall (pronounced "Morris") aged fourteen having a discussion about sex and women with his prep-school teacher, Ben Ducie, which takes place just before he progresses to his public school. This sets the tone for the rest of the novel, as Maurice feels removed from the depiction of marriage with a woman as the goal of life.

When Maurice enters university, he soon makes friends with fellow student Clive Durham, who introduces him to the ancient Greek writings about homosexual love. For two years they have a committed if chaste romance, which they keep hidden from everyone they know. Maurice hopes for more from their platonic attachment, but it becomes clear that Clive intends to marry, even though Forster's prose leaves no doubts that his marriage will probably entail a mostly joyless union.

Maurice grows older, leaves the university without taking his degree, and gets a good job as a stock broker. In his spare time, he helps to run a Christian mission's boxing gym for working class boys in the East End, although under Clive's influence he abandons his Christian beliefs.

He makes an appointment with a hypnotist, Mr. Lasker Jones, in an attempt to "cure" himself. Lasker Jones refers to his condition as "congenital homosexuality" and claims a 50 per cent success rate in "curing" gay men. After the first appointment it is clear that the therapy has failed.

Maurice's unfulfilled emotional longings come closer to being resolved when he is invited to stay at Penge with the Durhams'. There, at first unnoticed by him, lurks the young under-gamekeeper Alec Scudder (called just Scudder for large passages of the book, to emphasise the class difference), who has noticed Maurice. One night he uses a ladder to climb into Maurice's bedroom, answering Maurice's call unheard by anyone else.

After their first night together, Maurice panics and, because of his treatment of Alec, the latter threatens to blackmail Maurice. Maurice goes to Lasker Jones one more time. Knowing that the therapy is failing, he tells Maurice to consider relocating to a country that has adopted the Code Napoleon, meaning one in which homosexual conduct is no longer criminal, such as France or Italy. Maurice wonders if homosexuality will ever be acceptable in England, to which Lasker Jones replies "I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature."

Maurice and Alec meet at the British Museum in London to discuss the blackmail. It becomes clear that they are in love with each other, and Maurice calls him Alec for the first time.

After another night lying arm-in-arm together, it becomes clear that Alec has a ticket for a trip to Argentina, and will not return. After initial resentment Maurice decides to give Alec a sendoff. He is taken aback when Alec is not at the harbour. In a hurry, he makes for Penge, where the two lovers were supposed to have met before at a boathouse. He finds there Alec, who tells him that he had sent a telegram stating that he was to come to the boathouse. Alec intends to stay with Maurice, telling him that they "shan't be parted no more" and they live happily ever after.

Maurice visits Clive and outlines what has happened with Alec. Clive is left speechless and unable to comprehend. Maurice disappears into the woods to rejoin Alec.

Original ending

In the original manuscripts, Forster wrote an epilogue concerning the post-novel fate of Maurice and Alec that he later discarded, because it was unpopular among those to whom he showed it. This epilogue can still be found in the Abinger edition of the novel. This edition also contains a summary of the differences between various versions of the novel.

The Abinger reprint of the Epilogue retains Maurice's original surname of Hill throughout. The epilogue contains a meeting between Maurice and his sister Kitty some years later. Alec and Maurice have by now become woodcutters. It dawns upon Kitty why her brother disappeared. This portion of the novel underlines the extreme dislike that Kitty feels for her brother. The epilogue ends with Maurice and Alec in each other's arms at the end of the day discussing seeing Kitty and resolving that they must move on in order to avoid detection or a further meeting.

References

• Forster, EM. Maurice. London: Edward Arnold, 1971.
• Pastore, Stephen R. "E.M. Forster: A Study of His Major Novels." Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press, 2001.

Notes

1. ^ Forster 1971, p. 236.
2. ^ "ATS Theatre: Maurice". http://www.abovethestag.com/page6.html. Retrieved 2010-10-10. 

External links

• Maurice plot summary and links at Aspects of E. M. Forster.
• Transvaluing immaturity: reverse discourses of male homosexuality in E.M. Forster's posthumously published fiction, Stephen Da Silva, spring 1998
• Heroes and homosexuals: education and empire in E. M. Forster, Quentin Bailey, Automn 2002
• Roaming the Greenwood, Colm Tóibín, London Review of Books, Vol. 21 No. 2, 21 January 1999.