Analysis “The Escape”
The Escape is a novel written by a famous British playwright, novelist and short story writer. William Somerset Maugham is British writer, one of the most successful writers of the 1930-ies, the author of 78 books, a British intelligence agent. The trend he he belongs to is realism with slight influence of expressionism (А.Г. Гилянова). Гилянова). The most popular books are “Of Human Bondage” (1915) Bondage” (1915),, “The Moon and Sixpence” (1919), Sixpence” (1919), “Theatre” (1937) and “The Razor's Edge” (1945). Edge” (1945). 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 cosmopolitan settings, and an astonishing understanding understanding of human nature. The story “The Escape” is about a very wealthy man Roger man Roger Charing who falls in love with Ruth Barlow, a woman who is twice a widow. They start to think about marriage but suddenly Roger falls out of love and he tries to find the way to break up with her. He tells her that they are going to marry next day they find a perfect house, but for 2 years he rejects all the offers and Ruth loses her patience and leaves Roger herself. The story explores the theme of relationships between men and women, 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 dependence upon the public opinion. The story is told from different point of view. The narration constantly switches from the third person, when the author simply tells the story of the characters, to first person, as the author participates in the plot himself himself as a friend of the personages. There are also dialogues, dialogues, both between Roger and the author and between Roger and Ruth. It increases the credibility of the plot. In the exposition author introduces introduces us with the problem of marriage: for women it is the the aim of life, for men it is a kind of hazard, trap; he uses the metaphors instant flight could save him and him and the inevitable loom menacingly before him talking him talking about marriage as a dangerous thing. We can feel that sarcastic humor that is so typical for all Maugham’s stories. It lies in the fact that the poor friend came to what he had run away. There ar e two main characters Roger Charing and Ruth Barlow. Here we can also observe ironic humor which are mostly come forth in these passages – passages – it it is said that Ruth was twice a widow, which makes the reader guess that Roger is the next victim, through the idiom ( He went down like a row of ninepins). ninepins). The author also uses a question periphrasis to stress that the fact f act that Ruth could render men
defenseless is not just a gift for her, she got this ability in a lifetime or in other words it's an acquired skill (or should I call it a quality?). The gradation starts as Roger falls out of love, and the narrator tells the reader about the two-year period of their house-hunting. The tense is growing when Ruth loses her temper and refuses to see the houses anymore, here the climax occurs. As denouement stands their final exchange of letters. In this story the author reveals the problem of relationship between men and women. He raises the problem of dishonesty in relationship, he exposes that aspect of human nature that they prefer to lie, to think up different reasons to change the situation and to avoid explanations instead of telling the truth. To create an impression of truth the author lays an accent on the personal qualities of the main character. He gives a direct description of Ruth’s eyes using the definitions (“splendid”, “moving”, “big and lovely” ), (“poor dear”) – all in the ironic way. She seemed unhappy and exhausted (“her sufferings had been more than anyone should be asked to bear”). The narrator’s opinion that Ruth is a two-faced woman, he called her stupid and scheming ( Idiom “as hard as nails”). The author describes miserable and unlucky woman directly through parallel construction "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”. It is expressed through the definitions “helpless little thing ”, “rotten time”, “unfortunate”, “ poor dear ”. Especially ironically sounds the metaphoric allusion “ she never had a lamb …”). The meta phor “the gift of pathos”, the definitions “ splendid dark eyes”, “the most moving eyes”, “big and lovely eyes” give us understanding of the author`s attitude to that woman. Roger is considerate, wealthy, gentle, generous and glad to take care of her. He is also described directly through the definitions “sufficient experience, careful, his prudence and his worldy wisdom”. Roger is very happy that he loves her, the writer applies parallel construction to depict his feelings " He gave her lovely jewels. He took her here, there, and everywhere. He was committing a good action and at the same time doing something ". He shows pure love and care. But suddenly his attitude changed, he fells out of love with no reason. The author indicates that through the metaphor “it was merely that this pathetic look of hers ceased to wring his heart-strings”. The public opinion is more important for Roger, the epithets “acutely conscious”, “a solemn oath” make it clear. Parallel constructions used in the description of the houses “ sometimes they [houses] were too large, sometimes they were too small, sometimes they were too expensive and sometimes they were too stuffy”, the metaphor “house-hunting ” describe Roger’s plan of getting rid of Ruth. The tone of the story is informal, 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. The atmosphere is cheerful, that helps author to evoke the delight of the story and make the reader draw his own conclusion. The main idea of dishonesty in relationship and the importance of public opinion is good depicted. The author disclosed this problem in irony way but he could evoke a certain attitude. Unfortunately, this problem will exist for a long time because of human nature. For some people it is easier to lie instead of telling the truth. And author revealed us how ridiculous it looks.
