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A Pattern Stylistic Analysis of the Story "The Escape"

by William Somerset Maugham


W.S. Maugham’s stories make exciting reading and give food for reflection The writer is a
great master of ironic style. By using a biased 1st person narrator the author pretends to praise and
justify what in fact he exposes and condemns. Thus the writer forces the reader to see through this
pretence and make his/her own conclusions as to the purport of the work. The story "The Escape" is a
fair example of Maugham's ironic style.
The basic theme of the story is marriage in bourgeois society, relations between men and
women in connection with problems of marriage. The author tackles a typical phenomenon of modem
society - a marriage of convenience. He looks at the variant of a marriage of convenience when a
woman is the interested party.
The plot centers around a love affair between Ruth Barlow, twice a widow, and Roger Charing,
a no longer young man with plenty of money. The story of their relationship is told by the 1st person
narrator, a convinced bachelor. He is apt to treat the subject-matter of marriage lightly and is inclined to
admire Roger for his acumen in getting rid of Ruth. At a cursory reading this compositional device leads
the reader astray, making him/her mistake the story for a humorous one and side with the narrator and
his protagonist. Only after some reflection on the peculiarities in the development of the plot, and the
means of characterization used to bring out some essential features in the characters of Ruth and Roger
does the reader fully comprehend that it is a story of a man's cruelty and callousness to a woman, having
social significance and consequences.
The message transmitted to the reader by the whole poetic structure of the story may be put into
the following words: a marriage of convenience may be a sordid and ruthless business that drives both
partners to ignoble actions. To achieve one's object in such a marriage, as well as to escape it, one has to
scheme, using one's wits or charm. Then the pursuit of such marriage turns into a hunt.
The central image of the story is introduced in an ironical key with the help of the play upon
the nonce-word coined by William Thackeray - "husbandhunting". The nonce-word created by the
author for the occasion is "househunting”. "Househunting is a tiring and tiresome business”. This
metaphoric description of the relationship between man and woman in connection with the question of
marriage is sustained throughout the story by the contributory images that develop the image of a hunt:
"they set out on a chase again”, "her wounded feelings", "to release him", "to render men defenseless",
"to extricate himself*, "the escape". Through interaction in the context of the story these phrases acquire
metaphoric meanings and suggest the idea of a marriage as a trap. The partners involved in pursuit of
such marriage stand out in the light of this idea as the hunter and the game.
At first, Roger Charing was an easy game for the huntress Ruth Barlow. Under the charm of
her "pathetic", “splendid dark” eyes he "went down like a row of ninepins”. However, Ruth could not
keep her catch, because she was dull and foolish. She had cultivated only one quality - the skill of
catching a rich husband, as it was the only means for a single woman at the time to provide for herself
decently in life. When later on Roger made up his mind to escape from the trap set up by Ruth he
resorted to scheming too. That is, he decided to fight the schemer with her own weapon. But, being “a
shrewd man of the world” he did that with refined cruelty. Desperately hankering on marriage, Ruth
“had the patience of an angel”. For two years Roger ragged her neatly and subtly by pretending that "her
happiness was his first consideration” and that the only thing amiss to complete her happiness was "a
perfect house that wanted finding". His hypocrisy knew no bounds when he beseeched Ruth to have
patience. He had made her "look at hundreds of houses, climb thousands of stairs, inspect innumerable
kitchens”.
Roger's hypocrisy in dealing with Ruth during the househunting is laid bare by means of inner
and uttered represented speech. The story-teller inserts into his narrative fragments from Roger's direct
speech addressed to Ruth on various occasions. Thus he makes the reader see for himself/herself the
glaring discrepancy between Roger's words and actions. Cool-headed and in possession of his senses
Roger tortured his victim gently, never failing to give her pet names - "Dear Ruth", "poor dear”. Having
defeated his enemy in the battle of wits and endurance Roger felt no pity for his victim. When under the
stress of househunting Ruth Barlow took to her bed, "an ever assiduous and gallant” Roger wrote to her
every day, telling her "that he had heard of another house for them to look at”, thus finishing her off.
When the victim admitted her defeat Roger urgently sent a letter full of hypocritical manifestations of
his grief and sorrow. But that was not enough for him. The letter contained a spiteful parting shot
charged with venom, which was Ruth's undoing.
Roger's letter is a powerful means of indirect characterization, revealing to the full the true
nature of a coot-headed callous and spiteful person hidden under the mask of a perfect English
gentleman. Being a true member of his class Roger dealt cruelly with the woman he had once loved for
two reasons only he didn't want to put to hazards his reputation (“people are apt to think he has behaved
badly if a man has jilted a woman”) and he didn't want to part company with his money if he openly
broke the engagement (“if he asked her to release him, she would assess her wounded feelings at an
immoderately high figure”). Those innermost thoughts and feelings of Roger are rendered through his
inner represented speech.
Thus by skillfully using various stylistic means of ironic characterization W.S. Maugham has
turned a banal plot into a socially significant story.

(From «Методические рекомендации к стилистическому анализу текста» В.Г. Байков,


Л.И. Сердюкова, Изд-во ГГПИИЯ)

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