Maurice and the Eroticism of Nurtured Allegory
“His Faith was a pawn well lost; for in capturing it, Durham had exposed his heart.”
– E. M. FORSTER
The novel Maurice uses sacrilegious and natural descriptors to articulate the protagonist’s concealed sexual identity. As such, the objective framing suggests that an individual’s innermost desires are often presented by way of familiar allegory, resulting in veiled judgements and misinterpretations of drive.
Author Edward Morgan Forster used homoeroticism as a tool for expressing the socioeconomic status quo associated with early 20th century England. Christianity influenced the public life of all individuals, including the families of the protagonist Maurice and his first love interest, a young man named Durham. As Durham flees the religious norm and grapples with his Christian household, Maurice follows suite, not yet aware of the implicit motivations pushing him to do so: “… he began to make a religion of some other boy.” The sacrifice of faith for the sake of erotic pursuit was a mutual agreement as they “… [yearned] for they knew not what” and “worshipped” one another for reasons unbeknownst. The decision to speak of the sexual using a religious lexicon illustrates the role of environment on the intuition of the young characters, helping readers shape their own understanding of the consequences, both internal and external, facilitated by breaching a moral norm. The passage describes the erotic sentiment exclusively through indirect language to foster a detachment from the protagonist’s cognition, reflecting the taboo through symbol rather than words. For instance, pure erotic passion found itself solely in the tender dreams of Maurice, exists in accordance with the socially unacceptable and the unconscious, “still less to express his admiration in words.”
To further depict the zeitgeist of the era, Maurice explores the homosexual orientation of the characters and allows it to mold into other prominent troubles of the time, such as economic prosperity and familial standing in society. In turn, preference in the same sex and a depleted income are compared under similar ramifications, enforced by the elite and the outdated moral code: “…he had his revenges.” The text argues that without self-actualization, an individual cannot live a fulfilling life rid of sin and joy. To do so, the author removes sin from the confines of religion and instead permits it to flourish “remote from obscenity” and public opinion. The protagonist undermines Durham as a subject of attraction, instead labelling him as the “adored one” capable of catalyzing a change in Maurice’s nature and improving the well-being of men in the form of a saviour. In other words, Durham transcended the natural into the supernatural realm, untouchable by Maurice’s innermost desires. Forster presents a roulette to be spun at the moment of insemination – the race, family and sexuality of the child – as an ungovernable fate independent of human’s volition. In turn, Maurice questions the moral uniformity of England and shows the similarities religion holds to adoration, trust and desire. The text begs the question: what difference does it make for the general populus, if the emotion associated with religion is found in homosexual love?
In response to the societal construct of religion echoed heavily in the pages of Maurice, another language capable of outweighing the artificial comes into fruition: the natural. The removal of the chaos of society allows readers to sense “the two feelings of beauty and tenderness [that] show no sign of flower” due to Maurice’s and Durham’s inability to recognize the pure self, independent from experience. Ergo, the natural language critiques the manmade construction of faith and situates an empathetic innocence, stimulating both Maurice and the readers to deconstruct morality and end the sorting of human action into righteous and unorthodox. The passage presents a compelling argument for religion, such as its capacity to guide a devotee on a path of self-discovery, yet evaluates the qualms associated with the categorization of sexual preference. Akin to a budding flower, Maurice stagnates in growth and silences the cognition of the nurtured mind in favour of innate instinct: “timidly the youth began to look around him.” Neither boy know of their growing adoration for one another, yet Maurice instinctively gazes up at a metaphorical sun without whom he couldn’t continue flourishing. Only when the plant accepts its nature, can the roots seek moisture in the dry soil.
The erotic stimulates the primal mind to activate and evoke unforeseen truths about the self. Maurice, a novel of self-discovery and yearning, reminds readers of how norms adhere and limit the erotic discovery present in the human experience.
EXCERPT
The other half of his life seemed infinitely remote from obscenity. As he rose in the school he began to make a religion of some other boy. When this boy, whether older or younger than himself, was present, he would laugh loudly, talk absurdly, and be unable to work. He dared not be kind—it was not the thing—still less to express his admiration in words. And the adored one would shake him off before long, and reduce him to sulks. However, he had his revenges. Other boys sometimes worshipped him, and when he realized this he would shake off them. The adoration was mutual on one occasion, both yearning for they knew not what, but the result was the same. They quarrelled in a few days. All that came out of the chaos were the two feelings of beauty and tenderness that he had first felt in a dream. They grew yearly, flourishing like plants that are all leaves and show no sign of flower. Towards the close of his education at Sunnington the growth stopped. A check, a silence, fell upon the complex processes, and very timidly the youth began to look around him.
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