William Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s. He devoted his whole life to literature with a legacy of numerous works. Maugham achieved success such fields as novels, plays and short stories. The history of English literature dignified him as the eminent writer of the novel. In addition, with famous author such as James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling, Katherine Mansfield and so on, Maugham was recognized as the shortstory statue in the early twentieth century in English literature. These short stories were considered as epitome of traditional art writing. Maugham’s short stories: The luncheon, The escape, Mr know all, The letter, Rain etc. were always on the anthology of typical works in the world. In his contemporary time, the talent of Maugham was not highly appreciated by literary critics, he even had to deal with negative comments and sarcastic remarks because he followed traditional writing while English literature at that time expected a new trend of writing style. However, when “literature fever” passed by, the true values still existed with time. The talent and value of Maugham’s works were gradually recognized and attracted generations of readers in the world and gained the high appraisement of the critics. So far, there have been many worthy studies focusing on Maugham’s novels. However, there is a fact existing in literature approaches is that readers and critics mainly pay attention to famous novels but show little concern about short stories the genre that brings the success to this English writer. Several anthropology books and websites introduce Maugham’s works; however, they do not absolutely approach and deeply evaluate the values of his writing. Maugham’s short stories seem to be the potential land for researchers to explore. Today, there have been studies about Maugham’s short stories in several aspects including time and space reflected in his works, human nature and so on. Most articles by critics about Maugham’s short stories are collected in the book “The legacy of critics”. For instance, Yue conducted a study on W. Somerset Maugham and his use of the Chinese landscape as a means to forward his views on this issue. His papers pointed out the significance of landscape depiction in Maugham narratives and considered its relevance to the understanding of Maugham as an antiimperialist writer. This article would be more persuasive if Yue can combine the analysis of the landscape with the characters as well as Chinese culture. The lack of characters analysis leads to the superficial content. At the University of International Language and Studies, there are only two studies about Maugham, but both of them analyze the two famous novels “The moon and sixpence” and “The Human Bondage”. In his short stories, the depiction of women is usually distorted with satire attitude. This drives the researcher to conduct a study on “The portrayal of women in Maugham’s short stories”.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER THE IMAGE OF WOMEN IN WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM’S SHORT STORIES Supervisor:Đỗ Thu Hương Student:Nguyễn Mỹ Linh Course: QH2010.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP HÌNH ẢNH NGƯỜI PHỤ NỮ TRONG TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA WILLIAM SOMMERSET MAUGHAM Giáoviênhướngdẫn:Đỗ Thu Hương Sinhviên:Nguyễn Mỹ Linh Khóa: QH2010.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Nguyen My Linh from 10.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts ( TEFL) accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis could not be completed without the wholehearted assistance and encouragement from many people. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mrs. Đỗ Thu Hương, M.A for her stimulating suggestions and critical comments since the beginning to the end of the study. Also, I want to offer my sincere thanks to my family and my friends who always give me support to finish my thesis. ii ABSTRACT As an attempt to contribute to gaining more insights into Maugham’s works, this research aims to investigate the portrayal of women at the early twentieth century depicted in his short stories. Specifically, the study focuses on both similar and different characteristics amongst the female characters in the five short stories. They have three main similar characteristics including selfishness, hypocrisy and adultery. Besides, the attitude of the writer, Maugham on these characters is also analyzed based on moral aspects and humanistic viewpoints. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 CHAPTER 3: WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM AND HIS 11 SHORT STORIES 11 CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPMENT 17 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 36 REFERENCE 40 iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of research question William Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s. He devoted his whole life to literature with a legacy of numerous works. Maugham achieved success such fields as novels, plays and short stories. The history of English literature dignified him as the eminent writer of the novel. In addition, with famous author such as James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling, Katherine Mansfield and so on, Maugham was recognized as the short-story statue in the early twentieth century in English literature. These short stories were considered as epitome of traditional art writing. Maugham’s short stories: The luncheon, The escape, Mr know all, The letter, Rain etc. were always on the anthology of typical works in the world. In his contemporary time, the talent of Maugham was not highly appreciated by literary critics, he even had to deal with negative comments and sarcastic remarks because he followed traditional writing while English literature at that time expected a new trend of writing style. However, when “literature fever” passed by, the true values still existed with time. The talent and value of Maugham’s works were gradually recognized and attracted generations of readers in the world and gained the high appraisement of the critics. So far, there have been many worthy studies focusing on Maugham’s novels. However, there is a fact existing in literature approaches is that readers and critics mainly pay attention to famous novels but show little concern about short stories- the genre that brings the success to this English writer. Several anthropology books and websites introduce Maugham’s works; however, they do not absolutely approach and deeply evaluate the values of his writing. Maugham’s short stories seem to be the potential land for researchers to explore. Today, there have been studies about Maugham’s short stories in several aspects including time and space reflected in his works, human nature and so on. Most articles by critics about Maugham’s short stories are collected in the book “The legacy of 1 critics”. For instance, Yue conducted a study on W. Somerset Maugham and his use of the Chinese landscape as a means to forward his views on this issue. His papers pointed out the significance of landscape depiction in Maugham narratives and considered its relevance to the understanding of Maugham as an anti-imperialist writer. This article would be more persuasive if Yue can combine the analysis of the landscape with the characters as well as Chinese culture. The lack of characters analysis leads to the superficial content. At the University of International Language and Studies, there are only two studies about Maugham, but both of them analyze the two famous novels “The moon and sixpence” and “The Human Bondage”. In his short stories, the depiction of women is usually distorted with satire attitude. This drives the researcher to conduct a study on “The portrayal of women in Maugham’s short stories”. 2. Aims and objectives of the study This thesis aims at investigating the portrayal of women in Maugham’s short stories. Consequently, the researcher also hopes to explore the reason why these female characters are described like that. By analyzing these points, this thesis is expected to reveal Maugham’s attitude to women. To achieve these aims, the researcher carries out the study to address the following questions: What are the typical portrayals of women in Maugham’s short stories? What is the attitude of Maugham to women? 3. Significance of the study The researcher hopes that this thesis will help explore in details the contents of Maugham’s short stories by analyzing his female characters. It is due to the fact that Maugham’s work are considered as one of the greatest masterpieces of the twentieth century short-stories in the world, while, the studies on his writing is rather limited. Therefore, this thesis expects to provide more information and data as well as a new outlook on the topic of “women” for who recognize Maugham’s short stories. In 2 general, the researcher expects that this thesis will provide useful references for students at ULIS who have to study Maugham’s works in the syllabus of the subject “English Literature”. 4. The scope of the study The characters in Maugham’s short stories are various but this thesis just focuses on female characters. In addition, there are hundreds of short stories in Maugham’s legacy, however, the researcher only explores the five main short stories including: The luncheon, Louise, The letter, The judgment seat and The promise 5. Research methodology This thesis will implement methods of interpreting and comparing or contrasting primary sources. The researcher will also use biographical and historical materials in order to understand the social settings mentioned by critics. In addition, analyzing and evaluating the viewpoints of the critics are also another way for me to conduct this research on Maugham’s short stories. By studying the comments of the critics, the researcher will grasp their viewpoints and examine whether they are reliable opinions or just their subjective ones. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Critics and related studies on Maugham’s work According to Murphy (p.379), throughout a career which lasted more than five decades of commercial and artistic success, raging debate revolved about the quality of W. Somerset Maugham’s work and the nature of his character. Several famous critics cavalierly dismissed Maugham’s masterpieces. Edmund Wilson, for instance, once commented, “I have never been able to convince myself that he was anything but second-rate,” while others, among them Carl and Mark Van Doren and Christopher Isherwood, have respected Maugham and highly appreciated Maugham’s work. The debate has become difficult to understand by the strict control which the well-known author exerted over his personal and professional relations. The critic and biographer Robert Calder has proposed, “Willie’s Maugham, the man, was an enigma: W. Somerset Maugham, the literary artists, remains a mystery.” Calder (1989) makes a big effort to settle these questions by finding a logical connection among all of Maugham’s works to his main themes. Despite being hindered by a common tendency among Maugham’s critics to firmly link the writer’s work to biography, Calder’s important study is totally different. It conveys almost necessary information about Maugham, which seems to be the most complete and unified opus. However, combinations of biographical and New Critical approaches that make Calder’s work seem conservative today. Murphy (2000, p.379) remarked, “Maugham’s tendency to adapt the topic of his writing to whatever style was dominant at the time”. Therefore an unsatisfied statement frequently raised by those who would reject his work-is considered as “incidental to the powerful unifying theme of a quest for freedom”, Murphy ( 2000, p.379). Calder disputes that this freedom is the freedom to neglect society’s criticism, which in Maugham’s last great work, The Razor’s Edge, is seen as the probability of freedom from desire and identity. Besides based on the biography of Maugham to analyze and give criticism on his works, many critics find out common 4 [...]... topic on the portrayal of women in Maugham s short stories 1 The images of women in the English society in the early twenties 1.1 The English society in the early twenties According to Wilson (1995, p.301), at the dawn of the twentieth century, the fact that King Edward was the heir to the throne ended Victoria era and brought new things to the English society Edwardian era was recognized by the important... Sinclair and so on explored themes involving the ordinary lives of women and the difficulties they had to endure to define their distinctive identity in changing people’s awareness of the world 10 CHAPTER 3: WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM AND HIS SHORT STORIES 1 William Somerset Maugham W Somerset Maugham was born on January 25th , 1874 in Paris He is a wellknown English novelist, playwright, and short- story... rather different In several short stories, the narrator’s attitude is both expressed directly and indirectly by the details or the portrayal of the characters implied through the conversations In the world of fallen women in Maugham s short stories, perhaps the writer displays the tolerant attitude to the female character in The luncheon” She obtains ridiculous result instead of paying the heavy right... to begin turning the traditional image of women in his mind With the appearance of drama in the late sixteenth century, the portrayal of female characters on the stage was shown more clearly and achieved climax in the women depicted by Webster and Shakespeare in particular In Shakespeare’s plays, women were portrayed as the possession of their fathers or employers The differences existed in the way... rights, a form of new female organizations as well as an increasing number of women participating in art Due to the influences of World War I which led to social shifts, women had more chances to work in the office instead of just staying at home as housewives before, as well as taking part in political situations which were dominated by men in the past The end of the Victoria era witnessed the incredible... A variety of issues including increasing interest in socialism; the life of the poor, the position and status of women as well as women' s suffrage were paid more attention as the consequences of the flourishing of the industrial revolution and considerable economic opportunities Those things were more accelerated due to the outcome of World War I This era also witnessed the degradation in the spiritual... characters in his short stories There are several studies about Maugham s short stories but they are just related to his style and colonial life For example, Victoria Condrat conducts a research on Intersexuality in William Somerset Maugham short story, “A friend in need” Based on only one short story while there 6 were has been no study thorough on Maugham s short stories in general Therefore, the researcher... acquaintance To make the situation worse, she ordered ice-cream and then coffee despite the fact that she repeatedly said that she never ate anything for luncheon- just a bite Finally, when they prepared to leave the restaurant, the woman kept in ordering peach to deprive the narrator of his last coin The end of the story is the image of a woman who weighs more than 125 kilos 13 1.2 The promise The. .. because the narrator is considered to be the mouthpiece of the writer The attitude of the author is shown directly from the opinion and judgment of the narrator from different perspectives In Maugham s short stories, he usually appears to be the narrator in his work but with distinctive characters to express his attitude towards the characters Therefore, to explore the attitude of Maugham to the female... analyze the attitude of the narrator in each story According to the definition in Oxford dictionary, “moral” means standards or principles of right or wrong behavior The fallen female characters narrated under the light of “moral” occupy major position in Maugham s short stories such as The letter”, The luncheon” and “Louise” The attitude and judgment of the narrator towards fallen women is rather different . SHORT STORIES Supervisor:Đỗ Thu Hương Student:Nguyễn Mỹ Linh Course: QH2010.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP HÌNH ẢNH. MAUGHAM Giáoviênhướngdẫn:Đỗ Thu Hương Sinhviên:Nguyễn Mỹ Linh Khóa: QH2010.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Nguyen My Linh from 10.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor