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= Of_Human_Bondage =
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Introduction
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'Of Human Bondage' is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel
is generally agreed to be Maugham's masterpiece and to be strongly
autobiographical in nature, although he stated, "This is a novel, not
an autobiography; though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure
invention." Maugham, who had originally planned to call his novel
'Beauty from Ashes', finally settled on a title taken from a section
of Spinoza's 'Ethics'. The Modern Library ranked 'Of Human Bondage'
No. 66 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th
century.
Plot
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The book begins with the death of Helen Carey, the beloved mother of
nine-year-old Philip Carey. Philip has a club foot and his father had
died a few months earlier. Now orphaned, he is sent to live with his
aunt and uncle, Louisa and William Carey in Blackstable, a town in
Kent.
Philip lives at his uncle's vicarage. Aunt Louisa tries to be a mother
to Philip, but his uncle is cold toward him. Philip's uncle has a vast
collection of books, and Philip enjoys reading to escape his mundane
existence. After less than a year, Philip is sent to a boarding
school. His uncle and aunt plan for him to attend Oxford. Philip's
disability and sensitive nature make it difficult for him to befriend
other pupils. Philip learns that he could earn a scholarship for
Oxford, which both his uncle and school headmaster view as wise, but
Philip insists on going to Germany.
Philip enjoys life in Germany, residing in a boarding house in
Heidelberg with other foreigners. Philip's guardians persuade him to
move to London for an apprenticeship. His colleagues there resent him,
believing he is a "gentleman". He goes on a business trip with one of
his managers to Paris and is inspired to study art in France.
In Paris, Philip attends art classes and makes new friends, including
Fanny Price, a poor and determined but talentless art student and a
loner. Fanny Price falls in love with Philip, but he does not know and
has no such feelings for her. She subsequently dies by suicide.
Philip realizes that he will never be a professional artist. He
returns to his uncle's house in England to study medicine, his late
father's field. He struggles at medical school and meets Mildred, who
works as a waitress in a tea shop. He becomes completely infatuated
with her, and they date regularly, although she does not show him
affection. Mildred tells Philip she intends to marry another man,
leaving him heartbroken; Philip subsequently enters into an affair
with Norah Nesbit, a kind and sensitive author of penny romance
novels. Later Mildred returns, pregnant, and confesses that the man
for whom she had abandoned Philip never married her, because he was
already married with three children.
Philip breaks off his relationship with Norah and supports Mildred
financially, which he can ill afford. To Philip's dismay, after
Mildred has her baby, she falls in love with Philip's good friend
Harry Griffiths and runs away with him. About a year later, Philip
runs into Mildred and, feeling sympathy, takes her in again. Though he
no longer loves her, he becomes attached to her baby. When he rejects
her sexual advances she becomes angry, destroys most of his
belongings, and leaves forever. In shame, and quickly running out of
money, Philip leaves the house for good. He meets Mildred once more,
towards the end of the novel, when she summons him for his medical
opinion. She is suffering symptoms of syphilis from her work as a
prostitute. Philip urges Mildred to give up that life but she declines
and exits the plot with her fate unknown.
While working at a hospital, Philip befriends a family man, Thorpe
Athelny, who has lived in Toledo, Spain, and is enthusiastically
translating the works of St. John of the Cross. Philip invests in
mines but is left nearly penniless because of events surrounding the
Boer War. Unable to pay his rent, he wanders the streets for several
days before the Athelnys take him in and find him a department store
job, which he hates. His talent for drawing is discovered and he
receives a promotion and an increase in salary, but his time at the
department store is short-lived.
After his uncle William dies, Philip inherits enough money to allow
him to finish his medical studies and he finally becomes a licensed
physician. Philip is temporarily placed as locum with Dr. South, a
general practitioner in Dorsetshire. Dr. South is an old, cantankerous
physician whose wife is dead and whose daughter is estranged. However,
Dr. South takes a shine to Philip's humour and personable nature,
eventually offering Philip a partnership in his medical practice.
Although flattered, Philip refuses because he plans to visit Spain.
He goes on a small summer holiday with the Athelnys, hop-picking in
the Kent countryside. There he finds that one of Athelny's daughters,
Sally, likes him. In a moment of romantic abandon one evening they
have sex, and when she thinks she is pregnant, Philip decides to marry
Sally and accept Dr. South's offer, instead of travelling the world as
he had planned. They meet in the National Gallery where, though
learning that it was a false alarm, Philip becomes engaged to Sally,
concluding that "the simplest pattern - that in which a man was born,
worked, married, had children, and died - was likewise the most
perfect". He ceases his pursuit of happiness and decides to be content
with his lot.
Title
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Maugham's initial title was 'Beauty from Ashes,' borrowed from Isaiah
61:3, "... to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the
oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a
spirit of despair"; however, it had already been used. He took the new
title from Spinoza. Part IV of his 'Ethics' is entitled "Of Human
Bondage, or the Strength of the Emotions" (). A free person, says
Spinoza, is able to think rationally: but when one is dominated by
emotion, rational thought is impossible, and one becomes a slave to
the (unthinking) passions. He also defines good and bad categories
based on the people's general beliefs, connecting it to their
"emotions of pleasure or pain". He defines perfection/imperfection
starting out from the desire, in its meaning of particular aims and
plans. Philip Carey, the main character in 'Of Human Bondage', was
seeking this very useful end, and became satisfied only after
realizing what his aim had been, and having found a person to share
this aim with.
Autobiographical features
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Maugham had a stammer (instead of a club foot), lost his parents early
in life, and was sent to live with his aunt and uncle. He studied
medicine and his tastes in literature coincide with those of the main
character in this book. Although Maugham was never an artist, he was
interested in painting. He possessed in his private collection works
by four painters mentioned in the book: Pissarro, Sisley, Monet, and
Renoir. In 'The Summing Up', he discloses that he read Ruskin and
became acquainted with many pieces of European art. Maugham wrote an
article for 'Life' magazine titled "Painting I Have Liked".
'Of Human Bondage' is perhaps the most vivid instance of Maugham's
inclination towards art. According to Stanley Archer, 33 artists are
named in the novel, 10 famous paintings are mentioned by name and many
others are referred to. Over half of the named artists were painters
whose careers developed primarily in the 19th century. Of these, 13
are French, five are British, and one, Whistler, is American. Eleven
were alive at the time in which the plot of the novel is unfolding and
five - Carolus-Duran, Degas, Monet, Raffaëlli, and Renoir - were alive
when 'Of Human Bondage' was published in 1915.
TV
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*'Of Human Bondage (Studio One)' (1949) - starring Charlton Heston
adapted by Sumner Locke Elliott
Film
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* 'Of Human Bondage' (1934) - Leslie Howard as Philip and Bette Davis
as Mildred
* 'Of Human Bondage' (1946) - Directed by Edmund Goulding, with Paul
Henreid and Eleanor Parker in the lead roles
* 'Of Human Bondage' (1964) - Laurence Harvey and Kim Novak in the
lead roles
* 'Seven' (1995) - The serial killer John Doe is mentioned to have
checked out the book. The lead detective pursuing him in the film is
named William Somerset.
* The book appears in the 2017 film 'Spider-Man: Homecoming', based on
Spider-Man, a superhero with a background that resembles Philip's
License
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Human_Bondage
