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A Room with a View Growing of Edward Morgan Forster as the person and the writer coincided with the beginning of the twentieth century, the time of the rapid social changes in the World. The problems of personal rights absorbed the minds of the whole generation: people aspired for freedom in all its forms, freedom of personality, freedom of thought and freedom of choice. The new views on the role of the person in the society seriously shook the moral system which had been cultivating for centuries and raised confrontations and misunderstandings between people aspiring for freedom and their surrounding. The novel A Room with a View by Edward Morgan Forster expresses authors attitude towards the moral stagnation of the society and its unwillingness to accept people with different attitudes and views. The communication and social interaction in such society is subordinated by thoroughly guarded rules which are considered appropriate and any deviating of these rules is considered inappropriate and scandalous. The author does not use scathing criticism but shows the humorous side of situations and judgments.
Forster chose the genre of romance novel for A Room with a View which usually tells the story the romantic heroine, who meets a romantic outlaw and their hard journey to the marriage and happiness. Preserving the traditional fibula Forster endows his protagonists with the qualities of ordinary people and at the end the outlaw does not transform into the charming prince but the girl grows into the person who has her own opinion and accepts people as they are. The contrast between the traditional romantic novel and Forsters A Room with a View helps the reader to look from new angle at the social values system. The author motivates the reader to question the meaning of the right and wrong and form the personal judgment. Edward Morgan Forster in A Room with a View expressed his idea of ideal relationship. Having his first serious romantic experience with a man, Forster personally experienced the role of equal partnership.
Forster understood that the alliance of equals is the most emotionally and mentally beneficial for the both parties. The author expressed his experience and views in the novel. Forster makes his protagonist Lucy to experience the attitude of Cecil Vyse and George Emerson towards her and understand her own desires and aspirations. Cecil Vise is a stiff and refined man from the upper class: He was medieval.
Like a Gothic statue he resembled those fastidious saints who guard the portals of a French cathedral whom the modern world knows as self-consciousness, and whom the medieval, with dimmer vision, worshipped as asceticism. (Forster, p. 89) Forster compares him to the mediaeval person, narrow-minded, disregarding the desires of others, stubborn in wishing to change Lucy, to shape her according to his ideas. Cecil Vyse symbolizes everything that Forster resents in the old society: its stiffness, inability to develop and restricting the development of others, despise of everything new or different, persecution of dissenting. The union between Cecil and Lucy promise to be the union of the master and the dependant. Cecil sees in Lucy the possibility for development, but only according to his own plans. The author through George Emerson says, that such people as Cecil "should know no one intimately, least of all a woman He's the type who's kept Europe back for a thousand years Every moment of his life he's forming you." (Forster, p. 161). According to the traditional romantic novel, Cecil Vyse is the hero who is protecting heroine.
In reality Cecil is the egoist, who cares only about his needs, his comfort and outlook. The story with Cecil's Jokes on Lucy, when he decided to invite the Emerson's to the cottage instead of Miss Alans shows him as insensible to the wishes and feeling of even the closest people. The whole life with such romantic hero can turn into bad joke. George Emerson is the opposite of Cecil. George adopted his fathers ideas and views; he is free of the conventional outlooks and behavior, which was looked down upon by the Edwardian society. George values Lucy for herself and he is not planning to change her.
George acknowledges that he is much the same like other men: desire to govern a woman - it lies very deep, and men and women must fight it together, but George also says: I want you to have your own thoughts even when I hold you in my arms." (Forster, p. 161) The author shows, that the ideal relationship is the union of companionship, because this union allows the people to be equal, to develop personal opinion. This relationship helps to reveal and enjoy each other to the fullest, spiritually and physically. The influence of class on the love and romantic relations is a very important theme in the Forsters novel. The author discloses the behavior of the upper class towards other people and reveals its influence on the problems of personal relations.
The majority of upper class representatives in the novel A Room with a View demonstrate patronizing of the people of lower social state or even open disdain. At the beginning of the twentieth century the British Empire had domains all over the world and it made British people feel superior. If British had property abroad they tried to give it a close resemblance to the English houses. When Lucy comes to the pension in Florence, she is disappointed to find that it looks like any place in London. The author implies that the British valued their lifestyle to be the only appropriate for them and even the Italy, the cradle of the European culture and civilization they viewed as barbaric. This attitude is evident during the drive in the country.
Mr. Beebe perceives the driver and his girl as ancient Gods, who remained on the Earth despite the run of the history. This romanticizing of the Italian people shows patronizing attitude. Mr.
Beebe sees them as bucolic artworks showing the rural life, not real people. Accordingly, when the passengers of the carriage see the driver kiss the girl, they are appalled, as they would have been if they saw a statue or a picture express human feelings. The romantic feeling is the face of the British is perceived by them as abuse. The author shows, that the same patronizing attitude people expressed towards their compatriots of the lower classes. Miss Lavish is mocking George Emerson when she learns that he has to work for living.
She highlights, that he is not appropriate company for her not only because of his and his fathers behavior, but also because of his social state. Miss Lavish also puts the story of Lucy Honeychurch and George Emerson into her book about romantic Italians, consciously or unconsciously expressing the same patronizing attitude to them as to Italians. Cecil and his mother are patronizing Lucy: "make Lucy one of us." (Forster, p. 119) says Mrs. Vyse, implying, that Lucy is not from the upper class, not good enough and only marriage to Cecil will take her to the higher society. At the same time The Vises hold the hilarious party for the grandchildren of famous people. Here, as in contrasting Cecil to Edwards, the author contrasts the absurdity of the appropriate to normality of what is considered inappropriate.
Social regulations during the Edwardian times had limited the choice of partners for the young people. They had to find an appropriate candidate for marriage within their social circle, and very often feelings confronted those demands. And in this, like in everything else, the role of women was the most difficult. If men, like Cecil, could choose a girl from the lower class, society viewed it like a big success for a girl.
But if the woman chose a man from the lower class, it was a scandal. The young girls were taught how to behave and with whom to communicate in order to protect them from misalliance. Celibate was even more preferable then misalliance and Mr. Beebe rejoices when he learns that Lucy has broken the engagement with Cecil. The author shows the outcome of the celibate life in Charlotte Bartlett, who is bitter and seeking the escape from her loneliness in being the companion of her young cousin. Forster shows the irony of the social moral which compels the person to become stay but decent.
This is very symbolic that at the end Charlotte was the first, who understood the value of soul companionship. She does not prevent Lucy from final talk with Mr. Emerson, which shows, that experience of celibate she did not want the same destiny for Lucy. The inequality of the opportunities is closely connected with the inequality of sexes, which resulted in forming of the role models for both genders. Mr. Emerson said: life a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along. (Forster, p. 182) Only at the beginning of the twentieth century the idea of equal rights for men and women was only starting to shape in the minds of people and women were still considered the passive vessels dominated by men.
Obedience to the husband was expected from the wife. The Honeychurch Family has the slang word for the fiance fiasco. (Forster, p. 85) This slang word symbolizes the meaning of marriage for womans further life: fiasco of her personality and consciousness, the complete dependence upon her husband. A Room with a View by Edward Morgan Forster is the authors venture of the social protest. Forster judges the marriage institution and insists that women deserve more than they are allowed to expect: the comradeship, and the poetry, and the things that really matter, and for which you marry with George, you will find them. (Forster, p. 182) As Mr. Emerson encourages Lucy to follow her desires, the same Forster encourages young people to follow their dreams. Forster shows the harmony between Lucy and George, which symbolizes that their fight against the social rules is justified.
Bibliography 1. Forster, Edward Morgan. A Room with a View. Vintage, 1989. 2.
Eldridge, C. C. The Imperial Experience: From Carlyle to Forster. Palgrave, 1996. 3. Frank, P. N.
E. M. Forster: A Life. 4. Messenger, Nigel. How to Study an E.
M. Forster Novel. Macmillan Press, 1991. 5. Page, Norman. E. M.
Forster. Palgrave, 1993.
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