By William Somerset Maugham
The text under interpretation is “Escape” by William Somerset Maugham.
W. S. Maugham was a well-known English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was the son of a British diplomat. He was educated at King`s school in Canterbury, studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelberg University in Germany and studied to be a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital in England. So, he put his hand in different activities and that`s why he is versatile and experienced person. S. Maugham was critical of the morals, the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society. Such novels as “Of Human Bondage”, “The Moon and the Sixpence”, “The Theatre” and others came under his pen. He was also the master of the short story. Among them are: “Colonel’s Lady”, “Friend in Need”, “Lion’s Skin”, etc.
S. Maugham was among the most popular writers of his era, and reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.
Maugham’s style of writing is clear and precise. He doesn`t impose his views on the reader. He puts a question and leaves it to the reader to answer. I also like his revealing the weak sides and vices of human nature skilfully. His books are chatty and easy to read. This is clearly viewed from the given extract.
“Escape” is a story about common people in common situation, and Maugham manages to tell it with the sense of humour and in a very interesting way. The essence of “The Escape”, to my mind, is that Roger and Ruth have diverse approaches towards the relations. Of course, the men and the women like the first step: flowers, attentiveness, passion. But then their paths diverge. The romance disappears, the man looks for the way out, he craves for new emotions, but the woman deems that the relations should develop into the marriage. And “The Escape” is the example of such a mismatch.
The story can be logically divided into four main parts: the exposition, passages about Ruth’s and Roger’s love, Roger falls out of love and the