William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the 20th century. He was not only a novelist, but also a one of the most successful dramatist and short-story writers. Maugham wants the readers to draw their own conclusion about the characters and events described in his novels. His reputation as a novelist is based on the following prominent books: “Of Human Bondage”; “The Moon and Sixpence”; and “The Razor's Edge”.
Though Maugham doesn’t denounce the contemporary social order, he is critical of the morals and the narrow-mindedness. Realistic portrayal of life, keen character observation, and interesting plots coupled with beautiful, expressive language, a simple, clear, style, place Somerset Maugham on a level with the greatest English writers of the 20th century. In general, Maugham's novels and short stories could be characterized by great narrative facility, an ironic point of view, cosmopolitan settings, and an astonishing understanding of human nature.
His short stories gained the greatest popularity. And it’s right time to speculate upon one of the stories - “The Escape”. It is about a man, Roger Charing and a woman Ruth Barlow. Through the story we see the development of their relations and “evolution” of their love. Until the moment Roger understood, that he does not want to marry her. So he made up a plan of making her go away. And it worked. Ruth gave up their relations and easily picked another man.
The text can be divided into three parts.
The first part is the beginning. The author shows use the general problem of the story, also giving a few examples. Syntax of this part is complicated; there are compound sentences with many subjects and verbs of action not to loose the thought. The epithets “instant flight”, “the inevitable loom”, “menacingly” show us fear and trembling of such men. They don’t know and don’t respect women, the epithet “fickle” confirms it, that why