Sometimes men cannot say “No” to women, although they want it, and that’s why they have to make up some situations to make women say them “No”. The short story “The Escape” written by Somerset Maugham is exactly about this case, about the conflict between man and woman, and this escape is the main theme of the text. The idea of the story is that one should put on his thinking and act very carefully, as sometimes procrastination can give better results than haste. The message of the story is that a woman can be sly and scheming, but a man can make it his way also.
This story makes the reader think about life and relationships and it is not surprising, because S. Maugham became known as a master of human soul, a wise man who not only knows how to depict, the hypocrisy and brutality of bourgeois society, but also has the ability to portray different characters in clear and natural Manner. The text “The Escape” under consideration begins with a key sentence which contains the whole content of the story in the folded form. Maugham writes about the relationship between Roger Charing and Ruth Barlow. Roger’s friend describes everything, whose name we don’t know. Roger Charing is a young man, who has a lot of money. And he falls in love with Ruth Barlow – an unhappy woman, who was twice a widow. They were happy together and they decided to marry. Then suddenly Roger fell out of love with Ruth, and he found the way, how to make Ruth release him. He told her that they would marry, when they would find the perfect house for both of them. However time passed away and Roger rejected all the orders of the agents offering a new house. At last Ruth lost her patience and left Roger herself.
The title of the text is one word that consist the definite article ‘the’ and the noun ‘escape’. The definite article ‘the’ is here not accidentally – it claims that text is about exactly this escape and not any in the world.
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