| William Somerset Maugham, a famous writer of the twentiethcentury in England, made a great achievement in theatre and fiction.However, compared to the study of his novels, his drama has seemedto be neglected in academia. This paper mainly studies Maugham’sthree classic comedies Our Betters, The Constant Wife and The Circlein order to explore multiple themes in the three comedies and expectto arouse the attention of scholars to Maugham’s dramas.This paper includes three parts: the introduction, the body and theconclusion. The introduction interviews the research of SomersetMaugham’s dramas at home and abroad, and points out the purpose ofthis study, as well as the problems to be solved. The body consists ofthree parts,“the theme of love and marriage”,“the theme of money”and“the theme of fate”, the influence Maugham’s experiences haveon them is also included. By studying, we draw the followingconclusions based on the three classic comedies of Maugham. Firstly,the most beautiful and perpetual love is the one that has no responses and all love that has had responses ends in tragedy. The tragedy oflove does not lie in death, but in no care and no feelings. Whether theirmarriages base on love or not, people who get married are to mutuallyutilized, and finally they all grow tired of each other. Secondly, Moneyhas a huge magic, and it is the source of protection and privileges aperson needs to live in the society. The great magic of money promptscountless people to desperately go for gold, but the enormous wealthhas its negative effects except active ones. Thirdly, each personseems to be free, in fact he is involved in a variety of matters, andplays a role of puppet to some extent. All the three themes in theworks are closely related to Maugham’s own life experiences. Thelast part of the paper summarizes this study and points out the fieldsof Maugham’s drama that can be studied further. |
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