E. M. Forster’s Construction Of Sexuality In Maurice

Maurice(1971) is E. M. Forster’s last novel with a theme on male’s homosexual love. This novel was composed at the beginning of the 20 th century, but only got published more than half a century later. In England at that time, condemnation of morality and law on homosexual behaviors was severer than ever. Though Forster dared to depict boldly the homosexual love and desire in the novel, he chose to keep it from public owing to the social factors. He not only depicts homosexual love, but also constructs the characters’ sexuality besides characterization.The notion of sexuality, born in modern western society, was a typification of individual’s identity by capitalist society. From the perspective of Foucault’s construction theory, the body has not been written and located in the web of power before sex is included in the discourse. While after the entrance, with the increase of sexual discourse, sex has been said and more power relations have been produced meanwhile. All the categories of sexuality, including heterosexuality, homosexuality and other minor sexualities, are constructed by society and culture in temporal process. Heterosexuality is constructed by the paternal capitalist society for the benefit of passing of hierarchy and manipulating the population. The connotation of modern homosexuality is not the same with the same-sex love and desire in other societies in history. Using homosexuals to signify one group of people to reflect the innate psychological orientation of this group is different from the practice of naming the behavior-conductors sodomites. Employing sexuality to mark the personal identity reflects the social discourse’s deeper manipulation of sex.The thesis tries to analyze Forster’s construction of Maurice and Clive’s sexuality, in order to present Forster’s idea concerning homosexuality and the crisis of homosexuality reflected in the novel. There are five parts in the thesis. The first part is introduction, giving relevant information about Forster’s life and the work, for a better understanding of the background. The second part mainly analyzes the process of Forster’s construction of Maurice’s homosexuality. Forster constructs Maurice’s homosexuality as an essential one, and Maurice’s final choice is also Forster’s wish for a victory of humanity over society. And in constructing Maurice’s homosexuality, Forster deconstructs the prevalent heterosexuality. The third part mainly analyzes the process of the conversion of Clive’s sexuality. Clive is first constructed as a natural homosexual, and then a heterosexual. In constructing homosexuality, the conflict of social identity and homosexual identity contributes to the conversion. But this conversion is a personal choice instead of a disguise. The final part is conclusion, apart from concluding the ideas of sexuality in the novel, attempting to seek the possible solution for the crisis of homosexual identity.