Synopsis
Philip Carey, the protagonist in Of Human
Bondage, is a club-foot orphan. He was nine when his mother died. Then he lived with his aunt and uncle, the vicar of Blackstable in London. He is sent to
King's School to study for clergy. As a cripple, he does not have an easy life at school nor in his society. He is a lonely, introvert, sensitive, but intelligent boy.
At the age of eighteen, Philip gets a small inheritance from his mother and he goes to Berlin to study. There he studies German, French, and mathematics with tutors from the University of
Heidelberg. After he returns to England, he begins a career as a clerk in an accounting firm. He realises that he has a talent in drawing so he decides to go to
Paris and study art. But two years later he gives up the idea of becoming an artist and returns to England.
On returning to England again, he takes up the study of medicine, his father's profession.
In London, Philip meets Mildred Rogers, a waitress. When Philip sees her, he falls in love with
her and desires her above all else. She becomes the
obsession of his life and the major part of the book is devoted to his relationship with her. Mildred, who is not particularly attractive, is coarse and indifferent to Philip but in fact, Philip falls madly in love with her. He gives her presents which are extravagant for his small income. He neglects his studies in order to be with her. when he asks her to marry him, she refuses because he does not have enough money for her. Then, she tells him that she is going to marry another man, Miller.
Philip tries to forget Mildred in his affection for another woman, Norah Nesbit. At this time,
Mildred returns to London and tells Philip that Miller abandons her because he already has a wife and children. Miller leaves her while she is pregnant.
Knowing this fact, Philip also abandons Norah and takes Mildred back. He gives full attention to
Mildred, such as pays her hospital bill and sends her to the coast to take a rest after the birth of her baby. Philip also give3 the money for Mildred and his best-friend, Griffiths, to take a trip to Paris. But Mildred makes an affair with Griffiths, tfhen Philip knows about this affair, he begs on Mildred to come back to him again but she never comes back to him.
This fact forces Philip to forget her forever and study harder than ever. Then he meets Thorpe Athelny, a patient in the hospital where he is studying, and these two men become good friends. Every Sunday
Philip visits the Athelny's house and meets his wife and children. On one evening, Philip sees Mildred and discovers that she becomes a prostitute. Although he has been hurt by Mildred's attitude, he still looks after her and her baby. Vhen Mildred tries to seduce him, he spurns her. This makes Mildred angry and leaves his apartment. She even destroys Philip's stuffs which left at his apartment. Later he finds that Mildred dying of a veneral disease.
Because of spending a lot of money for Mildred's needs, Philip loses his fortunes and all his money.
For a time he works as shopwalker in the store where
Thorpe himself is employed. Philip has to give up his studies at the hospital because he lacks of money. At the age of thirty, his uncle, William, dies and Philip inherits enough money to finish his medical school. After the graduation, he plans to go abroad, but instead he falls in love with the Thorpe's daughter,
Sally, and they become lovers. A few weeks after the trip with the Athelnys, Sally tells him that she may be pregnant. Philip immediately gives up his plans of travelling and accepts a small-salaried practice so that he and Sally can be married. They live in happiness and Philip that himself is his own master after his bleak, bitter years of mortal bondage.
Source : Roberts, James h. Maugham's : Of Human Bondage. Lincoln, Nebraska : C.K.
Hillegass, 1963. Biography
Villiam Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in
1874. His father, Robert Maugham was a solicitor to
the British Embassy in Paris. His mother was very popular and entertained extensively. She died when
Maugham was eight years old and his father also died
two years later. He was placed in the guardianship of his uncle, Reverend Henry Maugham, the vicar of
Vhitstable, and his aunt who were childless. At the age of ten, Maugham was sent to King's School,
Canterbury. When he grew up, he spent a year at
Heidelberg. Although he was not a member of the
University of Heidelberg, he attended the philosophy class there. Then, he returned to London to study medicine in St. Thomas.
When he was twenty-three, and during his last year of medical school, his first novel, Liza of
Lambeth, was published. The book was successful enough to enable Maugham to give up practice of medicine and devote himself to writing. This was the
time when Maugham regarded as a period of poverty. In
1908, his play Lady Frederick was published and he had
several plays running in London, such as Jack Straw,
Mrs. Dot, and The Explorer. He retired from
drama temporarily to write Of Human Bondage. During
the World Var I, he joined a Red Cross in France.
Here he corrected the proofs of Of Human Bondage
within the sound of German guns.
In 1916, he married Syrie in America. She was
the daughter of the famous Dr. Thomas John Barnardo
who became a well-known interior designer, both in
England and America. The marriage was a failure and
they were divorced in 1927. They had one daughter
from this marriage. At the same time, he had a male
lover, Gerald Huxton, with whom he travelled around
the world.
The Moon and Sixpence appeared in 1919, following
Maugham's travels in the Pacific. In the 1920's, he
travelled assiduously and wrote among other works,
like The Circus, The Breadwinner, The Constant Wife
(all plays), Cakes and Ale, and short-stories. His most savage play is Our Betters (1915) in which he pitches into the world of syrie and her friends, including the millionare store-owner Gordon Selfridge, who had been her protector; this kept the play off the
London stage until 1923.
Maugham returned to France in 1946. In 1950, The
Razor Edge was published. His later books were mainly critically works, like Ten Novelist and Their Novels,
The Writer's Point of View, The Vagrant Mood Point of
View and A Writer's Notebook. Very successful films,
Quartet, Trio, and Encore were made based on his short-stories. In 1954, the Insignia of the Order of the Companions of Honour was conferred upon him by the
Queen.
He died in France at the Villa Mauresque at Cap
Ferrat on December 16, 1965 when he was ninety-one.
Surprising enough, in the light of his feeling expressed in Of Human Bondage, he requested that his ashes should be laid in the ground of King's School,
Canterbury.
Source : Bunnell, V. S. Maugham's Of Human Bondage:
Brodie's Notes. London: Pan Books Ltd.,
1977.