Instituto Superior de Formacin Docente N 1 Trabajo Final

Subject: Taller de Literatura

Student: Raquel Alejandra Corbaln

Novel: A Room with a View

Teacher: Marita Novasio

Grade: 4th Year

Year: 2012

Context

Edward Morgan Forster was born on January 1, 1879, in London, into an upper middle class family. His father, an architect, died two years later, and the young Forster was raised by his mother and his great aunt. These women remained influential over Forster for much of his life, which sheds some light on his preference for strong female characters in his novels. Forster graduated from King's College, Cambridge, in 1901 and resolved to pursue his writing. He travelled to Italy and Greece with his mother, and worked as a tutor in Germany in 1905. In the same year he published his first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread. The Longest Journey (1907) and A Room with a View (1908) soon followed. Forster wrote the first half of A Room with a View during a stay in Italy with his mother. The novel shows his support for the new, liberal social behaviors of the Edwardian age, in contrast to the more sober ideals prevalent during Queen Victoria's reign. Even in his early work, Forster's style distinguished itself as lighter as more conversational in diction than the English novelists who preceded him. His critical yet sympathetic views of people and their interactions marked him as a master of character and societal analysis. In 1910, his novel Howard's End was published to great public acclaim. A Passage to India was published in 1924, and it is known as his most complex and mature work. The years between the turn of the century and World War I were an optimistic time for England. As liberal Edwardian ideals slowly moved in over the old Victorian ways, a general optimism began to prevail, manifested in the belief that man might be made better through a more liberal education. Throughout his life, Forster stressed the importance of individuality and good will, emphasizing his belief in humanity's potential for self-improvement. Forster became an active member of a movement of writers and thinkers known as the Bloomsbury Group, a number of intellectuals defined in part by their radical opposition to Victorian traditions and manners. Cambridge offered Forster a fellowship in 1946, and he remained there until his death on June 7, 1970. He accepted an Order of Merit in 1969. Along with his novels, Forster also published short stories, essays, and the famous critical work, Aspects of the Novel. His novel Maurice, about a homosexual man, was published, according to his wishes, after his death, in 1971.

Plot

Lucy Honeychurch, a young upper middle class woman, visits Italy under the charge of her older cousin Charlotte. At their pension, or guesthouse, in Florence, they are given rooms that look into the courtyard rather than out over the river Arno. So, Charlotte gets angry because they were promised they would have a room with a view. Mr. Emerson, a fellow guest, generously offers them the rooms belonging to himself and his son George. Although Charlotte is offended by Mr. Emerson's lack of tact and propriety, she finally does agree to the switch. Lucy is an avid young pianist. Mr. Beebe, watches her passionate playing and predicts that someday she will live her life with as much gusto as she plays the piano. Lucy's visit to Italy is marked by several significant encounters with the Emersons. In Santa Croce church, George complains that his father means well, but always offends everyone. Mr. Emerson tells Lucy that his son needs her in order to overcome his youthful melancholy. Later, Lucy is walking in the Piazza Signoria, feeling dull, when she comes in close contact with two quarreling Italian men. One man stabs the other, and she faints, to be rescued by George. On their return trip home, he kisses her, much to her surprise. She keeps his rash behavior a secret. On a country outing in the hills, Lucy wanders in search of Mr. Beebe and the supercilious chaplain, Mr. Eager. However, the Italian cab driver leads her instead to George, who is standing on a terrace covered with blue violets. George sees her and again kisses her, but this time Charlotte sees him and chastises him after they have resurned returned to the pension. She leaves with Lucy for Rome the next day. The second half of the book centers on Lucy's home in Surrey, where she lives with her mother, Mrs. Honeychurch, and her brother, Freddy. A man she met in Rome, the snobbish Cecil Vyse, proposes marriage to her for the third time, and she accepts him. He disapproves of her family and the country people she knows, finding them coarse and unsophisticated. There is a small, ugly villa available for rent in the town, and as a joke, Cecil offers it to the Emersons, whom he meets by chance in a museum. They take him up on the offer and move in, much to Lucy's initial horror. George plays tennis with the Honeychurches on a Sunday when Cecil is at his most intolerable. After the game, Cecil reads from a book by Miss Lavish, a woman who also stayed with Lucy and Charlotte at the pension in Florence. The novel records a kiss among violets, and Lucy realizes that Charlotte let the secret out. In a moment alone, George kisses her again. Lucy tells him to leave, but George insists that Cecil is not the right man for her, characterizing Cecil as controlling and appreciative of things rather than people. Lucy sees Cecil in a new light, and breaks off her engagement that night. However, Lucy will not believe that she loves George; she wants to stay unmarried and travel to Greece with some elderly women she met in Italy, the Miss Alans. She meets old Mr. Emerson by chance, who insists that she loves George and should marry him, because it is what her soul truly wants. Lucy realizes he is right, and though she must fly against convention, she marries George, and the book ends with the happy couple staying together in the Florence pension again, in a room with a view. Characters 1)-Lucy Honeychurch : a young woman from Surrey who doesn't know what she wants. Her piano skills show that she has potential for great passions and the ability to recognize truth even if it means breaking the social codes that are expected of her. She grows into a woman through the course of the book, choosing to follow the true instincts of love (as represented by George) over the tedious falsities perpetuated by pretentious upper class society (as represented in Cecil).
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2)-Charlotte Bartlett: Lucy's older, poorer cousin and an old maid, Charlotte accompanies Lucy to Italy as a chaperone, and attempts to uphold what is "proper." She has old-fashioned notions and does not approve of the Emersons. She seems to conspire against the happiness of everyone with her tiresome and cloying manner, but in the end, she mysteriously assists Lucy to pass into final marital happiness. 3)-George Emerson: A young man with a passionate desire for truth, and at the beginning of the book, a faltering hopelessness that life is not actually worth living. Though he is of a lower social class, he falls in love with Lucy in Italy, and she becomes a beacon of hope to him in his search for joy and meaning. He encourages her not to marry Cecil and helps her to follow the true ways of her heart. 4)-Mr. Emerson: is described, alternately, as being both ungentlemanly and beautiful, he means well but constantly offends proper societal conventions with his abrupt manner of speaking and his blatant honestly. An avid reader, he espouses liberal values, and also plays a role in helping Lucy to surrender herself to her true desires even if it means violating social taboos. His wife is dead. 5)-Cecil Vyse: the dislikable man who becomes Lucy's fiance for a short period of time. He is pretentious and despises all the country people of Lucy's town, finding them unsophisticated and coarse in comparison to the affluent London society he is used to. He sees Lucy not for herself but as an abstract vision that he has hung upon her. He treats people without kindness or respect and tries to be authoritarian and manly, but is actually awkward and self-conscious. 6)-Mrs. Honeychurch: Lucy's cheerful, talkative, good-natured, and warm-hearted mother, who always says what's on her mind. Her husband is dead. 7)-Mr. Beebe: The rector in Lucy's town, a tactful and pleasant man who aims to use his influence to help various characters. He takes a liking to those who are honest, but sees the good in almost everyone. He supports Lucy all through the book until she decides to marry George, when he oddly turns against the idea. 8)-Freddy: Lucy's younger brother, who is energetic and loves tennis, swimming, and the study of anatomy. He dislikes Cecil and likes George. 9)-The Miss Alans: usually referred to in the plural, these two old spinster sisters, Catharine and Teresa Alan, stay at the same pension as Lucy and the others in Florence. They are mild-mannered and very proper, but they have an adventurous streak that will eventually take them traveling all over the world. 10)-Miss Lavish: an ostentatious writer who also stays in the same pension in Florence, and hopes to write novels about Italian life. She is outspoken and clever, but also abrasive. She despises English people traveling abroad and believes she alone knows the "true" Italy; however, her unconventionality falls very close to conventional ideas. 11)-Mr. Eager: the British chaplain in Florence. He is rude to Italians, unkind to the Emersons, and perpetuates a false rumor that Mr. Emerson murdered his wife. 12)-Minnie : Mr. Beebe's rambunctious 13-year-old niece, who stays with the Honeychurches during a diphtheria epidemic. 13)-Sir Harry Otway: a local in Lucy's town who buys the two villas, Cissie and Albert, subsequently letting one out to the Emersons.

 Major Themes 1)-Propriety and Passion The conflict between social convention and passion is a central theme of the novel. Lucy's match with George, by social standards, is completely unacceptable. But it is the only match that could make her happy. Her match with Cecil is far more conventional, but marriage to Cecil would destroy Lucy's spirit. The Emersons are truly unconventional people and they care almost nothing for propriety. Mr. Emerson, a Socialist, speaks with great feeling about the importance of passion and the beauty of the human body. To achieve happiness, Lucy will have to fight these standards, many of which she has internalized, and learn to appreciate her own desires. 2)-The beauty of human beings A Room with a View is social commentary, but Forster's depictions of people are ultimately generous. He gently mocks the Honeychurches for their bourgeois habits, but he does nt shy from depicting their strengths. They are loving and sincere, generous with guests and with each other. However, Cecil's greatest fault is that he is entirely too critical of people. He cannot appreciate the good in the simple country gentry with whom Lucy has grown up. Even Charlotte, the prim spinster who is a major obstacle to the love between Lucy and George, is allowed to have a moment of grace. In the end, Forster appreciates his characters' goodness much more than he mocks their faults. 3)-Travel and the idea of Italy Travel is a powerful force in the novel, and at its best it can be a life-altering experience. The heart of travel is to allow a place to get under one's skin; but staying at British pensions and scorning Italian peasants dont constitute the best experience one can get out of Italy. Italy gives Lucy insights into her life back at Windy Corner. It changes her perspective of herself. Although her experiences there confuse her, she becomes a self-assured and independent young woman. 4)-The beautiful and the delicate One of Lucy's important lessons is that beauty need not be refined; much is beautiful in the gesture of kindness that oversteps propriety, or the act of passion that ignores convention. She learns to see beauty in things that her society scorns or condemns. 5)-Woman's position and independence The Emersons are fervent believers in the equality of men and women. Lucy is not a rebel at heart, but she is often frustrated by the limitation put on her sex. Her marriage to Cecil could never be one between equals. Cecil is not so much in love with Lucy as he is in love with some idea of what a woman is supposed to be. He constantly compares her to a work of art, which, although it may be flattering, also objectifies her and ignores that she is a living person. What Lucy needs, although she doesnt know it, is a relationship between equals. She has no desire to be protected or instructed. 6)-Music Lucy's relationship to her music is an important insight into her character. Her playing is an indication that she has untapped reserves of passion; Mr. Beebe remarks that one day Lucy will live as well as she plays. Lucy's music also articulates her feelings better than her words can, and after playing she is more certain of what she wants. Motifs 1)-Medieval vs. Renaissance Art All of British tourists in the Pension Bertolini are in Florence to soak up the citys famous aura of art and culture. Forster uses the contrast between the Medieval and Renaissance periods to divide his characters into two teams. Cecil is the obvious captain of Team Medieval he is described as a Gothic statue, lean and austere. George and Lucy, on the other hand, are decidedly Renaissance.
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George is most often compared to a figure from Michelangelo and to the classical images of gods and heroes that inspired Renaissance artists. Lucy is aligned with the women of Leonardo da Vinci. These Renaissance and Classical images imply fruition and vibrant new life (after all, renaissance means "rebirth" in French), while the austere nature of the Medieval/Gothic aesthetic as seen by Forster suggests a joyless, celibate existence. 2)-Inside vs. Outside, or Rooms +/- Views The metaphor of the room with a view applies to life in general and also to individual characters. The view that hes talking about is emblematic of a certain kind of ambition or lust for life. Characters associated with a view, or with the outdoors in general, are more vibrant, exciting, and connected with their own thoughts and desires. These include those who are actually young Lucy, George, and Freddy as well as those who are young at heart, like Mr. Beebe. In direct contrast to this, we have characters associated with rooms or indoor activities. Cecil is the prime example here in fact, hes the one who openly states the association of Lucy as a view and himself as a room (specifically, a drawing room without a view how dull! Its hard to be Cecil sometimes). Charlotte is also an indoor force; we learn that shes actually the one who stopped Lucy from bathing in the Sacred Lake.

Personal opinion I liked the book for two reasons: Firstly, because through the novel I learnt about the limited rights that women had in those days so we have to value the freedom women have today. And in second place, because it is a romantic story in which love wins in the end and because it reflects how women, like Lucy, tried to wins respect in a mans world by following her own feelings despite the societys rules.