Fearing he’s doomed to loneliness, he considers suicide, and then speaks to several doctors about his “condition.” These conversations go nowhere, and Maurice is considering consulting a hypnotist, when Clive-now married-invites him to his estate (Penge). The breakup leaves Maurice deeply depressed. He travels to Greece hoping to rediscover his feelings, but returns convinced that he has become heterosexual, and ends his romantic relationship with Maurice. On Clive’s wishes, the relationship-though romantic-remains celibate.Ĭlive falls ill shortly after his bar exam, and his demeanor towards Maurice cools. The couple spend the rest of their time at Cambridge together, after which Maurice begins working for an investment firm, and Clive qualifies as a barrister.

However, Maurice’s ensuing distress forces him to acknowledge his own sexuality, and he then tells Clive he shares his feelings. When Clive, who has known that he’s gay from a young age, tells Maurice that he’s in love with him, Maurice initially responds with shocked dismissal. Maurice feels drawn to Clive for reasons he can’t articulate, and the two become close friends. After graduating public school, he goes to Cambridge, where he meets the intellectual and upper-class Clive Durham. Maurice grows up good-natured, though not especially scholarly or self-reflective. However, the explanation leaves Maurice confused and alienated. Since Maurice is fatherless, a teacher at Maurice’s childhood school gives him a birds-and-bees-style talk before he graduates. Maurice Hall-a middle-class, turn-of-the-century English boy-is about to enter public school (the equivalent of private high school in the modern US).

Maurice edward morgan forster