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Now, no longer willing to tolerate the brutality of his schoolmasters, Philip goes to Heidelberg to study. It is there, in his close association with two intelligent friends and his immersion in the study of philosophy, that Philip disabuses himself of the notion that there is a God. He finds this revelation liberating. On his return to England, he meets Gertrude, his aunt’s German friend, and with her has his first sexual experience. Maugham brings a lot of issues in his novel concerning every single aspect of human lives. Among these are the dangerous games people are playing, the place of cruelty and compassion, and how people create their own bondages in and their tries to become free. In this novel Maugham shows himself more than a writer; we see how deeply he reaches the psychological and philosophical aspects of human nature. The book begins with the death of Helen Carey, the beloved mother of nine-year-old Philip Carey. Philip has a club foot and his father had died a few months earlier. Now orphaned, he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Louisa and William Carey.
The first of three Hollywood adaptations of Maugham’s renowned novel of unrequited carnal obsession, 1934’s Of Human Bondage has gone down in cinematic history as the film that made Bette Davis a star, transforming her from a Warner Brothers contract player relegated to mediocre parts in decidedly B-pictures to a well-respected actress whose name alone was capable of driving moviegoers to the movies. Of course, that transformation didn’t happen overnight — Warners still treated her shabbily, even after the release of this critically-acclaimed film and the “consolation prize” Academy Award she won the next year for Dangerous— and it wasn’t until she took the studio to court in search of better parts (the result of which netted her another Oscar-winning role in 1938’s Jezebel) that her true commercial value became clear and capitalized upon readily by the Powers That Be… But the seeds of her worth were sown and first legitimized here, via a surprisingly straightforward, unglamorous performance that would come to typify her idea of acting — an outward-in method that pulled no figurative emotional punches and relished in expressive, external “tells” of a character’s inner workings. It was a revelation at the time and it remains so to this day — not because it’s as novel or realistic as it once seemed; on the contrary, some might even find it histrionic or hammy — but because it’s the metaphorical birth of an indelible screen persona. A star, here she is. Philip lives at his uncle's vicarage. Aunt Louisa tries to be a mother to Philip, but his uncle is cold towards him. Philip's uncle has a vast collection of books, and Philip enjoys reading to escape his mundane existence. After less than a year, Philip is sent to a boarding school. His uncle and aunt plan for him to attend Oxford. Philip's disability and sensitive nature make it difficult for him to befriend other students. Philip learns that he could earn a scholarship for Oxford, which both his uncle and school headmaster view as wise, but Philip insists on going to Germany.
By this time he realized that he did his best writing when he wrote about his own experience. Also by this time he had experienced considerable success as a playwright and was able to apply to his prose writing some of the techniques he had learned as a dramatist, thereby bringing greater dramatic tension into his fiction. Grebey, James. "The Book Zendaya Reads in New 'Spider-Man' Trailer Is an Easter Egg". Inverse . Retrieved 14 August 2022. Philip was brought up as a gentleman, and he was expected to become involved in religion and at some point to go into the Church, as his uncle was a vicar, and he grew up under the rules of church in his uncle’s house. But Philip preferred his own way, and rejected religion for art studies, even though excelled academically, and later rejected it for accounting, and finally he found himself in medicine. Philip had even some doubts about these studies, but he never got out of this path.
Through Philip, Maugham broaches the question of his own loss of religious faith. Young Philip hears that if one prays fervently enough, all one’s prayers will be answered. When he puts this guarantee to the test by praying as fervently as he can that his club foot will be made whole, his prayers are not answered. This disappointment unleashes a doubt that finally causes Philip to reject the religion in which he has been reared. Finally, almost by default, Philip falls into an affair with Sally, the daughter of his friends, the Athelnys. After a scare that Sally might be pregnant proves to be groundless, Philip decides that he wants to marry her even though he does not love her. He needs the pattern that such a marriage will provide, just as Maugham apparently sought a similar pattern in his abortive marriage to Syrie Wellcome. Of Human Bondage is a 1934 American drama film directed by John Cromwell and regarded by critics as the film that made Bette Davis a star. [1] The screenplay by Lester Cohen is based on the 1915 novel Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham.Philip falls passionately in love with tearoom waitress Mildred Rogers, even though she is disdainful of his club foot and his obvious interest in her. Although he is attracted to the anaemic and pale-faced woman, she is manipulative and cruel toward him when he asks her for a date. Her constant response to his romantic invitations is "I don't mind", an expression so uninterested that it infuriates him – which only causes her to use it all the more. His daydreams about her distract him from his studies, and he fails his medical examinations.
The story seems a bit hoary now as it’s hard to credit anyone meekly accepting the cruel treatment Davis’s selfish and heartless waitress doles out to the sensitive and besotted Howard. Crippled physically as well as emotionally, until that is, his clubbed foot condition is miraculously cured near the end, he spurns the love of two other pleasanter and indeed prettier young women as Davis’s parasitic Mildred sponges off him every time her latest boyfriend shows her the door. a b Chandler, Charlotte, The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster 2006. ISBN 0-7432-6208-5, pp. 93–100, 102 Of Human Bondageis one of the most famous and intimate novels of Somerset Maugham, and tells us about the main character’s path of life filled with difficult trials. Early in childhood having become an orphan, he was deprived of parents’ care and kindness. His dream to become a painter never came true and love for a narrow-minded and wanton woman brought only sufferings and disappointments. But Philip endured everything that fate had in store for him with fortitude, and managed to find his own place in life. Reflecting on her performance in later years, Davis said, "My understanding of Mildred's vileness – not compassion but empathy – gave me pause ... I was still an innocent. And yet Mildred's machinations I miraculously understood when it came to playing her. I was often ashamed of this ... I suppose no amount of rationalization can change the fact that we are all made up of good and evil." [7] [10] In Heidelberg, Philip lives at a boarding house with other foreigners and enjoys Germany. Philip's guardians persuade him to move to London for an apprenticeship. His colleagues there resent him, believing he is a "gentleman". He goes on a business trip with one of his managers to Paris and is inspired to study art in France.
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Philip Carey’s story, with certain artistic alterations, is Maugham’s own story. The novel opens when the young Philip is informed of his mother’s death. The boy went to his mother’s closet, just as young Willie did, and wrapped his arms around as many of her dresses as possible, burying his face in them, inhaling the lingering vestiges of his mother’s perfume. Like Maugham, Philip is soon sent to England to live with his uncle, a vicar, and his Aunt Louisa. Philip differs from Willie in that he has a club foot, but this touch is simply a substitution for Willie’s affliction: stuttering. The young Maugham stuttered badly, particularly after the death of his parents, and suffered from this problem throughout his life. As Philip was abused by the students and masters of the school he attended at Tercanberry, so was Maugham ridiculed for his stuttering by his masters and fellow students at King’s School.