Identity change and identity verification of characters in Marice by E. M. Forster

Abstract

In September 1913, when E. M. Forster began writing Maurice, homosexuality was largely regarded as a punishable crime that carried not only individual humiliation but also public disgrace. Thus, suicide was frequently the only option.However, in contrast to the English tradition of intolerance, suppression and punishment, Forster and his hero maintain a belief in a sexual Arcadia (Nadel, 1982, p. 178). Because K wwx wy K Kw x come one of the main manifestations in Maurice.As the theme of homosexuality is evident in the text due to the purposefully inserted statements, it is debatable that whether Forster uses a kind of discourse which shows both K‘wwxw Kwwx’wadcfabdhKbrwwyK wKw‘wKwxyKKwKw wKyw’wKwnKxa transformation of what could not be expressed more directly (2007, p. 14). However, the homosexual references are not hidden or put ambiguously in the text, thus only a KKyywwKyKwyybwyw that in Maurice, Forster employs a conventional dualistic model to speak of the unspeakable, to articulate and overcome the impossibility of homosexuality particularly, in the context of Edwardian society (2014, p. 19). In addition, it would not be incorrect to argue that had Forster published Maurice, which openly portrayed homosexual yearning, and had he been detected engaging in sexual encounters with individuals of the same sex, he would have almost probably met the same fate as Oscar Wilde in 1895.