Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Maurice, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Sacrifice
Sexual Orientation, Homophobia, and Self-Acceptance
Masculinity and Patriarchy
Religion
Class
Summary
Analysis
In college, Maurice is friends with other Sunningtonians. As a group, they are too self-enclosed to be popular, too mediocre to lead, and do not make an effort to know people who went to different public schools. All of this suits Maurice fine. None of his issues have been solved, but none are added either. During his second year, though, Maurice discovers that people are “alive,” with feelings similar to his own—he previously assumed everyone was exactly as they presented themselves, like “flat pieces of cardboard stamped with a conventional design.” He thinks that it is no wonder he pretends to be cardboard himself. If people knew who he actually was, they would hound him out of the world. Maurice thinks that there is no one in the world as sinful as he is.
Maurice begins to sense the difference between who he is, as a closeted gay man, and his other classmates. He is average, but he is also worried that if anyone found out he’s gay, then he would be forced out of society. Notably, when Maurice wrestles with homophobia, he equates being gay with sin, showing how Christianity upholds homophobic beliefs in the novel.
Themes
Maurice goes to lunch with the Dean, Mr. Cornwallis, along with a fellow former Sunningtonian, Chapman, and a cousin of Cornwallis, Risley. Risley makes exaggerated gestures when he speaks and uses strong but “unmanly” superlatives. Chapman is put off by Risley, and, with a glance, invites Maurice to join him in his contempt. Maurice thinks he will wait a bit first before making a decision. Throughout the conversation, Risley is “at play, but seriously.” After Cornwallis has left, Risley offhandedly refers to him as a eunuch, which both Maurice and Chapman think is beyond the pale, though Maurice also finds all of it a bit amusing. Chapman remarks that Risley must not have attended public school.
Risley is as close as the novel comes to presenting an out-of-the-closet gay character. In this interaction, Maurice might not know that Risley is gay, but he knows that Risley behaves much differently than his other classmates. He identifies Risley’s behavior and speech as “unmanly,” showing how intertwined norms of sexual orientation and gender are in the novel. While Chapman, who exemplifies an average straight person, is put off by Risley’s behavior, Maurice is intrigued.
Themes
