W.S. Maugham "Theater"

TASKS for Chapter 14

I. Find in the text the following words and phrases and translate them into Russian:

on one excuse and another – то с одной то с другой отговоркой, to confess to oneself – признаться самому себе, that was all to the good – все что случилось было к лучшему, shrewd - проницательный, vanity - тщеславие, to have an affair with sb. – состоять в отношениях с кем-то, sallow – бледный цвет, to feel compassion for sb. – сочувствовать кому-то, eminent persons – выдающиеся люди, to lay no claims on sb. – не предъявлять к кому-то права, to use all her arts of cajolery – использовать все искусство лести, stale food – безвкусная еда, to overcome one's scruples – побороть угрызения совести, to find someone a trifle dull – считать кого-то занудой, to have no inclination –не иметь побуждения, a man of the world – человек, умудренный опытом, she was modest about herself – она была честна с собой, a smack in the face – пощечина, sulkily - мрачно, Julia's heart was wrung – сердце Джулии сжалось, chivalrous courtesy – рыцарская вежливость, a vile disposition – отвратительный характер, alacrity -живость, wistful - тоскующий, to act with great naturalness – играть с большой естественностью, to make a scene – устраивать сцену, she was in a black rage – она была в праведном гневе, she'd get even with him – она свела с ним счеты, to rack one's brains – ломать над чем-то голову.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. Was Julia really in love with Tom Fennell? And he? As for Julia, it was not till after that night when they had first supped together that Julia confessed to herself that she had fallen in love with Tom. It came to her as a shock. But she was exhilarated. As for Tom, Julia was shrewd, and she knew very well that Tom was not in love with her. To have an affair with her flattered his vanity.

2. How old was Tom? What did he do? Why was he a success with women? Tom was 22. He was a highly-sexed young man and enjoyed sexual exercise. From hints, from stories that she had dragged out of him, Julia discovered that since he was seventeen he had had a great many women. He loved the act rather than the person. He looked upon it as the greatest lark in the world. And she could understand why he had so much success. There was something appealing in his slightness, his body was just skin and bone, that was why his clothes sat on him so well, and something charming in his clean freshness. His shyness and his effrontery combined to make him irresistible.

3. How can you characterize Roger? Where was he educated? What were his relations like with his parents? Did he know what he wanted to be? Did he want to go on the stage? Roger was seventeen. He was a nice-looking boy, with reddish hair and blue eyes, but that was the best you could say of him. He had neither his mother’s vivacity nor changing expression nor his father's beauty of feature. Julia was somewhat disappointed in him. He was rather stolid and he had a serious look. He was educated in Eton. The relationship between him and the parents were rather cold.  He wanted to go to Vienna for a few months and learn German before going up to Cambridge. He did not yet know what he wanted to be. Both Julia and Michael had from the first been obsessed by the fear that he would go on the stage, but for this apparently he had no inclination.

4. How did Tom and Roger get on together? Roger and Tom took a great fancy to one another.

5. Was Julia as successful in the movies as in the theatre? Did she envy the film-stars? She had no success in the movies. Her face on the stage so mobile and expressive for some reason lost on the screen, and after one trial she had with Michael's approval refused to accept any of the offers that were from time to time made her. She had got a good deal of useful publicity out of her dignified attitude. But Julia did not envy the film-stars; they came and went; she stayed.

6. Describe in detail how Julia managed to play different characters on the stage. What thrilled her? Why did she sometimes fell like God? The critics admired her variety. They praised especially her capacity for insinuating herself into a part. She was not aware that she deliberately observed people, but when she came to study a new part vague recollections surged up in her from she knew not where, and she found that she knew things about the character she was to represent that she had had no inkling of. It helped her to think of someone she knew or even someone she had seen in the street or at a party; she combined with this recollection her own personality, and thus built up a character founded on fact but enriched with her experience, her knowledge of technique and her amazing magnetism. People thought that she only acted during the two or three hours she was on the stage; they did not know that the character she was playing dwelt in the back of her mind all day long, when she was talking to others with all the appearance of attention, or in whatever business she was engaged. It often seemed to her that she was two persons, the actress, the popular favourite, the best-dressed woman in London, and that was a shadow; and the woman she was playing at night, and that was the substance. It was not the popularity, the celebrity if you like, that she cared for, nor the hold she had over audiences, the real love they bore her, it was certainly not the money this had brought her; it was the power she felt in herself, her mastery over the medium, that thrilled her. She could step into a part, not a very good one perhaps, with silly words to say, and by her personality, by the dexterity which she had at her finger-tips, infuse it with life. There was no one who could do what she could with a part. Sometimes she felt like God.

7. How did Julia revenge herself on Tom? Julia decided to revenge on him by turning him out bag and baggage, and getting him on the raw.

III. Make up a list of words and phrases describing Tom Fennell. Comment on the repetition of "a young man" in the text. First "he was a blushing young man" for Julia. Did her attitude change when she was better aquainted with him? Prove it by giving examples from the text.

• There was something appealing in his slightness, his body was just skin and bone, that was why his clothes sat on him so well, and something charming in his clean freshness. His shyness and his effrontery combined to make him irresistible.

• What he's got, of course, is sex appeal.

• he was so conventional

• Tom was slim and graceful in his long white trousers

• become again a sloppy little schoolboy.

Julia’s attitude to Tom changed for she decided to take revenge on him. I think that Maugham used the repetition of "a young man" in the text in order to show that Julia admired Tom’s youth and through it she remembered her times when she was a young woman.

IV. Find in the text epithets and similes which characterize Julia and Michael and say what effect the author achieves by using them.

• She read his mind like an open book. – it means she understands him perfectly

• Sometimes she felt like God. – she felt that  everything was in her powers

• she shook off the obsession of him like a bad dream from which one awoke – she fell out of love with him

• He reminded Julia of an old dog lying in the sun and gently beating his tail on the ground as he looked at a pair of puppies gambolling about him.

V. What stylistic device did Maugham employ at large to characterize Julia? Illustrate your answer with the examples from the text. Comment on the lexicon used by Julia. To what stylistic layer of the vocabulary does it belong? How does it characterize Julia?

Julia’s life and actions are reflected through 3d person narration and internal monologues of hers (“The blasted fool, why does he talk all that rot?”, “Gosh, I’m going down like a barrel of oysters.”). Julia is naturally polite to all the people but still very often she uses vulgar words in her thoughts ("Damned if I know what genius is," she said to herself; "Bloody fool, bloody fool")

VI. Give a summary of chapter 14. (in written form)

In some time, with horror she understands that she has desperately fallen in love.Without showing her feelings to Tom, she tries to bind him to herself. The actress knows he is a snob, so she lets him enter the high society. Tom is really poor, that’s why she showers him with expensive gifts and pays off his debts. Julia forgets about her age, but on vacation Tom so obviously and naturally prefers to spend his time with her son, Roger, that it really hurts her. Julia has an argument with Tom, but she is so afraid to lose him that finally she does everything to make it up.