In A Room with a View, Italy challenges many of Lucy’s values and ideas. In the beginning perhaps Lucy's room without a view symbolises her conformity to social norms and when the Emersons offer her a room with a view it symbolises the change of her own ideas about passion and the social rules by which she lives and associates the Emersons (and their socialistic beliefs) with this newfound liberty. When she goes out by herself she thinks ‘It was unladylike. Why? Why were most big things unladylike?’ (P45). At first Lucy resists the liberating effect that Italy has on her; when she experiences the murder at the Piazza Signeria, it obviously affects her deeply as she felt that ‘she, as well as the dying man, had crossed some type of spiritual boundary’, yet she says to George ‘How quickly these accidents do happen, and then one returns to the old life’ (p45). Perhaps she reacts like this to hide the bond between her and George as any relationship between them would be socially unacceptable. Similarly in part two of the novel she again deceives herself about her feelings for George when she stays with Cecil because those around her approve of her engagement. At this time, it is passion particularly which is frowned upon. Mr Beebe thinks that Lucy would be much better if she, like him, remained celibate. This idea is also reinforced by Mr Eager’s violent reaction to the Italian lovers kissing, he even goes as far as to separate them and takes ‘the trouble to call him a liar’. This war could be a representative of Forster’s repressed desire as a homosexual in a time when homosexuality was frowned upon. Sex also seems to be a terrible source of anxiety for women of this period and there is belief that a woman’s reputation should be guarded at all costs. Lucy’s self deception shows how at first she upholds these values but her display of feelings at the end towards George– ‘“It is impossible” murmured Lucy, and then, remembering the experiences of her own heart, she said “No, it is just possible” –show how she overcomes them. Like Lucy in A Room with a View, Flora does discover something about emotions throughout the play however, whilst Lucy finds out about passion from George, Flora finds out about Rasa from Das. Rasa is the essence, juice and taste of something; ‘“There are nine Rasa, each one a different colour. I should say mood. But each mood has its colour – white for laughter and fun, red for anger….” ’. Das teaches Flora how to harmonise her Rasa so that her emotions are not in opposition. Both central female characters from ‘A Room with a View’ and ‘Indian Ink’ discover something about emotions due to their experiences in a foreign country.
The Emersons are the only socialists1 in A Room with a View at a time when social values were changing. Forster seems to advocate socialism through his characters. When Lucy falls in love with George Emerson and changes her ideas she finally finds happiness whereas before she was discontent, ‘The gates of liberty still seemed unopen to her. She was conscious of her discontent’ (pp46). Forster seems to think that socialism will bring happiness to all. In Indian Ink Das and Flora, like the Emersons in A Room with a View, have rebellious viewpoints. Flora is a communist 2and Das was a nationalist (‘belief in the policy of independence’), this links them both together as in those days it is very unusual to have extreme political views as people tended to conform more to societies expectations.
One of the key issues in ‘A Room with a View’ is class snobbery. This is addressed straight away by the reaction of the other tourists to the Emerson’s offer of swapping rooms – ‘The better class of tourist was shocked at this and sympathised with the new–comers’. Charlotte Bartlett emphasises the worst snobbery and narrow-mindedness of her class, she is against Lucy’s socialising and is completely unimaginative. British society in the time of Flora does not seem that different then society in the time of Charlotte. When Flora is talking about her ‘scandalous’ court case to Durance, she says how her sister had to leave school and be taken away through the crowd in a van because of the sexual content of her poems. Although the general attitudes of society are similar, Flora and Charlotte’s attitudes to it in particular are very different from each other. Flora is much more relaxed towards it than Charlotte who takes the opinions of those around her very seriously – ‘Miss Bartlett, much discomfited by the unpleasant scene. The shopman was possibly listening’ (pp61). Freddy, Lucy’s brother who is back home at Windy Corner, could also be used to show this typical English attitude towards class. He is too young to have been influenced by society’s views. He likes George who could be seen as having a liberal attitude and dislikes Cecil who is Lucy’s fiancé and looks down on anyone not of his class. The other characters, with the exception of the Emersons, have been affected by the pressures of class and approve of Cecil’s engagement to Lucy. Lucy breaking off her engagement to Cecil shows how she challenges following what society thinks would be best for her.
In Indian Ink Durance also has the common attitude of the English at the time of the Empire, whilst he tells Flora that he loves ‘Indian’ India, he feels superior to the Indians and goes to the club with the English community. This is particularly shown when he is talking about this ‘terribly nice chap’ who is an Indian officer and has spent time at Cambridge and learnt English sports yet Durance does not seem to think that there is anything wrong with the fact that he cannot get into the club. He also calls British India ‘proper’ India which suggests that he sees British India as superior to Indian India.
In A Room with a View, Forster presents the English tourists as having a superficial interest in the Italian culture, like Durance in Indian Ink. They stay with the other English and look down on the Italians. Miss Lavish prides herself on being original and experiencing foreign countries, she is looked upon by the other British (with the exception of the Emersons) as ‘the clever one’. She pretends to be worldly yet when she takes away Lucy’s Baedaker they both get lost, she contradicts herself when she says ‘“The true Italy is only to be found by patient observation” ’ yet she rushes past the beautiful Square of Annunziata with a shriek of dismay. She is very patronising towards the Italians and sees herself as superior to them, this is highlighted when she says ‘“Look at that adorable wine – cart! How the driver stares at us, dear, simple soul!”’. Miss Lavish is seen as having a radical viewpoint and yet is actually just as snobby as everyone one else. As the novel is quite political this could be to show how some types of radicalism are actually false. In A Room with a View Lucy is disappointed by the Pension Bertolini which she feels is a part of England and the Signora who was ‘a Cockney, besides!’ this suggests that she wants to be more involved with the Italian way of life. Flora like Lucy tries to experience the foreign culture. She visits the Rajah and stays with Mr Coomaraswami rather than at a hotel or at the club with the other English. She also tries to understand the Indian notion of Rasa and says to Das that she ‘“Didn’t like you thinking that English was better just because it was English” ’ (p44). However the way that she occasionally mocks Das could show her feelings of superiority towards the Indians, she is almost playing with him when she says ‘“You can imagine it but you cannot mount it”’ and he is obviously distressed after she says it.
In Indian Ink unlike A Room with a View the cultures overlap. There is a definite connection between Flora and Das which is hinted at later on in the play by Anish when he talks about the painting – ‘“This was painted with love” ’. Das’ love of all things English and Mr Coomaraswami’s belief that the English have not exploited India enough also links the cultures. A Room with a View is different to this as Italy and England are presented as two worlds apart. In Chapter 6 the kiss between the Italians, the reactions to it specifically from Mr Eager and the allusions to Persephone3 and Phaeton4 contribute to separating England and Italy. This is also shown later with the kiss between Lucy and George. They are in a beautiful landscape with violets, streams and hollows and their kiss is ‘broken by Miss Bartlett, who stood brown against the view,’ as Miss Bartlett is presented in stark contrast against the surroundings and this seems to represent her separateness from this beautiful world of freedom and passionate embrace. She calls to Lucy ‘before she could speak, almost before she could feel,’ this could show how she is also trying to keep Lucy separated from this world.
From the very first in Indian Ink it is possible to see that the Indians treat the English with great respect. Mr Coomaraswami’s over-enthusiasm (everything he says is punctuated with exclamation marks and he interrupts Flora on numerous occasions), and Das’ meekness when he is around her highlight this– ‘ “...not all Englished–up and all over me like a Labrador…..I want you to be with me as you would if I were Indian” ’. The assertiveness of Das’ son Anish to Mrs Swan compared to Das with Flora shows the change in attitude over the years; Anish gets into an argument with Mrs Swan over colonialism but Das is always checking that he has not offended Flora in some way. In A Room with a View unlike Indian Ink there is not much written about the Italian’s attitude towards the English apart from the carriage driver. Ironically he is described as ‘a common man’ and Miss Lavish called the Italian wine cart driver a ‘“dear simple soul” ’, yet he says that he knew about Lucy’s feelings for George and comments that ‘these English. They gain knowledge slowly, and perhaps too late’ (pp76).
Both authors use time and humour differently. Stoppard intermixes the 1930s with the 1980s to show changes and similarities in attitude through time towards colonialism and foreign cultures. Stoppard’s use of time allows for speculation from characters in the 1980s on characters in the 1930s, for example, Mrs Swan saying how like Flora it was to get that painting done or when Anish analyses Das’ painting and concludes that Flora and Das had a special relationship. This allows the audience to get a deeper understanding of the characters. Forster, however, has a part one and two in his novel. This helps clearly differentiate experiences in Italy and experiences in England. This shows Lucy’s changing attitude to the world around her and the change that Italy has had on her as she begins to consider and feel unsatisfied with her life at Windy Corner with Cecil.
Forster and Stoppard both use their characters to present their own views. Both Indian Ink and A Room with a View are very political in their own ways. Indian Ink challenges ideas of colonialism through the viewpoints of four different characters, all with different political views. Through Durance Stoppard presents how some of the English felt very superior to the Indians and how the cultures were so divided in some ways and yet overlapped in others. In A Room with a View Forster seems to be advocating socialism through Lucy as she becomes discontent with the life she had before and finds her true self when she falls in love with socialist George. As the two central characters in the novels grow more experienced in the countries they are in they each discover something about themselves. Flora discovers the notion of rasa and this helps her in her work, likewise Lucy discovers about emotions in the form of passion which changes her ideas and helps her decide to be with George. In A Room with a View the use of many English people means that their reactions can be compared for example the reactions of Mr Eager and the Emersons to the kiss were completely different. This highlights the fact that it is political difference between the characters that causes the different reactions and not cultural difference like in Indian Ink. In Indian Ink the English people interact a lot more with the native people than in A Room with a View, perhaps this is also to show the difference and similarities in the two cultures. Both writers use humour differently. Forster gently mocks his characters, he is not harsh and this allows the reader to develop affection for them. Stoppard’s characters however are humorous themselves in the things that they say, this also allows for a deeper understanding of the characters but in a different way to Forster. The central characters in Indian Ink and A Room with a View are presenting Stoppard ‘s and Forster’s ideas through their growing experiences and changing ideas in the foreign countries they are visiting.
Bibliography
Books
Indian Ink – Tom Stoppard
A Room with a View – E.M Forster
The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary
Video
Hat and Dust
A Room with a View
Internet
www.amazon.com
www.tstoppardbib.com
1 Socialism is the ‘political and economic theory of social organisation which advocates that the community as a whole should own and control the means of production, distribution and exchange’.
2 Communism is ‘the political theory derived form Marx in which all property is publicly owned and works according to his or her needs or abilities’.
3 Persephone was a Greek goddess who was stolen away into the underworld by Hades. Demeter, her mother, was heartbroken and Zeus took pity on her and said that because Persephone had eaten six seeds, she could spend 6 months with Demeter on earth (summer) and 6 months with Hades (winter)
4 Phaeton was the mortal son of Apollo, the Greek God of love, music and hunting. He fell to his death after he rode a sun chariot that he could not control.
