When Lucy finally finds George looking into the view, the reader can see that George has already found his freedom. The immediacy of their first kiss as George, ‘stepped quickly forward and kissed her’ shows that George, for the first time in his life knows what he wants. The language that Forster uses to describe Lucy as the ‘one who had fallen out of heaven’ enables the use of imagery to portray Lucy as an angel. Lucy is literally the first women in George’s life which portrays the image of Adam and Eve. The perfection of the moment between Lucy and George engages the reader as Forster describes the nature of the ‘flowers’, ‘blue waves’ and ‘bushes’ coming together as the nature of their first kiss comes together. Forster maybe referring to the ‘Birth Of Venus’, a painting of the goddess of love by Botticelli set in Florence to represent spiritual love. Forster’s theme of water refers again to the painting, as the beautiful women, comes out of the ocean. Forster’s writing shows that Lucy and George’s relationship should come together and there is no reason why it should not. When Lucy is caught kissing George, Miss Bartlett ‘stood brown against the view’. George may have found his freedom but Lucy is still determined by the characters to conform within society.
The second kiss does not have the same religious theme. The maturity between Lucy and George has changed. Lucy has become a conformist to the Edwardian lifestyle even though Forster does show distinguishable hints of Lucy being a bad conformist in her own right. The unethical ‘Lying to George’ then, ‘Lying to Cecil’ gives the reader evidence of the denying love Lucy has for George after the second kiss.
The control that Lucy has over Cecil and George is shown as ‘she led the way up the garden’. By being the leader, the reader knows that Lucy is the one who has to make her own decisions about love. The scene is set as they ‘entered the shrubbery’ in comparison with the beautiful view of ‘Fiesole’ within the first kiss. The difference between the second kiss and the first is that, there was much more innocence within the first kiss. The language in this extract describes Lucy’s feelings of anxiety and panic as Cecil ‘must go back’ and George ‘must blunder against her’. The use of the word ‘must’ shows no freedom like the first kiss. However, the second kiss has a bigger impact and consequence on Lucy’s life. Forster maybe trying to conceive the image that Lucy and George’s relationship will never be easy due to the social etiquette of the other characters. Forster describes George as being, ‘loved passionately’ even within the chaotic language that portrays the frantic situation. However, Lucy’s thoughts of loving George are not priority to the ethics of not loving Cecil. The first kiss was all about attraction but the second kiss is all about the inspiration to act upon your own freewill even if it goes against the social etiquette. From the first kiss to the second the reader can already see the development of strength within Lucy and George. The way in which, Lucy has found the strength to be her own person instead of following what she feels right.
The third kiss presents Lucy and George being the people they truly are. Forster’s language, in the last chapter, is not satirical to show that Lucy and George’s behaviour is not just correct but comfortable. The freedom of their language, for example, ‘Why shouldn’t I laugh?’ shows that there is no reason why you should not be happy. Forster deliberately sets the scene in Florence once more so the reader can compare Lucy and George as the relaxed, secure and happy people to the first time they were in the, ‘The Bertolini’. The comparison of Lucy not wanting to even talk to George to indicating ‘the spot where a kiss would be welcome’ shows the amount of change between the couple.
From the first kiss which was a heavenly picture of a goddess to the last kiss which is a realistic image of someone being in love. As the kisses progressed through the novel, Lucy and George developed in strength, mind and power. Lucy could have been taken by Mrs Honeychurch and others into believing that freewill was not the correct way. George who was brought up by Mr Emerson had the instinct to go through life using his freedom as an advantage. However, George needed Lucy determinism to ease him through unanswered questions.