从《人性的枷锁》看毛姆的人生观(3)
2.2 The Way to Deal with the Bondage of Love
The novel describes the relationship between Mildred and Philip to draw all sorts of the conflicts such as emotion and ration, desire and self-control, freedom and bondage and so on.
Philip overcame the obsession with Mildred time and time again, however, he fell in love with her again and again. He knew she was not worth pursuing, but he was desperate to do so. “ He was not happy with her, but he was unhappy away from her. He wanted to sit by her side and look at her, he wanted to touch her, he wanted...”(388;ch.57) He abandoned his study, used up money and suffered the struggle between emotion and intellect. Meanwhile, in the relationship with another woman Nora, he admired her who was helpfulness, stubborn and self-reliance, sensible and intelligent. But he didn’t love her, just used her valuable quality to serve himself. That made her painful. He was dominated by conscience and evil, knowing Nora can makes him happy but abandon her, knowing Mildred will makes him pain but eager for her.