Where Angels Fear to Tread
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Author | E. M. Forster |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | William Blackwood and Sons |
| Released | 1905 |
| Pages | 319 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) is a novel by E. M. Forster, originally entitled Monteriano. In 1991 it was made into a film by Charles Sturridge, starring Rupert Graves, Giovanni Guidelli, Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter, and Judy Davis. The title comes from a line in Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism:
- No Place so Sacred from such Fops is barr’d,
- Nor is Paul’s Church more safe than Paul’s Church-Yard:
- Nay, fly to Altars; there they’ll talk you dead;
- For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
On a journey to Tuscany with her young friend and travelling companion Caroline Abbott (Bonham Carter), widowed Lilia Herriton (Mirren) falls in love with both Italy and a handsome Italian much younger than herself, and decides to stay. Furious, her dead husband's family send Lilia's brother-in-law to Italy to prevent a misalliance, but he arrives too late. Lilia marries the Italian and in due course becomes pregnant again. When she dies giving birth to her child, the Herritons consider it both their right and their duty to travel to Monteriano to obtain custody of the infant so that he can be raised as an Englishman.
Similarly to A Room with a View, both Italy and its inhabitants are presented as exuding an irresistible charm, to which eventually also Caroline Abbott succumbs. However, there is a tragic ending to the novel, while the film adds a suggestively positive scene.
[edit] Analysis: Forster's depiction of Italy
From reading Where Angels Fear to Tread one might conclude that Forster had an intimate knowledge of the Italian culture he describes. However, the author himself admits that that is not the case: "What's so remarkable is my own temerity. For I placed Gino firmly in his society although I knew nothing about it." (Stallybrass, 8) Forster purposely uses certain widely known clichés about Italy. Thus, the reader is - on a certain level - familiar with the Italian society that is described, because he is familiar with the stereotypes that Forster presents. Such clichés are for instance the romantic fascination with the natural beauty of Italy and the vital joy of living of its inhabitants.
The author uses Italy as a convenient background to criticise English morals and values. Italy may be a positive contrast to England as Winkgens states, but Forster does not see Italy as an idealised country. Perhaps the most striking difference between the culture of Monteriano and of Sawston is the role and position of women. English society is portrayed as being matriarchal: it is Mrs. Herriton, and not a male character, who dominates Sawston. Monteriano, on the other hand, is pictured as being a patriarchal society.
Forster does not suggest that English should adopt certain Italian characteristics; rather he wants both cultures to merge into a third, better one.
[edit] Literature
- Forster, E.M., Where Angels Fear to Tread, ed. by Oliver Stallybrass (London, 1975).
- Winkgens, Meinhard, ’Die Funktionalisierung des Italienbildes in den Romanen "Where Angels Fear to Tread" von E.M. Forster und "The Lost Girl" von D.H. Lawrence’, Arcadia, 21 (1986), 41-61.
[edit] External links
- Where Angels Fear to Tread, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Where Angels Fear to Tread at the Internet Movie Database
- Plot Summary and Links
