Criticism
Ted Morgan argues, in his biography on Maugham, that For Services Rendered is “an indictment of a whole nation.” He claims that Somerset Maugham exposes “the patriots and promise-makers, the apostles of a better world” as “rogues and hypocrites.” Maugham does this by showing the devastating effects of the war on an English family. Sydney Ardsley’s heroic actions during World War I earned him the Military Cross but little else. Blinded in the war, Sydney is confined to his home and must depend on his family’s kindness and care, since the government has turned its back on him and the other soldiers who bravely fought for their country. As Sydney notes, everything continues the way it had before the war, “except that we’re all broke to the wide and a few hundred thousand fellows like me have had our chance of making a good job of life snatched away from us.” Another fellow like him, Collie Stratton, is driven to suicide after his business fails and he sees no hope for the future.
The most dramatic effects of the war are seen on the men in the play, but Maugham also illustrates the damage done to women. Through his chronicle of the lives of the three Ardsley sisters and their friend Gwen, Maugham illustrates how the war, exacerbated by the rigid British class system, affected in more subtle, but no less destructive, ways the women who were left behind.
Eva Ardsley becomes the most tragic figure in the play. The thirty-nine year old woman is restless and haggard when she first appears. The combination of class and war has severely limited her chances for happiness. Eva has never gotten over the death of her fiancé, who was killed in the war. Her mother explains, “in a place like this she could hardly hope to. By the end of the war there were very few young men left. And girls were growing up all the time.” In a culture that revered youth and beauty, Eva did not have much opportunity to find a suitable husband, which was the goal for every woman in that era. Another man had been interested in her, but she rejected him because he was not of her class. Women like Eva were under pressure not only to marry but to marry well.
Since she has no husband and no immediate prospects, Eva has accepted the role of her brother’s caretaker, playing endless hours of chess with him, which she admittedly loathes. She concludes that looking after Sydney helped her to bear the loss of her fiancé. Yet she has not given up her dream of some day marrying, for society has convinced her that “it’s a woman’s province to have a home of her own and children to look after.”
Eva has adopted the role of saint, since she had little opportunity for anything else, claiming that she is glad to do what she can “to make life a little easier” for Sydney. Sydney argues that Nature destined her for sainthood and decides “it’s damned lucky for her that I’m around to give her the opportunity of earning a heavenly crown.” Yet Sydney ignores the social pressures that have encouraged Eva to take on this role and that have left her no other options.
Eva is unable, however, to maintain her saintly demeanor as she recognizes the bleak future that lies ahead of her. During the chess game with Sydney, she fires back after Sydney criticizes her moves with, “good God, don’t I spend my life looking ahead. And a damned cheerful prospect it is.” Her...
(This entire section contains 1652 words.)
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frustration rises until she scatters the pieces on the floor and declares, “why should I be sacrificed all the time?” In her anger, Eva blames Sydney for her limited prospects, exclaiming “it’s monstrous that he should try to prevent any one else from having a good time.” Yet, it is not Sydney who is making Eva unhappy; the war and the rigid social mores that have determined her place have taken away her future.
Making one last attempt to secure herself a husband, Eva suggests to Collie that they marry, which would help him out of his financial difficulties. Ethel has encouraged the match, concluding, “even a marriage that isn’t quite satisfactory is better than not being married at all.” Collie rejects Eva, assuring her that some day she will find someone that she “really like[s],” and Eva is humiliated. Yet later, when her father tells her that Collie has killed himself, she passionately defends him, insisting that they were engaged. She reaches the point of hysteria when she claims that marrying Collie was her “only chance” and damns them all.
Ethel, the oldest daughter, has succeeded where her sister failed. She has married and has children, but her situation has not brought her happiness. The war has hurt her family financially, as the government has not lived up to its promise to support the country’s tenant farmers. As a result, she and her husband work long hours in order to survive.
Ethel’s marriage to a working-class man has brought shame to her family and resentment from her husband. Her mother admits, “When all that slaughter was going on it seemed so snobbish to object to a man because he was just a small tenant farmer.” But Gwen’s insensitive comment reflects more accurately the rigid attitudes of the British class system: “It’s always a mistake to marry out of one’s own class. It’s never a success.”
Ethel tries to convince everyone of her happiness, insisting that she has “nothing to complain of,” but she reveals her true feelings when she breaks down as she watches her drunken husband sleep. She later admits that life as a tenant farmer’s wife has been difficult and that sometimes his commonness upsets her. After acknowledging that it would have been better for Howard to marry in his own class, she reveals, “that’s why I feel I must always have patience with him.” Howard suggests the cause of his drinking when he concludes that Ethel is too good for him. He acknowledges that he is “only a common farmer . . . only . . . you don’t always want to be looking up to your wife, do you?” As a result, he looks elsewhere to Lois, whom he considers more fun than his wife.
Gwen’s suffering results from her husband’s philandering. At fifty, she is “desperately hanging on to the remains of her youth,” knowing that she is “too old to be left alone.” In a frantic attempt to hold onto her husband, Gwen humiliates herself as she begs Mrs. Ardsley to persuade Lois not to run away with him. Mrs. Ardsley tries to comfort Gwen by telling her that “men of that age are often rather taken by bright young things” and suggests that “a sensible wife just shrugs her shoulders and laughs. Her safety is that the bright young things look upon her husband as an old fogey.” Gwen, however, takes little comfort in her words, recognizing that her husband’s wealth and her age put her in a vulnerable position. “I’m old and he’s all I’ve got,” she insists. “I’m too old to start fresh.” Her only recourse is to threaten a scandal if Lois runs off with Wilfred.
Lois appears to have more prospects than her sisters because of her youth and beauty, but her choices are also limited and not very appealing. As Wilfred concludes, “girls nowadays who live in the country have to take what they can get.” There are few options for a woman who cannot afford to live in the city. Lois admits that Wilfred is old enough to be her father, but she considers taking him up on his offer to run off with him since she sees no other way to get out. Recognizing the war’s effects, she complains “the chances are that it’ll go on like this till we’re all weary old women.” When Ethel tries to discourage her, she insists, “I’m getting on you know. . . . What have I got to look forward to exactly? Getting jumpy like Eva or making the best of a bad job like you?”
Lois considers Wilfred a safe prospect since she does not love him and therefore will not suffer if he eventually leaves her for a younger woman. Watching Ethel “grow old and tired and hopeless” has frightened her and prompted her to settle for Wilfred. She admits that she is going to leave with Wilfred because of what his money will bring her: “freedom and opportunity.” As a result of her limited choices, Lois has become “hard and selfish.”
By the end of the play, Lois prepares to run off with Wilfred and perhaps engage in an affair with Howard, which will further damage the lives of Ethel and Gwen. Eva has lost her sanity, evident in her announcement to the family that she and Collie are to be married. The savage irony of Eva’s deranged song at the end of the play offers a fitting testament to the men and women whose lives have been destroyed by the first World War.
Source: Wendy Perkins, Critical Essay on For Services Rendered, in Drama for Students, Thomson Gale, 2006.
