Margaret's Makeover

8 Pages 1933 Words

Margaret’s Makeover
Change is inevitable. Whether it is a young teenager growing up into a young man or an older woman retiring from a life-long career, change will happen. In E.M. Forster’s book Howards End, change is illustrated in the life of Margaret Schlegel. Within the narrative, Margaret is gradually transformed from being an independent young lady to one who begins to give way to her independence and becomes submissive and dependent. Margaret’s transformation can be seen by examining the relationship she had with two men, Leonard Bast and Henry Wilcox, and the love which shaped her.
The reason for examining the relationships of Margaret is as E.M. Forster said, “Temperamentally, I am an individualist. Professionally, I am a writer, and my books emphasize the importance of personal relationships and the private life, for I believe in them”(Two Cheers for Democracy 321). Forster’s messages throughout his books are often conveyed through the channel of relationships. Also, Forster reveals Margaret’s makeover throughout the book by using conflicts with various characters to illustrate this message of the power of love. This is common of Forster as Lionel Trilling says. “Forster’s plots are always sharp and definite for he expresses difference by means of struggle, and struggle by means of open conflict so intense as to flare into melodrama and even into physical violence”(Trilling 327). One of Forster’s major conflicts within Howards End was the conflict between Margaret and Leonard Bast. This relationship, however, began as a friendly one, but ultimately did not end that way.
In chapter five, Margaret meets Leonard at the symphony while she is there with her family. Leonard, however, is a dependent person; he desires to become an intellect and is very poor which makes this aspiration virtually impossible without the help of others. As Margaret and Leonard talk following the symphony...