Intimacy Revealed

I think the following passage from Maurice, pg. 233-244, shows the intimacy level between Maurice and Clive during their relationship. It begins with Maurice saying:

“I have shared with Alec,” he said after deep thought.
“Shared what?”
“All I have. Which includes my body.”
Clive sprang up with a whimper of disgust. He wanted to smite the monster, and flee, but he was civilized, and wanted it feebly. After all, they were Cambridge men…pillars of society both; he must not show violence. And he did not; he remained quiet and helpful to the very end. But his thin, sour disapproval, his dogmatism, the stupidity of his heart, revolted Maurice, who could only have respected hatred.
“I put it offensively,” he went on, “but I must make sure you understand. Alec slept with me in the Russet Room that night when you and Anne were away.”
“Maurice- oh, good God!”
“Also in town. Also- “ here he stopped.
Even in his nausea Clive turned to a generalization- it was part of the mental vagueness induced by his marriage. “But surely – the sole excuse for any relationship between men is that it remain purely platonic.”

It seems from this excerpt that Clive and Maurice were only intellectual lovers during their relationship based on Clive’s disgusted, confused response to Maurice’s confession. By stating that all relationships between men should only be platonic, this validates that Clive and Maurice experienced nothing physical together besides kissing and cuddling. Maurice is very blunt with his words, and even apologizes, but he wants to make sure that Clive knows of their sexual intimacy. Maurice also is annoyed by Clive’s reaction, which tells me that Maurice expected Clive to be jealous and hate him for it. Instead, Clive is described as for having “stupidity of his heart,” meaning that he didn’t realize that sexual intimacy is part of love. I think Clive was just as naïve as Maurice concerning the extent of how their relationship should be expressed, even though Clive did seem to be the dominant person during the three-year affair.