Plato's influence in Maurice

After reading the first part of “Symposium,” as well as the novel Maurice, it seems clear that Forster was significantly influenced by Plato’s classic work. This is particularly true when examining the language Forster used in his novel. Many of the phrases and ideas that appear in the “Symposium” are also found in Maurice. For example, in the “Symposium,” during Pausanias’ speech, he raises the issue of heavenly love vs. common place, lustful love. According to Pausanias, heavenly love is far more lasting, meaningful and mature. In a heavenly love relationship, the participants do not bounce from one lover to next. When looking at Forster’s description of Maurice and Clive’s relationship, it seems that Pausanias’ account of heavenly love was somewhat of an inspiration. Forster writes, “Clive knew that ecstasy cannot last, but can carve a channel for something lasting, and he contrived a relation that proved permanent. If Maurice made love it was Clive who preserved it, and caused its rivers to water the garden” (Forster 98).
Pausanias also mentions that heavenly love is associated with love between two men. Men rather than women, he believed, were more worthy of this sacred, divine kind of love. This sentiment is also seen in Maurice. Clive, speaking of is mother explains, “She would have no mercy if she knew, she wouldn’t attempt, wouldn’t want to attempt to understand that I feel to you as Pippa to her fiancé, only far more nobly, far more deeply, body and soul, no starved medievalism of course, only a- a particular harmony of body and soul that I don’t think women have even guessed” (Forster 90). It certainly seems clear that the novel Maurice was greatly inspired by Plato’s “Symposium.”