Maurice: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Maurice goes on to attend Sunnington, where he is a “mediocre member of a mediocre school.” Beneath the surface he presents to others, though, he is bewildered. He has two dreams during this time in his life. In one, a nondescript figure turns into George, who then makes his way down a field toward him, naked. In the second, he barely sees a face, and then he hears a faint voice that says, “That is your friend.” The dream fills him with beauty and tenderness, and Maurice thinks that he would die for a friend like that and would allow such a friend to die for him. They would sacrifice anything for each other.

Maurice is kind to everyone because the friend from his dream would want him to be. When his body develops, Maurice thinks a curse has been placed on him. He thinks he becomes “obscene,” and he is beset with “filthy” thoughts, even when receiving communion. For Maurice, all of this seems to happen in a trance. He is not aware that his fellow schoolmates might be experiencing something similar. As he rises through the school, he experiences brief bouts of infatuation with some boy or another, and boys will sometimes become obsessed with him in turn. On one occasion, the adoration is mutual, but the boys do not know what they yearn for, and it comes to nothing.