Alec Scudder Character Analysis

Alec Scudder is the person with whom Maurice falls in love at the end of the novel. Alec is an under-gamekeeper at Clive’s estate, Penge, and he and Maurice begin their relationship when they sleep together there. In a way, Alec represents the fulfillment of Maurice’s dream in which a voice he can barely hear says, “That is your friend.” At the end of the novel, Maurice is able to find the kind of love he has been looking for in Alec when he fully accepts and embraces his sexual orientation. Notably, though, Alec is of a different class than Maurice or Clive, and when he is first envisioning a life with Alec, this class difference is one of Maurice’s main obstacles. This shows that Maurice, despite his sexual orientation, still possesses many of the prejudices that belong to people of his social station. What’s more, Maurice and Alec’s relationship shows that the things Maurice feared he might lose by pursuing his own happiness—his job, his family inheritance—are ultimately worth giving up.