The Book I’ve Just Read

William Somerset Maugham’s short stories are most fascinating.

Not long ago I read one of his short stories, it is the story about a man who is very rich, very powerful, very intelligent, very successful in his career and yet he is the most unhappy person. His name is Lord Mountdrago. One day he comes to Dr. Audlin who is a psychotherapist and whose reputation as a psychotherapist is very good. Dr. Audlin seems to be able to help almost everybody.

Lord Mountdrago has strange dreams. They get on his nerves. And he is afraid that he will go mad or commit suicide if it goes on like that every night. He says that his decision can affect the welfare of the country. When Dr. Audlin asks to describe one of his dreams, he begins: «the first I had was about a month ago. I dreamt that I was at a party at Connemara House. It was an official party. The King and the Queen were to be there and many prominent people too. Suddenly I saw a little man there called Owen Griffiths,

who is a member of parliament from the Labour Party and to tell you the truth, I was surprised to see him there. The Connemaras were at the top of a marble staircase receiving their guests… Suddenly I noticed that the King and the Queen had come, turned my back on the Connemaras I understood that I had got my trousers on. You can’t understand what I felt at that moment, an agony of shame. I awoke in a cold sweat and understood that it was only a dream».

Dr. Audlin can’t diagnose the case and soon he learns that Lord Mountrago has ruined his opponent in the House of Commons, whose name is Owen Griffiths. He did cruelly and mercilessly. His conscience has protested that injury he caused to Griffiths. The story has a tragic end. Lord Mountdrago is unable to get rid of his terrible dreams. He commits suicide. His antagonist suddenly dies too. The newspaper wrote that his death was supposed to be due to natural reason but we know that his death was supernaturally conditioned by Lord Mountdrago’s tragic end. In conclusion we come to after having read that supranational forces effect our lives. No matter how sensitive or insensitive we might be to them. Thus the moral of the story is that doing good things is the only certainly happy action of a man’s life.


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The Book I’ve Just Read