7. Forsyte attitude to love and marriage.

The two conflict of the novel are set around the attitude of the Forsytes towards love and marriage and love and beauty. I would like to tell about the 1^st conflict.

The conflict between love on the one side and property on the opposite side are personified in the novel by Irene and Soames. Soames, whose nickname “the men of property” married Irene and got satisfaction from the reflection of the general attitude of the whole upper-middle class to the institution of marriage. Marriage should not be based on love but only on benefit: each partner of the marriage contract brings something useful into their marriage. In the case of Soames and Irene, Irene’s input into their marriage should have been her beauty, because in the eyes of the Forsytes has monetary value. Soames spent a lot of money on Irene’s clothes and jewelry and wanted love and obedience in return. And he was exasperated that she could give him nothing. This is the main tragedy of this conflict, because he didn’t understand Irene who without loving wasn’t living and in their misfortunes Soames blamed only his wife. The attitude to love in the Forsytian world could be illustrates by the story of young Jolyon, who dangerously fall in love with another woman. This led to a tremendous scandal in the Forsytes clan. Young Jolyon was made an outcast and even his father Old Jolyon hadn’t had any contacts with him for 15 years . This story depicts the Forsytes attitude to the real feelings such as love and compassion as something scandals and absolutely undesirable. Of course the Forsytes understood that young man can fall in love with some young woman, but it would be better to overcome this uncomfortable feeling as soon as possible. And never ever allow any scandal in marriage. In their attitude towards love the Forsytes are hypocrites. They usually approve of adultery only it doesn’t lead to the scandal. Young Jolyon was made an outcome not for being in love with the governess but for doing it openly and causing a scandal in the society.

In the end of the novel Irene eventually came back home and this is Soames’s only momentous victory. In fact he has lost in this conflict between love and marriage, because he has fallen victim to his own beliefs and his own love destroyed him.

8. The Forsytes attitude between art and beauty.

The two conflict of the novel are set around the attitude of the Forsytes towards love and marriage and love and beauty. I would like to tell about the 2^nd conflict.

In the conflict between beauty and the art on the one side and property, Irene personalizes beauty, Bosinney art and Soames- property. In the case of Soames and Irene, Irene’s input into their marriage should have been her beauty, because in the eyes of the Forsytes has monetary value. Soames spent a lot of money on Irene’s clothes and jewelry and wanted love and obedience in return. And he was exasperated that she could give him nothing.

By being a man of art himself, Galsworthy is very acutely focused on the conflict between art and property. Bosinney is depicted as a very talented young architect but without any name of fortune. Soames hired him, to build a country house, because he thought Bosinney to be unpractical (a bit up in the air or he didn’t know on which side his bread was buttered) and he would be easy to deal with. Bosinney understood Soames’s plan and said to him directly (outright) that Soames had hired a first-rate man for a fourth-rate fee. Bosinney had managed to create a real masterpiece, but Soames ruined him financially as a revenge for his wife. Physically, Bosinney is crashed, In the end of the book he died in road accident but again the victory is not in Soames’s side. Spiritually, Bosinney is a winner and Soames is a loser. We understand that Soames would never happily live in this house with Irene for whom his house was meant to be a golden cage.