THE COLONEL'S LADY, A Short Story by Somerset Maugham
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- George Peregrine, a retired colonel, discovers that his wife Evie has written a book of passionate poetry under her maiden name. Initially dismissive, he learns from others that her book is highly acclaimed for its raw emotion and becomes a sensation. George eventually reads the poems and realizes they recount Evie's intense love affair with a younger man..... won't reveal more here.
This was a great story , thank you for putting this on RUclips for us to enjoy.
I’m not slim and not even pretty any more, but my husband still loves me so much. I can’t be the only woman with a faithful man who still sees the pretty woman she was when we met!
You must be a beautiful person and your husband a perceptive man. Enjoy.❤
I wonder if Evie wrote of a love affair from twenty years ago that she had with her husband as a young man, as the years passed he took her for granted 😢no respect no love ❤️ he never knew what he missed! After all he had a young dumb blonde
Spellbinding! The irony of him setting off to London periodically for a "bit on the side", when sitting across the table from him every day was this passionate, sexual creature that had been awakened by the attentions of another man.... and he was utterly oblivious to her. Wow!
What if that other man was him in the first few years of their marriage? It makes it all even sadder in a way and him even a greater fool. I wish she would have told him in the end if it was him. I think the women at that party knew, as did many other people. Sadly, people never talked about these things in those days and many still don't know how to have a deep and meaningful conversation today, either.
A woman is not loved because she is beautiful, Rather, She is beautiful because she is loved.❤
@@KyriaNunNuitI think you hit the nail on the head. It was that last sentence that made it clear to me: it was her husband who had died on her...😢
Was she talking about her husband?????
@@jemartinez50ja That is many people's best guess and it is probably the case. Everything fits when you interpret the story through that lense.
Somerset Maughan never disappoints. So perfectly written. A master of the short story.
Indeed
It is not Death we should fear but what dies inside us while we live...
Wow 😳
I took a screenshot of that and putting it as the screensaver on my phone
Well said indeed.
He has no idea about Evie. None. He doesnt deserve her. He never has. He never will.
Yes. Thick as two short planks, the colonel. Plus a bore and a hypocrite. It's quite okay for him to have a lover!
His last sentence sums up very nicely why she had an affair. "Whatever did he see in her?" What YOU didn't, m'lad.
it's AI. No one made an effort to make this besides finding a story...
Why do people marry? I feel that ought to be the question. I know the re is another story by SM where a would-be governor marries in order to get the position, and this seems to have worked alright. The title I think is a Marriage of Convenience.
A wonderful construct, to create a portrait of a remarkable woman entirely through the impressions of a hopelessly empty husband.
A hopeless, empty, self-absorbed husband.
For a contemporary version of this situation, in a wonderfully-constructed novel, read “Trust” by Hernan Diaz.
He missed the boat.
He could have been afloat.
But he passively left uncared for the moat
He had built around the lady and wife
Whose love endured and flourished through what she wrote.
@@deborahdunthorn1717 : brava!
I love Somerset maughams writing he's very thoughtful writer
How many husbands out there fully unaware of their ladies' deep universe... Quite a lot I can imagine😢
For sure!
Because, like women, men aren't mindreaders, I suppose.
Yep
Yes. Research in the US indicates that married women are more likely to cheat than their husbands.
35.30, seem to indicate that man has the same problem. It seems too that in most of us, there is no permanence of anything or that our judgement on matters regarding being a human is only true to us at the present moment of making the judgement; and promising anyone more than that leads to expectations and then...😮
..
The narrator has a beautiful voice, thank you..
I thought it might be an AI voice. Not much expression
Sounds like Hugh Bonnerville
The narration makes or breaks a good reading. The voice complimented the writing so well.
@@PennyCartoulis I'm sure the glitches will be worked out in the near future, but at this point there will usually be a word or phrase oddly pronounced or inflected that will betray an ai narration. I didn't catch any here.
It's a great invention, just not when it replaces humans in specifically human endeavors.
With AI, there are usually inanely pronounced words. Sounds like a real and very professional narrator to me. @@PennyCartoulis
Ol' George is a typical, self-absorbed man of that time. By God, she's HIS woman and should have no life beyond the narrow confines which HE has determined, i.e. a life devoted to HIS comfort and well being, existing only as an appendage to him. He's a dull, unimaginative human being.
The way Maugham slowly and carefully revealed his nature was masterful.
Georges still exist. My husband was exactly the man you described. Nothing interested him but his own comfort created by me. After 10 fairly miserable year I left him, taking my son with me. Since then I am happy. I think I am not the marrying type and neither was he.
It was a well told story, indeed. When Evie declined an invitation and he was upset because he may have missed out on some good shooting, and then he refused to attend anything else with her because it did not potentially cater to him, it was very telling.
A very introspective tale. Quite poignant ... how fortunate we are today living in a more enlightened society.
@@gazcross3926 ha ha ha.... Exactly same goes on today...
Maugham is such a fine writer that giving voice to his words and this image is all we need to fully imagine his characters. Forgot we didn't have a reenactment! Project Guttenberg has Maugham short story collections and books. Also google for free PDFs to download. He started as a playwright and had hit after hit, highest earning stage play writer of his day. He felt he was sub-par in ability to work in figurative, arty language, as did some of his critics, but storytelling, character portraits, these he's still tops at. Although from today's perspective, he might seem the quintessential Brit colonial because his stories appear to be told from that myopic, racist point of view, he cleverly uses irony to lead the viewer to uncover distasteful hypocrisy, an oppressor mentality in how petty government functionaries think of and treat people indigenous to lands they exploit. He said he wouldn't presume to write works from a non-Western lens when it was, after all, those characters we deplore today that he best knew.
Having left my 14yr marriage not long ago, I know what it means to grieve that lost love so much it tears your soul apart, sadly beautiful story
Yes I feel your grief, I too was in a loveless marriage for 20 years. Still recovering and forgiving myself for a wasted life.
🎉yes we give so much for the sake of our children,then they leave an aree not interested or think you were a fool to have stayed,thanks kids
As a 75 year old woman, I look back on my 10 year marriage through my 20s. I lived on my own love for my husband. I possessed so much love for him that I was fuelled by it. I was not such a good wife because he was almost besides the point. Who he was did not interest me very much because I was a bit scared of him. Fortunately, during those 10 years, he disregarded me. Even now looking back, it was all fantasy in my own head. From 30 years old to when I was 60 years old, I did not see him. He returned to live next to my adult daughters when he was 60 and dying. He was a shadow of his former self, and I still loved him. My love flew over reality and just existed.
Watch ps Chris Oyakhilome
Harry was "shrewd", might have been the young man. As a lawyer, he would be accustomed to playing a role. Can you imagine how easy it would have been to seduce the wife of a man who thought of her as an employee or a stuffed trout?
So many people like that. So self absorbed, so blind to others. I love Maugham so much!!!
One of Somerset Maugham's best stories and so beautifully read. A great joy to listen to.
He clearly hasn't a clue of the incredible woman he has & never appreciated.
And who's to say she was the reason they didn't have children....
Bingo!
Indeed, thought the same, but back then no man would have even accepted the idea!
It was always the woman’s fault, as was the fact that if the woman had a child that was a daughter it was her fault.
Totally agree, a selfish man.
It’s a wonder the mistress never became pregnant nor Evie by her lover.
I'm of two thoughts:
(1) I believe Evie wrote of the love affair between she and her young husband 20 plus years ago and how she shone with life from the warmth of his early love and respect. There are many ways to die and the Colonial clearly painted the story of his bitter death from his wife.
(2) What did the lover see in her?
🌹He saw in her the woman who bloomed under the warmth of his loving respect and admiration.
Quite different from the woman who, like an untended rose, withers under the lack of loving care from her husband.🥀
Option one is how it is represented in the film version.
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Absolutely 💯 on so many levels.
George did not be deserve his wife. So many men seem so superficial. If a woman is not beautiful men seems so dismissive. So many men never bother to go past the surface appearance.
Yes tragic but what an indictment of men!
Well, this particular man was so selfish and self-involved: what he really wanted was a housekeeper and that’s what he got. Luckily not all men are like that. Loved the way he felt entitled to his bit of fluff … but his wife had to be blameless. Great character study!
Actually he is just a typical male and never developed beyond the two dementions of power and sex. Harry, the literary critics and her reading public had a broader understanding of life, family and friends relationships, the sense of being in the family of man, how humans fit in the world of plants and animals, our place in the universe. He was just intellectually undeveloped, had never discovered the mysterious spirit of life, poor man 😢. That is the real tragedy of this story. He could never understand his own lack.
@@MicheleAney
It is a tragedy, but I over generalized as usual. There are exceptions, just not enough. Going to university sometimes helps. I found this book fun and enlightening: Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Roadmaps, probably out of print, circa 2003(?)
Rubbish
This has always been one of my favourite Maugham short stories. So heartbreaking.
Oh, my, this story touched me deeply I can just imagine endless breakfasts in the future. Thank you so much for this upload. Looking forward to many more. Never knew Maugham was such a great short story writer and so prolific.
Maugham was genius.
@@starlynn57
Definitely ❤
A natural soul reader,a born psychologist.
right tone.🙂
Somerset Maugham is an absolutely splendid writer. I highly recommend him.
To live with a husband that "died" long ago
Oh, Colonel, can't you see the boy she loved, the boy she lost, the boy who died & turned into a responsible man .. can't you see
GASP!!! *smacks forehead
Of course!!!!
Oh George.....
Wait, are you saying it’s he?
@@hawthorne1504 Could be.
@hawthorne1504 Yes,
I had the same thought!! Came to the comments to see if there were others :)
SHE was way above his head. A lovely story. Colonel not thick as a brick but incapable of moving beyond his programming.
Deft observation
I loved the story. Thank you.
I love Maugham's short stories. I think I've read them all more than once!
Reminds me of a line from a Kipling poem, "The Colonel's lady and Rosie O'Grady are sisters under the skin".
Very good reflection on an older couple being on different paths & just jogging along for conventions sake, just being companionable, sad in a way
They both played their part, when George was having one night stands Evie had a young lover who actually loved her and she loved him passionately back. Bravo Evie! and who said that looks have anything to do with love and passion?
No ! The poem refers to George. He/his love/lust died. He lost interest in her, which for her, meant, in an emotional sense that George had 'died.'
“ What in the name of heaven did the fellow see in her”? Obviously what George Perigrin didn’t… what a waste of life
Oh my gosh, I went numb hearing that.
That was the tell wasn't it? He's the lover she lost.
What an unfeeling idiot ☹️
My thoughts were 'what you once saw in her'..
Thank you for uploading this poignant story. I love Maugham.
The beauty is always in the eye of the beholder
W. Somerset Maugham the famous short story teller ‼️ I've read a whole load of them - many moons ago.
Oh this Colonel, The absolute CONCEIT of some men is just beyond comprehensible 😮😮
lyrical piano music - and it fits the story so beautifully. very poignant and interesting story. there must have been many women🌹 in similar circumstances - married to vain, empty man. 🥀
Masterpiece.
Sadly a tale of most aged miserable marriages.
I am attracted to this story by the photo and the narrator's voice. I strongly think that the young man was the young George. They fell in love, got married and years later, Evie's George 'died'. Their love died.
Richsrd Burton's voice
@@rosesilveira344Ah. Of course.
Lean: . . . And the book's title was ?? I think you are correct 👍
@@rosesilveira344
Yes, it is. Thanks for pointing that out.
He became an old English boring wretch...🎉
Well, well, if you have to ask, you’ll never know.
Great story!
Thanks for posting!
Evie quietly conquered his utter distain for her, never imagining she could fall in love with a man who believed she was beautiful and appreciated. Mr P. was a true narcissist who treated Evie like an indentured servant.
What a treat to listen to a story written by Somerset Maugham!
Thank you 🤗
Colonel can't understand how to love passionately for Evie to be seen and truly loved.
Simply self-centered and with incredulity by the intelligence of Evie.
I remember that the story went a bit further with an interesting revelation at the end...anyone else?
A pleasure to listen to. Thank you ❤
Yes! The “other man”was the younger George. His “death” was the death of their marriage….She was mourning the loss of their love (and earlier happiness)….
I believe that version was part of a 3-story, S. Maugham movie or teleplay-and am fairly certain that Maugham, himself, gave a short introduction to each story…I would assume that he had made the changes to the story-possibly to appease the censors (who would have baulked at a story centering on a wife’s adultery)?….I must say though : I preferred that version to this one-it had so much heart & pathos….❤
That would be either Trio or Quartet, lovely films must look them out !
@@Shineon83thank you for sharing that take on the story. It makes sense, both as a possible plot of the story is as written or if the author meant it to be literal. The culture of that time would not look kindly to a wife’s adult story . The sad thing universally to this day is communication, honesty, selflessness, and sharing in a marriage. Most people lack these skills and don’t work hard enough to develop their marriage.
@@Shineon83 I like both versions...
My sister always said I can't like all comedians, but why not? From Harold Lloyd to the Marx Brothers, Danny Kaye, and everyone in between, each era has something unique to offer. Why choose when both versions have something special?
YES SHE REVEALS ALL TO HIM AND THEN HE HAS A BKUNDING FKASH OF REALISATION IT US IN FACT a very true story repeated everywhere THE DULL STUPID SELFISH MAN DISMISSIVE OF THE IDEA his "LITTLE BORING WIFE " could BE CAPABLE of ANYTHING WORTHY OF ATTENTION such "stupid little men " ARE TEN A PENNY tin gods
❤as my eyesight dims, it is great to just listen to a good yarn.
“What the devil do he ever see in her”?
Something you ignored George
That last comment, to me, proves he doesn't deserve her.
❤
So sad
A woman isn't loved because she is beautiful,, rather, She is beautiful because she is loved.❤
I'm gonna have to pace myself with the stories by this author. This one was so intense I need to work through my feelings before reading another one 😅
Excellent short story!!!!
Absolutely enjoyed the story! Thank you.
I saw a short film of this. At the end she said, "It was you, George, it was you."
Was being the operative word
Tales of the Unexpected episode
That was for the moralistic. I've read the actual story and she didn't say that. And in the published story it talks about her being out in public after having heard of his death and the necessity of having to hide her pain.
@@joanblack6672 I have read it too . and found out about the music . love this episode , actors and the production
Its a great isn't it . x:-)
I don't think that her lover was her husband when they were first together like some people think. I don't think that Peregrine was ever capable of being the man she wrote of. It seems to me, that her lover was her fantasy. Sadly, that she never actually had the experience of. That she perhaps still had that fantasy lover, but for the book had to have him die. Her grief is real, but for the love and passion that she never had come into reality, not for the death of an actual man.
The affair was actually with George himself…She was remembering the earlier days of love shared with him. It makes sense, both as a possible plot of the story or if the author meant it to be literal. The culture of that time would not look kindly to a wife’s adult story . The sad thing universally to this day is communication, honesty, selflessness, and sharing in a marriage. Most people lack these skills and don’t work hard enough to develop their marriage.
I think you nailed it, with your observations. In those days the man was brought up like the colonel, so he found it hard to act any other way, so sad.
Excellent conclusion, you could certainly be correct. A fine short story!!
Hmmmm do you think George was capable of the love described in the book? Even when he was 20? I believe she indeed had an affair with a younger man....
@@alisonvanschoor730 you have a good point. That is sure a good possibility. A leopard never changes his spots.
Well said❤
Thank you for such beautifully rendered read.
Shame the name of the reader is not mentioned.
Now I am hooked! Listening to all of them, can tha you enough!
Moral of the story: never marry anyone unless you see something lovable in them that nobody else falls in love with. You have to be careful and not delude yourself, seeing things that are not there. It has to be something real that other people can know about and yet they don't fall in love with the person, and you do. A big clue is that both of you can speak to each other like you cannot speak to anyone else. If you have a conversation in which time flies, other people seem not interesting and you want the conversation never to end, that's the one. Marry that person and the conversation never does end. Marrying someone for a list of qualities they have, that tick all the boxes, is marrying a shopping list, not a person. You know its *the person* when you find the person you want to tell everything to, and the other person feels the same.
No the moral of the story: NEVER MARRY😂
What? Never take a chance of happiness?😊
😢 What a jerk of a husband!
What a beautiful, marvellous story, so many layers.
Beautifully executed. Great writing by SM.
I found the very last derogatory remark by George to be a sort of momentary comfort for him as if no one else could possibly love Evie because of her plainness.
How strange we humans are with our emotions. That’s why I love my dog - Unconditional love.
Same.
From Trinidad and Tobago love the story, thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing, Loved this story. Love Maugham ❤❤❤❤❤🙏
I love Sommerset Maugham!
I loved this short story called Flotsam and Jetsum
I’m now 80yrs and read ,in my youth,about everything Somerset Maugham wrote.
His four collections of short stories are brilliant and a perfect way of understanding the complexities of life.
The education system could be of great assistance to the minds of young adults trying to work-out life’s hurdles.
❤What brilliant story !! Loved it !! More please.❤👌🙏
Maugham is admirable in the way he sees, understands and describes people. Such a great story and a wonderful narrator.
Delicious and obscene 🎉 Finding your channel has been such a revelation and this story is easily one of my favorites😊
Thank You🌱🌺🙏
What a treat. Thank you.
I giggled every few minutes - the Colonel-Blimp level of obliviousness, the landed-gentry self-satisfaction, all is right with a world where all know their place, the small pleasures of mediocrity. The satire is breathtakingly low-key and yet brilliant. 👏👏🏻👏🏼
... and George didn't realise that he was the lover...
Oh, this was a delight to listen to! Thank you….
I really enjoyed listening to this sadly beautiful story. The story teller has a wonderful way of speaking. Thank you
He can ponder for years, but he knew he wasn't that Gentleman
I enjoyed this short sone very Much !!
Maugham is an amazing writer. What a fabulous story and beautifully read as well. Bravo!
A wonderful story with a very sad ending.
Oh my goodness.
Amazing. My Father loved Somerset Maughan and now I realise why.
I would advise all of you who found the ending, as presented here, to read the story for the real ending by S Maugham. It makes far more sense.
Eh ? The ending here is exactly as written by Somerset Maugham. Are you suggesting it was somehow the way it was read ?
You saw a piece on tv that added the explanation. This is the story as it was written.
Great Expectations had two endings. Very ambiguous yet unique.
@@pathopewell1814 I understand the original ending was thought to be too miserable for Dickens's readers, but as you say the alternate ending was brilliantly ambiguous.
I first discovered Maugham as a precocious 13 year old, starting with Moon and Sixpence, and quickly read through his oeuvre, and revisiting them often through the years. Maugham was a keen observer of human behavior and motivation, giving him deep insight into the impact of the stratified society in which he lived upon the psychological development and trajectory of individual lives.
Maugham... absolutely the best. I've read this story many times but it was a great pleasure to hear it so well told. Thanks for posting. I see you've got another one, so I'll Like and get to it!
Delighted to come upon this story! Look forward to listening to a variety of things!
"He had no objection to her reading them."
She must have been so terribly disappointed in him.
One of my most favourite writer of my youth.
It was probably his fault she didn't have children since he was unfaithful to her and his girlfriend was probably unfaithful to him, an easy way to get a disease that would make him sterile. And being a sportsman certainly doesn't guarantee understanding what pleases a woman, not that he might have thought about it. Why do men assume the promise of fidelity in marriage is just meanlngless words? A broken trust can never be repaired. Whether she actually had a lover or not isn't important. He will always worry about it and who she was writing about. His double standard was his undoing.
Such a lovely story husband blind !!!
The height of arrogance! The Colonel was the love who died and all that remained was his empty self 😔 42:24
Oh what pleasure of beautiful writing…
And… what an immense gift having a solid advice back then versus running to a (doubtful abilities) therapist these days…
DANCING requires 2 dancing together hence the tango so perfect if you keep working at it
The Colonel really had no idea
As do so many couples
Quite awesome wonderful narration
The lawyer was a wise man
Besautifully written and read. ☮️
That was fantastic but coming from the man who wrote Of Human Bondage, I am not surprised. What a great story.
Wonderfully read. Thank you.
The marriage continued , a little bit strained , but i daresay they were comfortable with each other and what more can you ask for , in this world ?
Wow. Evie was passionate and beautiful inside and out. Something, her husband, could never understand. Funny, it was ok for him to have his extra marital affair, but not Evie, he will forever know, that Evie may of found love even briefly and he never.
Thank you very much for that fantastic short story so beautifully read!!!
I have read many of Maugham's short stories but i had never come across this one. Such a beautiful piece of writing, thanks for posting it. I have just come across your channel and immediately subscribed and i look forward to finding more treasures like this one.
Always loved W. Somerset Maugham. Haven't read him since college almost 40 years ago.
He would never understand , still waters run deep.
I knew straight away that the golden, caring lover she'd had andost was the Colonel. I guess a lot of people never really talked in those days - and still don't today. Nor did they have marriage counselling to help them find each other again if they were willing. More's the pity.
This story was made into a film which included 3 of Maugham's stories, if I'm remembering correctly. It was made in the late 40's or perhaps early 50's. This one ended with the wife admitting it was about her husband and what they had shared in the past. I guess the movie maker (I think it was a British film) decided it had to have that tidied up ending for movie audiences.
Oh, I will look for this film. Thank you.
Did the film version have the same title?
@@RamonaMcKean I found this one: ruclips.net/video/E23wM2fGcJU/видео.htmlsi=MASDvjr-sMwq0-rY
@@RamonaMcKean The fourth film in Somerset Maugham’s ‘Quartet’. My favourite from ‘Trio’ is ‘The Verger’.
Wonderful work willie
The husband is a bastard !she might not have appeal for him but
She found someone who loved her just as she is!😌
This story makes me so sad, but also spurs me on to great thankfulness that my husband and I were granted faith in our early years, enough faith in God that when we married we vowed that cord of THREE strands, and all the warnings and admonitions, even prophecies given to us by those further along and wiser than ourselves, caused us to continually be on our knees together in prayer for our marriage. Two more different souls you'll never meet, but united in faith. 39 years later we are more in love than ever. But the first twenty or so years that love was sorely tested time and time again. I think the devil finally gave up on us. Nothing he hates more than that third cord. Nothing more important to a marriage than that third cord.
Thanks so much for sharing 💙💙💙
I think this was about the early love between them which has died.
That's what I thought !
Reading these poignant stories using AI is wasting their beauty. I'll read them for you.
Ditto
Agree, please use human voices
@@hanginlaundry360How can you tell?
@@marywilliams9858 It's kind of like a drum machine vs. a human drummer. The reading is flawless and breathless. It's listenable to be sure, and AI will undoubtedly get better, but I like the human touch... and human employment.
@@hanginlaundry360 I think the give-away is the lack of, or wrong emphasis on certain phrases which sound as if the reader hasn’t understood what he/she is reading. Too true! It’s a pity when you think of the great narrators out there. I guess, in the end, it’s all about money.
Wonderful reading!
Thanks so much for sharing this. An exquisite reading by the way. My own late wife was older than l; some cast a jaundiced eye on our relationship. But it was bliss to us …
I cried at the near end of this story. It really touched my heart. It's so true ,if you are fortunate to have had a great love with someone you think will go on forever. But doesn't work that in most cases. Love is fleeting and a heartbreak too. But to feel mutually with someone even for short while, is a gift.
What a beautiful and sad story , Evie thanked the powers that be that; "she had been privileged, at least for awhile to enjoy the greatest happiness that we poor human beings can never hope to know" ❤ "The greatest joy in life is to love and be loved in return".💞
Thank you for this story!