“The Patrician” by John Galsworthy is a novel that delves into the complexities of British aristocracy during the Edwardian era. The story centers around Lord Miltoun, a member of the upper class who embodies the values of duty, honor, and tradition. As a patrician, Miltoun is expected to uphold his family's legacy and maintain the social order that has long governed British society.
However, the novel explores the tension between tradition and change, as Miltoun finds himself increasingly conflicted between his societal obligations and his personal desires. This internal struggle is amplified by a romantic conflict, as Miltoun falls in love with a woman deemed unsuitable by the rigid standards of his class.
Throughout “The Patrician” Galsworthy offers a nuanced examination of the struggles faced by those bound by tradition, highlighting the personal costs of maintaining a social order that is increasingly out of touch with the changing world. The novel serves as both a social critique and a poignant exploration of the human conflicts that arise from the clash between duty and personal fulfillment. The novel serves as both a social critique and a poignant exploration of the human conflicts.
John Galsworthy OM was an English dramatist and novelist who lived from 14 August 1867 to 31 January 1933. His novels, “The Forsyte Saga” and two more trilogies, “A Modern Comedy” and “End of the Chapter” are his best-known works. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932. Galsworthy, who came from a wealthy upper-middle-class family, was expected to become a lawyer, but, he found the profession unappealing, so he resorted to literature. Before his first book, “The Man of Property” about the Forsyte family, was released in 1897, he was thirty years old. It wasn't, until that book—the first of its kind—that he saw true popularity. His debut play, “The Silver Box” had its London premiere the same year. As a writer, he gained notoriety for his socially conscious plays that addressed issues such as the politics and morality of war, the persecution of women, the use of solitary confinement in prisons, the battle of workers against exploitation, and jingoism. The patriarch, Old Jolyon, is based on Galsworthy's father, and the Forsyte family in the collection of books and short tales known as “The Forsyte Chronicles” is comparable to Galsworthy's family in many aspects.
