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| Love, Sex and Marriage in the Novel The Guide by R.K. Narayan |
Love and Sex An Important Part of the Story:
Love and sex form an important part
in the story of the novel The Guide. Rosie comes to Malgudi
with her husband Marco. Her slender and beautiful, and enchanting personality
attracts Raju. He comes to know of her weakness that she is not happy with her
husband and her husband takes no interest in her art of dance. He starts taking
interest in her dance and treats her lovingly and the result is that she is
seduced and Raju makes love to her. This love between Raju and Rosie continues
for a long time until their love disintegrates due to Raju's
over-commercialization. Rosie is painted as a serpent woman who stings not only
her husband but also Raju. She is spiritually mature. She is the daughter of a
devdasi. She represents the West, and she is unfit for the East. With all her
liberalism and independent thinking, she is neither a pure artist nor a pure
woman nor an ideal wife. Like Raju she is also commercialized and believes in
earning as much money is possible through her dance shows. She does not worship
dance as an art but uses it as a money-making machine.
Love in The Guide gets
drowned in the social issues. The bad consequences of legitimate love between
Rosie and Raju become apparent. There is even corrosion of love due to the
violation of moral values by Raju in The Guide.
Natural Impact of Love:
R. K. Narayan does not deal with love and sex in a naked manner in the novel. Rosie enters the room 28 and Raju also steps in and shuts the door on the world outside. What type of sex relations they are to enjoy inside the room, the outer world does not allow to view it which is in keeping with Indian tradition. In The Guide there is the natural impact of love not the violent love as shown in 'Sons and Lovers', Liza of Lambeth and Lady Chatterly's Love. Sex is reduced to mere companionship and disappoints those who look in for some psychological or physical habits. Rosie surrenders herself to Raju and hugs him only once. To Maugham and Lawrence sex and beauty may be like flame of fire but to R. K. Narayan love and sex are double-edged swords. In The Guide Raju is ruined due to his illegitimate love with Rosie.
Traditional View of Marriage:
R. K. Narayan takes the traditional view of marriage. Marriage is pious bond between husband and wife. It is a social institution and the husband and the wife do something against the norms of marriage prescribed by the society, their marriage gets broken, as it happens in the case of Rosie and Marco. They both are artists-Marco is a writer and Rosie is a dancer. Both are highly learned, but they lack understanding, they do not know how to regards the feelings and interests of each other. The result is that Rosie falls in love with Raju and when Marco comes to know of his wife's infidelity, he leaves her alone. Raju gets convicted and suffers because he knowingly deceives Marco and seduces his wife. The novelist's views about marriage are totally Indian.
A Little Glimpse of Western Culture:
His treatment of love, sex and marriage is purely Indian. There is some impact of Western culture on the views of the novelist about them. He, therefore, allows Rosie to get attracted towards Raju, and Raju to fall in love with her. They get united for a short period. They have passionate love for each other, but even then, amidst Raju's love- making with Rosie, she often sits up on the bed and misses her husband, and often says that she must go to him, after all he is her husband.
Love, Physical Necessity and Social Obligation Are the Base of True Marriage:
In the beginning every Indian woman like Rosie feels totally dependent on her husband, but when she is ignored and humiliated by the husband, she tries to stand on her feet like Rosie. With strong will-power she is always successful in her aim as Rosie is. Rosie needs neither Raju nor Marco after the arrest of Raju. She bears all the expenses of the case and of the household without the help of anyone. Man and woman both are equal. Both should be considerate to each other for their successful marriage. If the husband ignores his wife she is driven to someone else who shows her love. Rosie is driven to the arms of Raju because her husband is always cold and unresponsive to her desires, interests and demands of a young beautiful wife whose living limbs move and have sensation. Marco marries Rosie to raise her social status, not out of physical attraction towards her. The base of marriage should be love and physical necessity and social obligation, without them marriage cannot last long.
No Belief in Moral Values:
Raju represents modern Indian youths who have no regard for traditional morals. He does not believe in old traditional values. If he loves a woman for her physical charms or for any other reason, he does not hesitate in seducing her and snatching her from the arms of another man. Raju falls in love with Rosie, the wife of another man, Marco. Both enter in a room of the hotel at the Peak House and shut the door on the world outside. Rosie is not less at fault. She is depressed and despaired of coldness of her husband. She feels bored and tired, and then comes in contact with Raju, a very interesting tourist guide, is easily seduced by him. He sympathizes with her and makes her his own. The novelist has fused the traditional and modern views on love, sex and marriage. But the Indian views get the upper hand and culprits are punished at the end of the novel. Raju gets convicted, Rosie is left alone.
