In fact, Alec demonstrates repeatedly that he IS Maurice's equal, and he even tells Maurice so to his face. Maurice expects Clive to treat him as an equal just as Alec expects Maurice to treat him as an equal. If we take it as a matter of fact that Maurice could survive in Clive's world-and we see him doing so-why should we be any less willing to admit that Alec could survive in Maurice's? We shouldn't. That little bit of business shows us that the gulf between upper class Clive and middle class Maurice is every bit as wide as that between Maurice and working class Alec. It's funny, and a little painful, if you understand what's happening. We see a flash of surprise on her face as she tepidly accepts and shakes his hand.

Maurice seems not to know this, for he extends his hand to Clive's mother even though she has not offered hers. The gaffe is surprising, because even here in America it was a rule that a man never offered his hand to a woman unless she extended hers first. Maurice is middle class, not upper class, as Clive's mother makes clear when Maurice offers her his hand at their first meeting. I'd like to add my two cents' worth of speculation about what the impact of class differences would have been on Alec and Maurice as a couple.

Maurice the novel