The character sketch of Charles Strickland

One of the best novels by William Somerset Maugham can be considered the novel “The Moon and Sixpence”, which describes the fate of a strange creative personality and a great artist at the same time Charles Strickland, the prototype of a famous artist of 19^th century Paul Gaughen. His talent and genius were recognized only after his death and his work became his posthumous monument commemorating the artist’s extravagance and greatness at the same time. His character, views on life and his own way of world perception were so extraordinary and difficult to comprehend as most of his works.

Strickland didn’t study painting profoundly, he didn’t even know how to apply one or another technique, but he had something inside him that made him express himself and create. At first there was nothing out of the ordinary in him, he looked commonplace, just "good, dull, honest, plain man", like many others. But suddenly everything changes; he feels a new strong desire to paint, to place the pictures from his inner world on canvas. Strickland breaks all that connects him with his past ordinary life, abandons his job and wife, and goes to Paris where he devotes himself to painting.

As a really talented man he needs very little and lives in great poverty. Like all beginnershe is not a success but he dreams of painting something extraordinary, something thatwill attract people's attention, appeal to their feelings and emotions. In fact, most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well. And Strickland is one of them. He 'works on a canvas with all the force of his violent personality" and is never satisfied with what he creates. When he was creating his masterpieces people considered him to be a poor madman pretended to be an artist. Nobody even thought of the possibility that this untidy ragged man, always hungry and penniless, one day would be known worldwide as a genius of art.

Being concentrated on his art, Strickland is indifferent to love, friendship and kindness. He is convinced that love is luxury he can't afford. Love is by its nature "absorbing, it takes the lover out of himself ", and the painter is obsessed by the passion of expressing his emotions on canvas not in his real life. Strickland shocks by his indifference—it doesn't touch him that people around are suffering. He is not interesting in the life of his children and wife; he ruins his friend’s family life; he shows neither respect nor gratitude to the people who help or take care of him. Strickland's rudeness, impoliteness, abrupt straightforwardness and denial of moral principles alienate and cause interest at the same time.He doesn't care of anybody or anything except art.

The culmination of his creative development is his final masterpiece, which he creates in Tahiti far away from the civilization being almost blind. His body suffers greatly from the disease, but he is really happy and is willing to die as he has finally achieved what he wanted. "He made the world and saw that it was good. Then, in pride and contempt, he destroyed it". The artist puts the whole expression of himself, painting the walls of the poor wooden house in which he lives. But he isn't just painting; he is creating a new magic world, one look at which takes the visitor's breath away. The terrible disease took the artist’s life, but his soul will always be alive, living in his pictures.