LIDIA VIANU

T.S. Eliot - An Author for All Seasons

With THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK, it is even worse. The first noticeable thing is that, in his last four plays, Eliot seems to have made a point of using the magic number seven for his major characters. The title is again contradicted by the plot of the play. One confidential clerk (Eggerson) retires. Sir Claude (Mulhammer) and his wife, Lady Elizabeth, decide to replace him. So far, so good. The couple seem bearably happy, or at least happy in a dignified way. Each of them had one or more love affairs before their marriage. Consequently, Sir Claude has a daughter by a prostitute. The girl's name is Lucasta Angel. Lady Elizabeth accepts the girl with ill-will.  She herself once gave birth to a boy, whom she afterwards entrusted to her lover. This former lover – a poet (Tony) – left the little boy in charge of some woman and went off to hunt and get himself killed by a rhinoceros in Tanganyka. In this way, Lady Elizabeth lost trace of her son. Eggerson, the former confidential clerk, is to be replaced by a certain Colby Simpkins. The latter is another of Sir Claude's natural children. The existence of this one, Sir Claude does not dare confess to his bride, for fear of ‘upsetting’ her. It goes without saying that Sir Claude (fabulously rich, like most of Eliot's dramatic characters) amply provided for both of his children. As for these children, Lucasta is a kind of no-good girl, who loses one job after another, and likes posing as a vulgar, very daring young woman. She is engaged to B.K. (Barnabas Kaghan), a young man whom Sir Claude has promoted, and who is a ‘jolly good fellow’, always in good spirits and with a bright future ahead of him. Colby is the gloomiest of the young characters. His ideal was to have become an organist. He felt he was not good enough, and was afraid of the second-rate. Taking Sir Claude's advice, he comes to join him as his new confidential clerk. At least three of Eliot's plays (The Family Reunion, The Cocktail Party, The Confidential Clerk) discard the idea of family ties. Colby is ample proof of that. The moment she sees him and hears his story, Lady Elizabeth decides he is her lost son. The cause of her sudden revelation is that Colby was brought up by a certain Mrs. Guzzard from Teddington. Lady Elizabeth, who always forgets everything, suddenly remembers that Tony had once mentioned these names to her. The association happens to be exact. However, Colby is not her son. Eliot stages a whole family battle round this ‘disappointed’ young musician. Here is the truth, as finally revealed, after due interruptions and coincidences: Mrs. Guzzard's sister (Sir Claude's mistress) died before her expected child was born. Mrs. Guzzard herself gave birth to Colby, at about the same time. Her husband (a second-rate organist) died soon after. Sir Claude took it for granted that Colby was his son, never asked for a birth certificate, and this clears Mrs. Guzzard of the charge of deception. On the other hand, she did take Lady Elizabeth's son in charge, and kept him until his father's death, when the monthly payment ceased to come. After that, she entrusted him to a childless couple. Here comes the most striking coincidence in the play. B.K., whom Lady Elizabeth despises (together with Lucasta) for his lack of dignified manners, turns out to be her son. Colby (unlike Harry before him) chooses not to resist the family curse. He decides to become a church organist after all, with prospects or further priesthood. Of course, the humorous statements, the clumsy or successful irony cannot be summarized. The play is perfectly readable and, by someone who means to know Eliot, it ought to be read. Especially for the feeling of agitation that dominates the stage, and which is another face of Eliot's inner unrest.