Somerset Maugham’s The Verger & Robert Frost’s the Road Not Taken Revisited for Lessons in the Art of Decision Making

Decision making is an art. Characters, many in number, in life and in literature, suffer on account of inability to make the right decision at the right time. One tends to interpret even the four great Shakespearian tragedies as tragedies caused by ineffective decisions of very effective people. King Lear's decision to punish Cordelia and reward Goneril and Regan can always be quoted as, the worst decision ever, taken by any sane human mind in Literature. Macbeth's decision to move ahead as return is as tedious as go over is an erroneous decision that hastens his disastrous end. Desdemona's decision to marry Othello is as much a foolish decision as Othello's decision to strangle her to death for infidelity. Hamlet's decision to be indecisive about his revenge till his opponent takes a decision facilitates his fall leaving him with a touching lamentation “What a wounded name Horatio!” Decisions are to be made in life. In fact the very quality of our life depends upon the quality of the decisions we take. Literary works, many in number can be studied from this perspective. This work makes an earnest effort to interpret two successful literary pieces to draw out lessons in the art of decision making; The verger and The Road Not Taken.