Behind the relationships between characters, passions, and temperaments, Maugham’s works clearly reveal an artistic and philosophical analysis of the “eternal” themes of world literature: the meaning of life, the purpose of art, love and death. Constantly returning to the problem of the comparative value of the moral and the beautiful, Maugham in each case—though in different ways—gave preference to the former, as is evident from the logic of the images he created: "... most of all, beauty lies in a life lived beautifully. This is the highest work of art."
The life of Larry Darrell, the main character of Maugham’s final novel, is a work of art embodying this highest form of beauty.