Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies Teaching English Language and Literature for Secondary Schools Miriam Zbíralová Faith and Religion in Selected Novels by Iris Murdoch Master‟s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. 2012 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author‟s signature Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my supervisor, prof. Franková, for valuable advice and constant support during the whole process of writing the thesis. Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 5 1 Religion and Morality .................................................................................................... 7 1.1 The Nature of Good and Morality .......................................................................... 7 1.2 God and Good ....................................................................................................... 17 1.3 Morality without Religion .................................................................................... 22 2 Religion, Morality and Art ........................................................................................... 31 2.1 Art and Morality ................................................................................................... 31 2.2 Art and Religion .................................................................................................... 35 3 Selected Religions in Murdoch‟s Philosophy and Fiction ........................................... 41 3.1 Christianity ............................................................................................................ 41 3.2 Judaism ................................................................................................................. 51 3.3 Buddhism .............................................................................................................. 55 4 Demythologisation of Religion .................................................................................... 59 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 64 List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... 67 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 68 Résumé (English) ............................................................................................................ 71 Resumé (česky) ............................................................................................................... 72 Introduction One of the things that make the fiction of Iris Murdoch special is that the author was at the same time a philosopher, and, although her novels are not philosophical as such, there is certainly some interplay of the two areas of Murdoch‟s interest, especially in that the novels often illustrate the theoretical ideas of her moral philosophy. Many questions posed by Iris Murdoch the philosopher are concerned with religion, such as the position of morality in a world where religion is in decline, the relationship of religion and morality, and the role of mysticism, and these questions were also echoed in Murdoch‟s novels. The present thesis aims to analyse the role of religion, faith, and also, since it is in part connected to religion, morality in selected novels by Iris Murdoch, which span over around thirty years of Murdoch‟s writing, starting with The Time of the Angels (TA) of the 60s, continuing with The Sea, the Sea (TSTS) of the late 70s, Nuns and Soldiers (NS) and The Message to the Planet (MP) of the 80s, and concluding with The Green Knight (GK) of the 90s. By analysing several novels, it is possible to trace some evolution of Murdoch‟s treatment of religion in time, and it is also valuable to compare the treatment of similar themes in more novels. The basis for the analysis will be provided to a great degree by Murdoch‟s philosophical works, and another aim of the thesis is, therefore, to compare the philosophy and the fiction, and to try to trace some of the philosophical ideas concerning religion and related topics in the novels. However, it is necessary to bear in mind that Murdoch by no means wanted to use her fiction as mere examples of her philosophical ideas. As she said in conversation with Brian Magee, “I feel in myself such an absolute horror of putting theories or „philosophical ideas‟ as such into my novels. I might put in things about philosophy because I happen 5 to know about philosophy. If I knew about sailing ships I would put in sailing ships” (Murdoch, EM 19-20). It is clear from this statement that literature is for her a separate area of interest. However, there certainly is some overlap in that the same topics might occur in both areas, although in a completely different manner. The present thesis will therefore concentrate on these overlaps, not with the purpose of trying to prove that the novels are in any way philosophical, but to trace the ways in which these overlaps may be helpful both for better understanding of Murdoch‟s philosophy, as well as her novels. Since the basis for the thesis is Murdoch‟s philosophy, the chapters will follow relevant philosophical concepts and draw parallels to the novels. First of all, the focus will be on the relationship of religion and morality, in which the various overlaps as well as differences between these two areas will be outlined. Then, I will discuss the place of art in the framework of religion and moral philosophy, and after that I will focus more specifically on Murdoch‟s treatment of Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Finally, a summary and extension of a concept of demythologisation of religion that is present throughout all Murdoch‟s concern with religion will be given. 6 1 Religion and Morality Clearly, there is some relationship and some overlaps of the concepts of religion and morality. In Murdoch‟s view, “Morality has always been connected with religion and religion with mysticism” (SOG 74). For Murdoch it is important, however, even if religion is in decline, to retain the connection of morals to mysticism, because, as Murdoch states, “the background to morals is properly some sort of mysticism, if by this is meant a non-dogmatic essentially unformulated faith in the reality of Good” (SOG 74). It is therefore clear that for Murdoch the relationship of religion and morality is quite complex and some features that we usually associate with religion should in her view be retained in morality as well. However, before focusing on the relationship of religion and morality (and of God and Good), it is necessary to discuss the very conception of morality and Good, as seen by Iris Murdoch. 1.1 The Nature of Good and Morality The concept of Good is a ubiquitous theme of Murdoch‟s philosophical works, and enters her novels as well. In her essay “Iris Murdoch and the Nature of Good,” Elizabeth Burns offers a comprehensive summary of what Good means for Murdoch. Primarily, “the Good exists objectively; it is not a creation of human mind” (Burns 306). However, “Murdoch gives us no indication of how we are to recognise goodness; she merely assumes that everyone is able to do this” (Burns 310). This implies that although we cannot define Good, we know if our conduct is aiming towards it or not. We can see this idea quite well when looking at some characters of Murdoch‟s novels, especially in The Time of the Angels. Two of the characters, Muriel and Elizabeth, “prided themselves on being theoretical immoralists” (TA 42), but, on the 7 other hand, “they lived indeed the strictly ordered life” (TA 42). Therefore, although they reject the idea of objective morality, they live according to some moral system anyway. Something similar can be seen with another immoralist of the novel, Leo, when he says, “I‟ve always imagined that I could just give up morals, but it‟s not so easy. I‟m not as free as I think” (136). Also, when Eugene loses his faith in God, and thus probably loses the feeling that morality is objective, he does not renounce good conduct, as can be seen when he thinks, “Did it matter now . , his unkindness to Tanya, since there was no God? He felt that it mattered” (233). This idea is well described by another character of this novel, Norah, who says, “ordinary morality goes on and always will go on whatever the philosophers and theologians have to say” (195). All these indications show that although none of the characters can define what is good, and some even want to go against it, it is impossible for them to abandon morality completely. This can be taken to imply some degree of objectivity of morality. In other novels, we can see something similar from the fact that the conduct of some characters who adopt their own, subjective moral system has serious consequences. For example, in The Message to the Planet, Jack decides to live openly with both his wife and his mistress, which is in the end harmful to both women, and moreover, the seemingly well functioning relationship influences other characters, such as Geoffrey Toller, who says at one point, “He‟s got them both. They‟re all happy. Just look at them! The women love it, they love it” (368), and he starts to imagine the situation himself,