Absolutism in the Novel The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch

Abstract

Iris Murdoch appears to be attempting to provide an unbiased assessment of the human condition while insisting on the reality of things other than oneself. Murdoch’s standard method is to center a cast of characters around a vague theme, usually one that is very philosophical in nature. The protagonist in Iris Murdoch’s novel is forced to use only his own moral standards as a source of moral guidance. Murdoch’s concern that art convey the inherent messiness of reality-what she refers to in her philosophical works as ‘contingency’ is reflected in The sea The sea. It also addresses what has been called Murdoch’s ‘Central Preoccupation’ the issue of ethical goodness. Most notably in the Booker Prize-winning novel The sea, The sea, which follows the moral decisions and romantic relationships of Charles Arrowby, a mercurial retired actor-director from the London theatre scene who tries to write his memoirs and rewrite his life, first-person male narrators appear in her most popular books. He seeks asylum by the sea but discovers that his past and his own self-knowledge are literally and symbolically haunting him. The protagonists in Murdoch’s books, as in many others, are looking for grand philosophical principles to live by or to help them make sense of their existence and the influence and power that people have over one another is a major theme throughout Murdoch’s novels. This paper focuses the concept of absolutism in her novel The sea, The sea.