From Ethical Conflicts To Ambivalent Return:an Ethical Literary Criticism Interpretation Of The Magician Of Lublin

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) is a famous American Jewish writer. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in1978as the second American Jewish writer to be so honored since Saul Bellow. The Magician of Lublin is considered as his best novel by Western critics, which can best embody his writing style and thoughts. Based on the method of close-reading, this thesis mainly adopts the approach of ethical literary criticism to interpret The Magician of Lublin. This thesis analyzes the forms and causes of Yasha’s ethical conflicts, and discusses the ways of solving the conflicts. By tracing the ethical line in the plot, the thesis unveils the ethical thoughts in the novel expressed by Singer.This thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter one discusses three ethical conflicts in Yasha’s heart. According to Jewish ethical norms, Jews should firmly believe in God. They should not commit adultery or theft. The unchangeable identity of being a Jew and the influence of Jewish culture press him to believe in God firmly, but the development of science and the fact that God ignores the frequent disasters suffered by Jews make him doubt God constantly. He struggles in the ethical conflict between believing in God and discarding God. The ethical conflict caused by the clash between the commandment of being faithful to wife and the uncontrollable desire to seek fresh sexual stimulus makes him oscillate between wife and mistresses. The commandment of prohibiting theft and the desire to meet the mistress’greed for money through stealing tortures him a lot. Yasha ultimately chooses depravity. He abandons God, discards his wife and commits theft to satisfy his mistress Emilia’s greed. Chapter two discusses the harsh consequences and punishments due to his depravity. Yasha hurts his leg in the process of theft. Afterwards, he is discarded by his mistresses Emilia and Zeftel. Magda who loves him deeply punishes him psychologically by committing suicide. Moreover, without belief, Yasha lost his spiritual homeland and experienced psychological sufferings and alienation. The novel shows that Jews who disobey ethical norms should return to ethics as soon as possible, and otherwise, punishments will befall on them. Chapter three discusses that Yasha finally repents for what he did and returns to Jewish ethics. Yasha comes back to hometown and imprisons himself in a small house where he repents and studies Jewish scripture all day long and does good. But the imprisonment of himself can’t erase his doubt of God and he even can’t forget his mistress, which violates the Jewish ethics. He wants to behave totally according to Jewish ethics but fails, which shows Yasha’s ambivalence. One the one hand, the novel admonishes that those Jews who doubt God and disobey Jewish ethical norms should return to Jewish ethics as soon as possible; on the other hand, the novel shows that it seems nearly impossible for Jews to behave totally according to Jewish ethics.Through the ethical line of conflict, punishments and ambivalent return, Singer points out that those Jews who disobey ethical norms will definitely be punished by God. He attempts to admonish Jews to believe in God faithfully and adhere to other Jewish ethics, which can make them achieve spiritual peace and be saved ultimately. However, the development of science and the fact that God ignores the disasters suffered by Jews in history push Singer to doubt God and the ensuing Jewish ethics. This ambivalence not only exists in Yasha’s heart but also is faced by Singer himself and even thousands of Jews.