From Attention To Self To Attention To Others

Iris Murdoch is a prolific writer in contemporary Britain. Her early novels were published in the 1950s, a recovery period when Britain had suffered from World War II. Britain carried out a series of economic measures to recover the economy and did become a"Welfare State". However, behind the recovering economy hid people's scare about the war and disappointment to society. People no longer believed in God in their heart and gave up hope to the objective world. They were trapped in self-centeredness. Refusing to accept contingencies and pay attention to others, individuals visualized the objective world in the form which they imagined others. Responding to individuals'spiritual and moral predicament in Britain in the 1950s, Murdoch reveals her concern about those egoists and the society in the four novels created in her early writing career, meanwhile she also finds a solution to those egoists. This thesis attempts to analyze the common theme of egoists'moral perfection process from attention to self to attention to others in Murdoch's early novels with social-historic criticism and Plato's Allegory of Cave. Murdoch aims to present that the harmonious and steady development of society relies on individuals'moral perfection, and attention to others is just a platform on which individuals communicate with others and society harmoniously.This thesis is composed of five parts. The first part gives a brief introduction to Iris Murdoch and her early four novels Under the Net (1954), The Flight from the Enchanter (1956), The Sandcastle (1957) and The Bell (1958), and then summarizes the situation of the current studies on the four novels. Furthermore, the central argument of the thesis is put forward, along with the methodology of research and the significance of the thesis.Chapter One mainly analyzes the representations, reasons, and aftereffects of attention to self of the protagonists in the four novels. The thesis summarizes various representations of the egoists and their moral dilemma first and then analyzes the reasons. It further points outs that self impedes individuals'communication with others and the outside world. Hence it is difficult for individuals to see others'otherness and reality, which results in their isolation from the society and enclosure in selves.Chapter Two demonstrates how the egoists in the novels begin to escape from the bandage of self. After experiencing a series of obstacles, they begin to reconsider themselves, escape fantasy and accept contingencies in the objective world, which is the most essential step for them to discern others. Only those who have escaped the bandage of self are able to pay attention to others to find truth.Chapter Three limits the origin and connotation of Murdoch's concept of"attention"first, and then explains how the egoists in the four novels shift from attention to self to attention to others. Finally the thesis demonstrates the effects of attention to others and concludes that only paying attention to others with love can individuals achieve moral perfection and improvement of spiritual personalities.The last part serves as a conclusion, which points out that the common theme in the four novels not only has realistic significance for the British society in the 1950s but also is of certain social value to readers in our contemporary society.