The Pilgrimage To Good: An Ethical Interpretation Of Murdoch’s The Black Prince

Iris Murdoch is a significant post-war British novelist and philosopher withinternational fame. The Black Prince, which successfully fuses artistic creation withphilosophical meditation, is considered by many critics to be the best of her novels.This thesis, from the perspective of ethical criticism, aims to explore Murdoch’s wayof moral growth in The Black Prince. By scrutinizing the text in light of Murdoch’smoral thoughts, the thesis analyzes the protagonist Bradley’s selfish acts andpsychology, his prejudiced opinions and his transformation brought by love and hisartistic practice of creating The Black Prince. Based on the above analysis, whichintegrates Murdoch’s key moral concepts such as self, love and art, the thesis drawsthe conclusion that the theme of the novel is that man’s moral growth as a spiritualpilgrimage to Good is at the same time a process of unselfing by means of practicingthe moral attention of artistic creation and love for others.