An Analysis Of Pity In Graham Greene’s Three Novels From The Perspective Of Moral Philosophy

Graham Greene is one of the most distinguished English novelists in the twentieth century. Previous study mainly falls on the religious and political aspects of his fiction. Pity, a sub-theme of morality has been dealt with by some critics on the protagonist in The Heart of the Matter, but much leaves unsaid on the moral and philosophical dimension of pity in Greene’s novels on the whole. This thesis will anatomize pity from the perspective of Nietzsche and Kant’s moral philosophy so as to obtain a comprehensive and thorough understanding of Greene’s attitudes towards pity.Greene reveals the negativity of pity in many of his fiction, especially in terms of its destructive impact on the human psyche and hence people’s lives. Many characters in Greene’s novels to some extent illustrate Kant’s and Nietzsche’s views on pity. Kant and Nietzsche reach an agreement on the negative effects of pity, like deprivation of autonomy, contagious quality and increased suffering. With regard to this point, Arthur Rowe and the lieutenant who have the pity-killing complex and Major Scobie who has excessive and corrupted pity are good examples. Arthur Rowe believes that killing someone is better to let him suffer. The lieutenant’s crazy hunting of priest originates from his pity for the children. They kill people for pity and deem their own behaviors acts of charity. Besides, the excessive pity not only deprives Scobie of his sense of justice and righteousness as a policeman but hurts those whom he claims to love and save.However, Greene’s comprehension of pity is not limited to that as outlined by the framework of Kant’s and Nietzsche’s moral philosophy and hints at a positive potential of pity on the whiskey priest-a kind of pity nourished with love and tempered by humility. On his way of elusion, the priest apprehends the pith of Catholicism-truth and goodness-to pity out of love and to become humble out of faith. Due to his childhood and special war-time experience, Greene inclines to depict his characters in paradox and express ambiguous thoughts. Greene’s layered description of pity not only displays his general writing style, but expresses his deep concern over the morality of humanity in the contemporary society after the Second World War.