Escape From The Cave And Rise To The Good: Iris Murdoch's Moral Pilgrimage In The Novels

Iris Murdoch(1919-1999)was one of the most influential novelists of the United Kingdomin the second half of the 20 th century,who was also an outstanding philosopher,known as "the cleverest woman in England".As a novelist,Murdoch had been exploring the relationship between art and morality.Her works contain her own philosophical and moral viewpoints,what guide contemporary people to restore a moral life towards the good.Murdoch greatly admired Plato andhis “Allegory of the Cave”.In her novels,“Allegory of the Cave” is expressed in the form of moral pilgrimage,that represents the stages of moral perfection.This paper takes "The Black Prince" and "The Sea,The Sea" as the research object,which are the most famous and meaningful novels by Murdoch,comparing with Plato's “Allegory of the Cave”,to analyze the moral pilgrimage in her novels.This paper consists of introduction,three chapters and conclusion.The part of introduction firstly introduces Iris Murdoch's life and creative experience.Then it reviews the research on the moral thoughts of Murdoch' s novels at home and abroad.It is innovative to take Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” as the research perspective to explore the moral pilgrimage in fictions.Lastly,this part briefly analyzes Murdoch' s pilgrimage interpretation of "Allegory of the Cave" and defines the research methods.The first chapter begins with the starting point of Murdoch' s moral pilgrimage.Murdoch raised the tragic situation of the contemporary people,with the symbol of the prisoner in the cave,to criticize solipsism.At this stage,the ego enters a closed solipsistic world voluntarily.Murdoch believed it was human nature to be selfish.Like the prisoner blinded by the shadow on the cave wall,the contemporary people are obsessed with their own fantasy.They see the real world through the subjective will and define themselves by distorting the others and the objective facts.The protagonists of Murdoch' s novels are mostly self-centered.They exert some incredible influence on the others like god.In the end they pay for their actions.The second chapter mainly discusses how to break the solipsism and fantasy.Inspired by Plato,Murdoch putted forward the idea of “attention”.It is moral vision full of justice and love,different from Sartre' s idea of "look".She paid attention to two aspects: Firstly,focus on the contingency of the world and force the ego to connect with the outside world.Secondly,focus on the others and allow their words to intervene to break the self.The third chapter reveals that the end and meaning of the moral pilgrimage is the good.Murdoch thought that the good was a supreme idea and an internal principle.The sun outside the cave is hard to see.Pilgrimage is a never-ending task.The revelation of Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” is not the idea of good.Instead,it offers a way towardsthe good.She accepted Plato's theory of Eros,and raised “Low Eros” and “High Eros” creatively.The latter is the engine of the good and inspires people to escape from the cave,getting the ultimate satisfaction.The conclusion summarizes the content of the paper and affirms the value of Iris Murdoch' s works.In the context of contemporary society and culture,Murdoch had struggled to coordinate the relations between morality,philosophy and literature.She used Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” to construct the theoretical framework of the novels and interpreted the individual's pilgrimage to the good with literary writing.It has certain enlightenment and significance to contemporary moral life.