著者

中窪 靖 Yasushi NAKAKUBO 京都文教大学人間学部・臨床心理学科 KYOTO BUNKYO UNIVERSITY Department of Clinical Psychology

出版者

京都文教大学

雑誌

人間学部研究報告

巻号頁・発行日

vol.9, pp.75-87[含 英語文要旨], 2006

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The focus of this paper is an examination of Iris Murdoch's idea of "good or goodness" through her novel, A Fairly Honourable Defeat. First of all, I will look into the way one character influences other characters. He is the most impressive character, Julius King. In Chapter One, I will discuss how he tries to manipulate Rupert Foster, who becomes his easy target. Another character, Morgan Browne, is Rupert Foster's sister-in-law. Julius utilizes this brother and sister relationship. He skillfully encourages them to love each other, and also forces Rupert to face his own vanity. This is the first stage of Julius' devilish plan. Julius also tells his target about his own concept of good or goodness. This seems to be Iris Murdoch's own conception of good or goodness, or the idea she wishes to focus on. Secondly, I will focus on Julius' various aspects, as he gets into the second stage of his plan. In Chapter Two, I will discuss his second target. He makes use of one character, Simon Foster, who is Rupert's brother. Simon is a homosexual with a weak personality. Julius never overlooks his homosexual relationship with Axel Nilsson. He gets Simon into trouble. One day, he goes to Julius' apartment and meets Morgan Browne, who has been left naked there. She earlier visits that apartment without saying anything, and takes off her clothes in front of Julius because she wants to recover their former relationship. Despite her attempts, Julius never takes in such a request. To make matters worse, after she goes into his bed, he cuts her clothes into pieces and leaves there. Just after that incident, Simon appears. He never expects to see his sister-in-law there, and is so upset. Unfortunately Simon is left there naked in turn, because Morgan borrows his clothes and goes back home. Julius takes advantage of this situation and encourages Simon to think that his boyfriend knows it and leaves him. Eventually, Simon is trapped in the "cobweb" of Julius King. Finally, I will focus on the last of Julius King's performances. In Chapter Three I will discuss Julius' final action. He whispers to Rupert's wife, Hilda. When she hears from him, she is extremely puzzled, and leaves home. This incident seems to lead Rupert to his death. In Chapter Four, I will discuss a unique character, Tallis Browne. He is the husband of the key character, Morgan Browne. However, he himself is unremarkable and seems to be worthless. He is hard to understand because critics never fail to think of him as an important person. They think he looks like Jesus Christ when they compare him to Julius. One critic, Bran Nicol, regards Tallis as a saint while Julius is regarded as an artist. When we think that Tallis Browne plays an important role, we can focus on two scenes. One of them is when he meets Morgan just after she returns from the U.S. The other is when Julius tells him about why he has to behave devilishly. In conclusion, I will make a quick return to my comments in the chapters above. Who on earth has played his or her role as a person with goodness? When we follow what Julius King has said and done, we seem to recall several significant scenes. At times he has lectured on his socalled philosophy. At other times he has strictly criticized what Rupert Foster does as well as what other characters do. When we dare to regard Rupert as an artist and Julius as a saint, it seems that brother-in-law of Morgan Browne is "a fairly honourable loser", and our attractive character is a winner. In one of her essays on goodness, Murdoch says, "A great artist is, in respect of his work, a good man, and, in the true sense, a free man." Rupert comes to an end as a loser, found dead in the swimming pool, because he tries in vain to be a true artist. On the contrary, Julius becomes a person who allows Rupert to face his real self. As Julius says to Tallis Browne about Rupert, "He cannot endure the destruction of this self-respect. Rupert didn't really love goodness. He loved a big imposing good-Rupert image." So, I conclude that a true "good" person does goodness to others even if he himself behaves devilishly. It is Julius King who understands what good or goodness is.