| Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was one of the most influential novelists in English literature after the Second World War, and a moral philosopher. Through her unique philosophical perspective and minute psychological analysis, she conveyed her deep concern for human existence and moral problems in her "philosophical fables". Her third novel The Bell is the most attractive one of her earlier novels, which tells of the founding, development and dissolution of a lay religious community. Deeply impressed by existential philosophy, popular then in European Continent, Murdoch expressed in her novel the existential messages such as "existence precedes essence", "the absurdity of life", and "free choices and actions", meanwhile revealed her original viewpoints of life and universe.In the novel, Murdoch employed various literary devices to illuminate the existential subject and the central theme, such as a well-knit overall structure and different images with symbolic meanings. This study is intended to explore the theme of the novel through an analytical reading from the existential perspective and the artistic techniques that embody the existential as well as the central themes.This paper is divided into four chapters:Chapter One first provides a general introduction to the life and career of Iris Murdoch. A rather productive writer seldom seen in English literature since Dickens's time, Murdoch had published novels, plays, verse collections, philosophical works and literary criticism, a total of almost forty from 1953 to 1997. The Queen knighted her in 1990, which was a rare occasion for English female writers.The following is the synopsis of the novel and criticism on it. As soon as the novel came out, it received acclamation from many critics at that time, for it bordered on realistic novels of the nineteenth-century in respect of its narrativetechniques, characterization and language style with a touch of Modernism. The most popular criticism was conducted from such perspectives as Feminism, art of writing, morality. But the existential approach has never been applied to the analysis of the novel.Chapter Two starts with a simple introduction to Existentialism: the background knowledge of its formation, its main doctrines, two major currents, its strong and weak points. Then comes to the analytical reading of the novel from the existential perspective. There are mainly three postulates of Existentialism. First, existence precedes essence. Murdoch displays in her novel a group of people, who are at odds with the contemporary world, come to the countryside "far from the madding crowd" to set up a lay religious community, with their essence to be revealed gradually through their own actions. The second one is about the absurdity of life. The hero Michael's absurd life best illustrates this message. The third credo-freedom and free choices-is explained through the vivid characterization of the heroine Dora, who is longing for love and freedom.Based on her deep reflections upon existential philosophy and human society, Murdoch forwards her own viewpoint in the novel: only through paying attention to others, true love can eventually be achieved. Love is a gleam of hope in the absurd existence, which renders life meaningful. Dora's passion for love and freedom, Nick's absurd life, and Catherine's emotional dilemma, sufficiently illustrate this central theme.Chapter Three deals with central formal characteristics of the novel and their embodiments of the existential and central themes. A well-conceived overall structure gives an account of the setting up of the community, its development, turning points, climax and conclusion, which corresponds with the existential and central themes. The application of imagery with symbolic overtones also contributes to the width and profoundness of the themes.Chapter Four is the conclusion of the study. More than an existential novelist, Murdoch is rather a moralistic philosopher. She inherited something from existential philosophy, while surpassed it in putting...
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