An Analysis Of The Sandcastle From The Perspective Of Plato's Cave Myth

Iris Murdoch(1919-1999),born in Dublin,Ireland in 1919,is well-known as one of the most influential novelists in the 20 th century of English Literature.At the same time,she is an ethical philosopher.Therefore,during the procedure of her writing,she always combines her philosophical ideas with her literary creation to make her works further philosophical and thought-provoking,which has also been appraised the valuation differing,meanwhile,kept her unique in the English literature.She is known as “a diligent and prolific writer in England since Dickens”,with nearly 40 works published in her 40 years' career,including 26 novels,4philosophical works as well as poetry and some dramas.Her main representative works are Under the Net(1954),The Bell(1958),The Unicorn(1963),The Black Prince(1973),The Sea,the Sea(1978),as well as some philosophical writings such as Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals(1992),Sartre: Romantic Rationalist(1953)and so on.She has won a number of awards and prizes with her several works.Taken all in all,she has acquired lots of achievements and has had a shining success in her life.The sandcastle is the third novel of Iris Murdoch,mainly about a middle-aged teacher Mor's marriage life and love disputes.Under the suppression of rather bossy and selfish wife,Mor had a formal,isolated existence with his wife.At the same time,A series of problems had been plaguing him,such as the educational problems of his children and his political pursuits,which were unable to get his wife's support.When a young woman painter Rain Carter was invited to school,his life had been changed just like a sweet breeze was coming to his heart.Although the novel is a conventional story about love and marriage,unlike previous other novels of marriage genre,Murdoch exemplifies a delight fusion of her own philosophy and plain narrative.She not only depicts indifferent marriage,sweet love,also describes the human nature,morality,freedom,love and other topics.Based on the analysis of Plato's Cave Myth,this paper explores about how the characters filled with confusion in the novel get from the dim “Cave”,through the guidance of the “Fire”,to the realm of “Supreme Good”.The thesis consists of six parts,including the introduction,the body and the conclusion.The introduction includes a brief account of the life experiences and achievements in literature and philosophy of Iris Murdoch and the content of her novel The Sandcastle,as well as the literature reviews at home and abroad,and the summary of the structure of the paper.The main body is divided into four chapters,namely,the first chapter,the theoretical basis,mainly presents the origin and connotation of Plato's Cave Myth,and Murdoch's reinterpretation,inheritance and development of that.And the extract three key terms--“Cave”,“Fire” and “Sun” are also explained respectively;from the second chapter to the fourth chapter,the paper starts to make a detailed penetration of the main characters and the plot in The Sandcastle from the perspective of Plato's Cave Myth.The second chapter analyzes partly from the two aspects of internal and external reasons for the protagonists,Mor,Nan and Rain,whose spiritual world are losing into the dark “Cave”;the third chapter describes from the view of the guidance of the soul leaders,who stand for the “Fire”in Plato's Cave Myth.It has a detailed analysis of how art teacher Bledyard and children in the Mors affect three protagonists in emotional and moral choice;the fourth chapter,the three protagonists finally face the reality under the guidance of the“Fire”,and try to solve their own issues in life and career,eventually achieve to“Supreme Good” ending Murdoch advocated.On this basis,in the conclusion part,it summarizes the embodiment of Plato's Cave Myth in the novel and the inheritance and development of Platonism by Iris Murdoch.