How to connect: Applying Martha Nussbaum's literary ethical theory to E. M. Forster's 'Howards End'

Ethics in literature, that is, an ethical reading of works of fiction, is seen by some critics today as a valuable supplement to traditional philosophical, analytical discourse on ethics. In examining issues such as correct choice or action in the face of uncontrolled happenings ethical discourse inevitably uses example to illustrate theory. This strategy is especially fruitful when applied to novels. Literary language constructs the form to convey the content to the reader. Form illuminating content may make the fundamental issue of ethics accessible to a larger reading public. This thesis argues the congruence between the philosopher Martha Nussbaum's literary ethical theory and E. M. Forster's Howards End. The language of Howards End is tested against the four components of her theory. The final chapter argues a more generic ethical reading of Howards End in relation to two characters whose treatment within the novel appears to challenge such a reading. The thesis analyses the devices used by Forster in his text to set the writing/reading action in motion. It interrogates how Forster's text makes a case for literature as praxis, a first concern of the ethical literary enterprise.