A Study Of Moral Dilemmas Of Iris Murdoch’s The Sea,the Sea

Iris Murdoch’s representative work The Sea,the Sea is a detailed novel of moral dilemmas.Few studies of this novel have been conducted on moral dilemmas from spatial criticism and ethical literary criticism.This thesis is to provide answers to the following questions: What are the moral dilemmas of this novel in physical space?What are the moral dilemmas of this novel in social space? What are the moral dilemmas of this novel in psychological space? Therefore,this thesis will be conducted on moral dilemmas from representations of space,spaces of representation and power mechanism in physical place and social place.In other words,this thesis interprets that the morality and emotional sustenance and other value judgments match with the topographic feature and pays attention to the features of moral dilemmas in physical space.This thesis also focuses on the representations of moral dilemmas from power theory in social space.Besides,this thesis also focuses on moral dilemmas from ethical identity and ethical choice of the personal experience in psychological space.This thesis is composed of four parts.Chapter One introduces Iris Murdoch’s literary achievements,and focuses on the novel The Sea,the Sea and relevant research home and abroad;then combs and summarizes the theory of space criticism and ethical literary criticism.Chapter Two introduces moral dilemmas described in physical space described in The Sea,the Sea.People’s moral dilemmas in remote villages such as Narrowdean are relatively closed and conservative awareness;the moral dilemmas of people in prosperous London are degraded thoughts.The spatial forms of moral dilemmas are manifested in the frequent appearance of environmental images and the urban and rural narrative.The third chapter studies moral dilemmas from three aspects: the order,hierarchy and causes.In social space,the forms of moral dilemmas are confinement,unequal social status and pressure from moral models.Chapter Four discusses character’s spiritual alienation and attitude to reality in psychological space from personal experience.In conclusion,this thesis interprets the moral dilemma from the perspective of space criticism,with the intention of causing readers to think about the moral dilemmas faced in the objective world.By analyzing characters’ choice of thought and behavior in the face of the moral dilemmas,readers can better understand the choice of human beings in the face of the moral dilemma,so as to make people pay more attention to one’s growth.