Reconstruction of the Image of Hartley in Iris Murdoch’s The Sea， The Sea

【Abstract】Ever after being granted Booker Prize in 1978， Iris Murdochs novel The Sea， The Sea has attracted a lot of critical attention. The heroin Hartley， seemingly silenced， is actually independent and strong-minded. Reconstructing the image of the heroine can facilitate the understanding of the novel and the writer.

【Key words】Iris Murdoch； image； heroine； fragmentation； reconstruct

Iris Murdoch was a prolific Irish-born British writer and philosopher. Educated in Oxford and Cambridge， she met a lot of great philosophers， which had great influence on her works. “Of all the post-war English novelists， she has the greatest intellectual range， the deepest rigor”. Altogether， she published 26 novels， and many other works. There is always a first person male narrator in her novels. But for her， “the male and females are not strictly polarized.”

The Sea， The Sea was written in 1978 and won the highest British literary prize—Booker Prize. The protagonist Charles Arrowby， a director and playwright in a London theater， retires from the glittering career to live in seclusion in the seaside in his middle 60s. He hopes to escape from his love affairs but unexpectedly bumps into his childhood lover Hartley becomes obsessed by her. After his abortive and farcical kidnapping of Hartley， he is left to mull over and finally realizes the reality. In the novel， the narrator Charles deliberately avoids mentioning Hartley and almost silences her. Piecing together the fragmentations， we can see an image of an independent and strong-minded old lady who can control her own life.

I. Prehistory

There are three parts in the novel：Prehistory， History and Postscripts：Life Goes On. Charles only begins to mention Hartley till the end of Prehistory Part by raising a question “Am I then to write about Hartley？” “… I must write about Hartley since that is the most important thing is my life… she is my end and my beginning， she is alpha and omega.” When they were young and in love， Charles went to London to the drama school， he wrote letters to Hartley and came to visit her on weekends， but Hartley broke up with him， moved away， disappeared and married to someone else.

II. History

After almost four decades， they meet again in the seaside village. Hartley is old and shabby. In spite of the inferior looking， she is still very independent and strong-minded. She knows well what kind of life is suitable for her. She has already married to Fitch Ben. Together they adopted a son named Titus， who ran away from his step parents. She knows well she and Charles are like parallels and insists on not seeing Charles. But Charles assumes that Hartley does not love Ben， because Ben is “mentally undistinguished” and physically unattractive. So， he wants to “rescue” Hartley. He actually cheats and kidnaps her. Hartley confirms that although Charles wants to crash their marriage， their marriage is indestructible. Locked in the door， she cries and goes into a hysterical state. The crying drives Charles crazy and finally quits and sends Hartley home as suggested. Shortly after that， Titus drowns himself. Hartley immigrates to Australia with her husband.

III. Postscript：Life Goes On

Charles finally calms down and begins to mull over his love to Hartley. The “rescue” is actually a farce and his desire for Hartley is made of jealousy， resentment， anger， not love. He eventually realized that his fascination is not a part of real world. “How much， I see as I look back， I read into it all， reading my own dream text and not looking at the reality”.

Seemingly silenced， Hartley is independent and strong-minded. In a sharp contrast， the narrator and protagonist Charles is self-centered， faithless， rootless， empty， perplexed， and jealous and lives in the dilemmas. Reconstructing the image of Hartley， we can get a better understanding of the ridiculous male narrator and figure out “the authors doubt over the mans ability to pursue good and the difficulty one may encounter on the path to good.” Murdoch seldom mentioned gender issues and fiercely objected to any form of feminism. Thus， the writers purpose of constructing a silenced heroine was just to show the dilemmas and problems the modern people are facing.

References：

[1]Conradi，Peter J.The Saint and the Artist：A Study of the Fiction of Iris Murdoch[M]London：Harper Collins Publishers，2001.

[2]Cohan，Steven.From Subtext to Dream：the Brutal Egoism of Iris Murdochs Male Narrators[J].Women and Literature，1982，（2）.

[3]Murdoch，Iris.The Sea，The Sea[M].London：Vintage，1999.

[4]范嶺梅，尹铁超.时间、女性和死亡-《大海啊，大海》的列维纳斯式解读[J].外国文学研究，2012，（1）.

作者简介：曹静婕（1986-），女，四川汉源人，硕士，讲师，研究方向：英美文学，教育国际交流与合作。