The Bell, The Ethics of Judgment, The Ethics of Love

Abstract

The Bell was published first in 1958. It was Iris Murdoch’s fourth novel.The Bell has the self-contained form of great art. For all of its concern with ideas, the novel provides a realistic portrayal of a society and a setting and creates characters whose individuality and destiny engage the reader’s interest. It is set in Imber Court, a lay religious community situated next to an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns in Gloucestershire. Dora Greenfield leaves her husband Paul Greenfield in the beginning of the novel, but realizes that she is more afraid of him when she is away from him than when they are together, so agrees to return to him. During this time Paul has temporarily moved to Imber Abbey, Gloucestershire to work on some 14th century manuscripts. During chapter seven of the novel we learn of Michael’s life. Imber Court is his ancestral home. Michael’s homosexuality has in the past complicated his desire to become an ordained priest, and he has decided to make Imber Court a lay community of the Abbey.  To the court comes a small group of more and less pure people, whose desire for God makes them unsatisfactory citizens of an ordinary life, but whose strength or temperament fails them to surrender the world completely.