A Fairly Honourable Defeat

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A Fairly Honourable Defeat

Author Country Language Published Media type Pages

First edition cover Iris Murdoch United States English !"# $%hatto & Windus' (rint $hardcover' )#* pp

A Fairly Honourable Defeat is a novel +y the ,ritish -riter and philosopher Iris Murdoch.

Plot summary
/he lives of several friends are thro-n into disarray +y the machinations of Julius 0ing. Julius makes a +et -ith his e12girlfriend Morgan that he can +reak up the homose1ual couple 31el and Simon4 mean-hile, Morgan and her +rother2in2la- 5upert are conned into em+arking on an affair, and Morgan6s nephe- (eter is falling in love -ith her. Julius 0ing, returning from a university 7o+ in 3merica, seeks out his old school friends, 5upert Foster and 31el 8illson. 9is former lover, Morgan ,ro-ne, Foster6s sister2in2la-, has arrived in England at the same time. Foster6s attempts to keep them apart are th-arted

+y Morgan ,ro-ne, still in love -ith 0ing and determined to confront him. 3t the same time, she is avoiding her hus+and, /allis ,ro-ne, -ho still loves her. /he plot is complicated further -hen, almost immediately and +y accident, Julius 0ing meets /allis ,ro-ne. 0ing is intrigued +y his old lover6s hus+and, a rather nondescript fello- -ith not much personal presence +ut considera+le moral integrity. 0ing himself is a man of formida+le intellect, and he does not suffer anyone gladly. 9e is irritated +y -hat he sees as self2satisfied and patronising conduct in his friends, and he sets out, -ithout much concern for the conse:uences, to put them in compromising situations. Morgan, his love from the past, -ill not leave him alone, and though he has a :uick -ay of chastening her for her importunities, he determines to include her in his plans. 5upert Foster, rather full of himself since he has 7ust finished his +ook on the po-er of good and love in life, is ripe and ready to +e fooled, and Morgan, full of the hot air of spurned love and dramatising her pro+lems for all to see, appears to +e 7ust the mate for 5upert, if 0ing can someho- get them together. /o make the game more interesting, he takes on the e1tra task of +reaking up the homose1ual relationship +et-een 31el 8illson and Simon, 5upert6s +rother. Using a mi1ture of high cunning, sheer criminality, and pinches of +lackmail, 0ing tempts his friends into situations -hich they -ould never have contemplated and -hich ultimately result not only in revealing fla-s in their characters +ut also in causing serious harm to 5upert, for -hich 0ing, a cool, nerveless fello-, takes no responsi+ility. Everyone learns ho- ridiculously vulnera+le they are, +ut 31el and Simon escape from 0ing6s la+yrinth of ;no-2you2see2it2no-2you2don<t,= strengthened in their love and less inclined to +e shamefaced a+out +eing homose1ual. Whether Morgan ,ro-ne learns anything is unclear, and the damage done to the Fosters is gratuitously cruel.

Characters in A Fairly Honourable Defeat

Julius 0ing, academic 5upert Foster, his former colleague, a senior civil servant -riting a +ook on living morally 9ilda Foster, 5upert6s -ife Simon Foster, 5upert6s +rother 31el 8illson, 5upert6s colleague and Simon6s partner Morgan ,ro-ne, /allis6 -ife, Julius6s re7ected lover and 9ilda6s sister /allis ,ro-ne, Morgan6s estranged hus+and (eter Foster, 5upert and 9ilda6s son

3s is al-ays the case in Murdoch6s novels, the characters carry a load of surface information -ith them. What everyone looks like, does, eats, thinks, and desires is laid out :uickly, and Murdoch returns on several occasions throughout the novel to give more information as it is needed to support t-ists in the plot. >espite this determination to hide nothing, Julius 0ing, -ho is the central figure in this game of deception, is curiously thin. It is made clear that he finds 5upert6s self2satisfaction and optimism offensive, +ut -hat

he does to 5upert and to others goes +eyond sophisticated, mischievous chastisement to vindictiveness. What makes him more pu??ling is the very late revelation that he suffered as a concentration camp victim during the -ar. 8othing is made of this, and nothing is e1plained of his pu??ling indifference to the disaster that he causes. 9e is, in the end, :uite happily en7oying the sights of (aris, smug in having got a-ay -ith as much as he did and in his ;fairly honoura+le defeat.= Murdoch has al-ays had a tendency simply to @stop@ a novel, seemingly satisfied that enough is enough, +ut loose2endedness is particularly o+vious in the -ay she leaves characters in this -ork. It is not simply a :uestion of -hy 0ing is so mean2spirited4 other characters are also a+andoned :uite up in the air. /allis ,ro-ne $-ho must +e the -orst housekeeper in the history of the novel' is a thoroughly good man, +ut his situation is simply unresolved. It may +e, ho-ever, that theme influences the fate of the characters, since life perceived as @muddle@ $as Murdoch puts it' does preclude resolution4 this could e1plain -hy Murdoch allo-s her characters to do :uite incredi+le things, inconsistent -ith -hat is e1pected of them. Murdoch is usually not strong on depth in character. She likes +readth, lots of interesting participants doing surprising things. An the surface level, she does look -ith considera+le scarifying skill at the innocent pomposities of a good man $5upert' and on the torments and timidities of homose1uals trying to escape a life of cheap thrills. /here is an impressive e1ample of literary economy in the -ay in -hich /allis ,ro-ne makes his integrity and moral determination clear -ith one thunderous slap across the face of a racist thug. >epth of characterisation and consistency, ho-ever, are not really re:uired here4 Murdoch is often manipulating characters to illustrate ideas. In fairness, ho-ever, it should +e recognised that her characters of @surface@ can possess astonishing +ody: Beonard ,ro-ne, for e1ample, /allis< dying father, personifies a stunning, thick, violent flo- of language, a ranter -ho merits a place in a ,eckett novel.

Major themes
/he @defeat@ of the title may +e that of /allis, failing to rene- his relationship -ith his -ife4 ho-ever, in a sense, all the protagonists are comically defeated in one manner or another. 5ather than a -icked or satanic character, Julius is a Boki2like mischief2maker -ho 7u1taposes and undermines /allis6 moral standing. Ultimately, this is a novel a+out various forms of silence. It illustrates the parado1ical notion that -hat remains unsaid, -hat is kept secret, can emerge as a violent and dangerous undoing. Iris Murdoch puts realistic characters in contrived situations, and sho-s ho- their moral vie-s and understandings affect their lives. An the surface, Iris Murdoch is manipulating the pretensions of middle2class life and revealing ho- easy it is to make a good man fool himself into disaster once his vanity is aroused. 5upert ought to kno- +etter, is certainly intelligent enough to kno- +etter, and even Morgan, -ho is not unintelligent, ought to have more sense than to think that everyone in the -orld must naturally fall in love -ith her. Julius 0ing makes good his +oast of +eing a+le to turn people into puppets +y appealing to their inclination to think

far too -ell of themselves, even if innocently so. Cood, in a sense, is no match for evil under such circumstances. 8or is it much consolation that 0ing +elieves it necessary to confess his tricks to the really good man, /allis ,ro-ne. ,ro-ne may order him to tell 9ilda the truth, +ut it is sadly too late, and ordering him to leave Bondon is not much punishment. 8or does the good man possess the po-er to dra- his -ife +ack to him or save his father from the ine1ora+le horror of a painful death. In a sense, /allis ,ro-ne6s home, a s:ualid mess, is a sym+ol of the nature of things, for ho-ever hard ,ro-ne tries, the mess goes on. /here is some consolation in 31el and Simon, -ho illustrate the proposition that honesty and courage may +e some defence against malevolence4 malevolence is only partly defeated, ho-ever, and in 5upert6s case, it :uite -ins out. Murdoch has am+itions +eyond realism for this novel, and in a mi1 of para+le, allegory, and farce, she is, on the secondary level, e1ploring the continuing +attle +et-een evil and good in the contemporary -orld. In an unsystematic -ay, -hich is not uncommon in Murdoch6s more am+itious novels, 0ing can +e seen as a Satan figure, /allis ,ro-ne as a rather po-erless %hrist figure, and Beonard ,ro-ne as the dying Cod of %hristianity, -ith Morgan, 9ilda, and 5upert representing feckless humanity, constantly falling out of grace, despite good intentions. Some dim echoes of William Shakespeare are also present, and one can see Julius as an Iago, a de+ased (rospero, or any of the several manipulators of vain mortals in Shakespeare6s -ork. If /he /empest, 3 Midsummer 8ight6s >ream, Much 3do 3+out 8othing, and Athello seem to +e floating a+out, it is :uite intentional. Murdoch likes to pile literary, +i+lical, philosophical, and mythological images in and on, and this novel is loaded -ithout restraint. /he novel6s title has to +e considered -ith some care. It is a phrase -hich Murdoch uses again, in passing, in a later novel, 3 Word %hild $ !"D', and is central to an understanding of ho- Murdoch sees human +eings contending -ith the malevolent vagaries of life. In this -ork, it can +e applied to at least three of the ma7or characters. 0ing clearly thinks he has done -ell, has managed some king of partial victory over the forces of sentimental do2gooders, and if in the end he must retreat +efore /allis ,ro-ne, it is, in his eyes, an honoura+le defeat. /allis ,ro-ne is also partially defeated, +arely capa+le of saving part of the situation for those -hom 0ing has so coldly manipulated. 9e, too, -ins a +it and loses a +it. In his case, ho-ever, there is no :uestion that he is on the side of right from the +eginning, and he can take some satisfaction in stopping -hat has +een going on. 9e is a good man al-ays doing good -ork, +ut he cannot retrieve the Fosters completely, -hich is not surprising since he is conditioned to partial success, partial failure. 9e cannot solve all the social in7ustices of the city of Bondon4 he can only keep trying, a-are that defeat is ever2present, ho-ever honoura+ly he acts. /o a lesser, much sadder e1tent, 5upert is the victim of an honoura+le defeat. 9is vanity may +e, in part, the reason for -hich he gets involved -ith Morgan, +ut his love for her as a relative and as a human +eing -ho, he thinks, needs him and -hom he can help is also a predominating motive in his getting into the mess and makes it impossi+le for him to get out. Morgan is in trou+le +ecause of him, ho-ever innocent he may +e in the

matter, and it is his duty to practice -hat he has preached in his +ook. What he does not kno- is that it is a 7oke, +ut one -hich he takes so seriously that he is destroyed +y it, defeated, al+eit honoura+ly. It is, perhaps, not insignificant, if ironically so, that he dies in such a small +ody of -ater. For all of his grand gestures of romantic heroism, he has proved to himself that he is a much smaller man than he thought. @Muddle@ is the -ord that Murdoch likes to use in characterising human life, and that is e1actly -hat this novel illustrates: that life, ho-ever practised, for good or ill, is never :uite as neat or responsive to theory as Murdoch<s characters -ould like it to +e. /he +est and the -orst laid plans go a-ry. /allis ,ro-ne is left, in the end, still fighting gamely against the chaos of his kitchen. [hide]

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Works by Iris Murdoch

ovels

Under the Net $ !D)' The Flight from the Enchanter $ !DE' The Sandcastle $ !D"' The Bell $ !DF' A Severed Head $ !E ' An Unofficial Rose $ !E*' The Unicorn $ !EG' The Italian Girl $ !E)' The Red and the Green $ !ED' The Time of the Angels $ !EE' The Nice and the Good $ !EF' Bruno's ream $ !E!' A Fairly Honourable Defeat $ !"#' An Accidental !an $ !" ' The Blac" #rince $ !"G' The Sacred and #rofane $ove !achine $ !")' A %ord &hild $ !"D' Henr' and &ato $ !"E' The Sea( the Sea $ !"F' Nuns and Soldiers $ !F#' The #hiloso)her's #u)il $ !FG' The Good A))rentice $ !FD' The Boo" and the Brotherhood $ !F"' The !essage to the #lanet $ !F!' The Green *night $ !!G'

+ac"son's ilemma $ !!D' @Something Special@ $ !D"' A Severed Head $-ith J. ,. (riestley, !E)' The Italian Girl $-ith James Saunders, !E!' The Three Arro,s - the Servants and the Sno, $ !"G' The Servants $ !F#' Acastos. T,o #latonic ialogues $ !FE' The Blac" #rince $ !F"' A /ear of Birds $ !"F, rev. !F)' #oems 0' Iris !urdoch $ !!"' Sartre. Romantic Rationalist $ !DG' The Sovereignt' of Good $ !"#' The Fire and the Sun $ !""' !eta)h'sics as a Guide to !orals $ !!*' E1istentialists and !'stics $ !!"'

!hort stories

Plays

Poetry

Philosophy