Justice, Mercy, and Moral Consciousness: Exploring Ethical Complexity in The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch

Abstract

 This study studies the tremendous moral arc of the last novel of Iris Murdoch, The Green Knight. The narrowing of the concept of justice yields to the open, transformational kindness. The present paper is interested in the moral opposition represented by Lucas Graffe and Peter Mir, and argues that contrary to all expectation, Murdoch conceives mercy not as a simple absolution, but as a painful task, a task that has to do with attending to reality, suffering, and the crushing of the selfish ego. The study tries to analyse the ethical profundity in the novel by close reading of some of the most important episodes including the assault, the re-enactment, and the murders, and through philosophical articles by Murdoch. The work suggests that justice is necessary to recognise evil, and mercy is the only way to survive and love one another. Finally, Murdoch also turns the painful process of destructive demand of justice into redemptive practice into the foreground, stressing that the only way to morally evolve is to destroy the ego through love and attention in the chaos which is present in life.