Love triangles and trysts abound in Iris Murdoch’s difficult, yet penetrating study of interpersonal relationships, that demonstrate her deep insights into the human psyche.
Iris Murdoch is a Latent Book Club favourite. Her exquisite The Sea, The Sea, an exploration of the flawed but compelling former thespian Charles Arrowby (recommended by the excellent
) was the singular best book we uncovered in 2023. The Bell is deeper, and more challenging than The Sea, The Sea, so if you are new to Murdoch, our suggestion is you start there. That said, The Bell has a lot to unpack, particularly for the deep reader.As The Bell opens, the fickle Dora Greenfield, is estranged from her vile-tempered, aloof husband, Paul. Dora has been having an affair for the last six months but has put a stop to that, at least for now. She is on the train to Imber Abbey to attempt a reconciliation. Also on the train are 18 year old student Toby Gashe, and James Taper Pace, consigliere of the Abbey. This well structured opening piques our interest, and primes us for the rest of the book to come, as the main characters in the novel are Dora, Toby and and finally the all too human Michael, the leader of the Imber community, and a former schoolmaster.
The Abbey itself comprises a lay religious community where the residents are dedicated to a life of prayer, contemplation, and spiritual pursuits. The residents are open to the world but aiming for a religious life. It also has and a traditional order of nuns.
The Abbey is missing its bell, and has not had one since the twelfth century. We learn that this is okay, as a new one has been forged, and will soon be installed.
At Imber Abbey, Dora becomes entangled in the lives of the residents. Paul, in between bouts of passive-agressive and purley-aggressive fury with Dora, takes the time to explain something important: there is a legend that the original bell broke loose, flew out of its tower and plunged into the lake after it was revealed that a nun took a lover in the Abbey, in breach of her vows. Later in the novel we discover an extra dimension to the legend of the bell: its tolling signifies a death, and thus a Chekov’s gun is established.
Meanwhile, Michael establishes a relationship with Toby which transcends the platonic and burgeons towards a homosexual love affair. This is well trodden ground for Michael, who appears doomed to repeat his previous mistakes: as a teacher, he had a tryst with a pupil, Nick, which lead to his expulsion. Nick has somehow also made his way to Imber.
Michael’s passion for Toby wells up to the point that, after drinking strong cider, his desire to kiss Toby overcomes him, and he does so, an act for which he would later express his contrition. There are really three points to note regarding this pivotal moment: the first is the perceived religious moral judgments (not those of Michael, who accepts who he is) of the Imber community at the prospect of Michael being homosexual in the first place. Second, there is the jeopardy that such a liaison places him in, as leader (spiritual and actual) of Imber. Third, there is the fact that this is history repeating itself.
Failing to heed the warnings of the past, or rather, being doomed to repeat one’s own mistakes, in both Michael and Dora’s case, is a notable theme throughout the book.
Murdoch is the master of pace. The titular bell, hinted at throughout, only really makes its appearance mid way through the book. Knowing that it is coming; knowing that the book is leading to this apex is masterful. We want to understand the importance of this symbol, and real object in the book. It is therefore very satisfactory to the reader when it arrives.
The bell is uncovered in the lake by Toby, a keen diver, who forges a plan with Dora (really at Dora’s behest) to replace the new bell with the old one at its unveiling and thereby contrive a ‘miracle’ - restoring the old bell to glory at the time the new one should be installed. The profundity of the spectacle this would make is central to Dora’s mind: everyone should see it - the Bishop, the townspeople, all at once. And it would create quite a stir.
Everything in The Bell - from the bell itself, the centrepiece of the novel and a character in its own right, to Imber and even the old dog, Murphy, is a symbol. These symbols suggest many things: portents of doom, harbingers of a climactic, and initiator of change. This really is Murdoch’s genius - not only is she so incisive in her character analysis, she can further drive home these points in with this powerful use of metaphor.
Obviously tragedy unravels all, as indeed it must, for any book grappling with such weighty themes, that aspires to be taken seriously. As an aside, why is it an unwritten law of literature that we cannot deal with disaster with a humorous touch and still be taken seriously? It appears to be the status quo that one cannot hope so say something profound, unless one is deadly serious.
Why is it an unwritten law of literature that we cannot deal with disaster with a humorous touch and still be taken seriously?
The unveiling of the bell goes awry, and the bell (sabotaged, we suspect) falls into the lake. Toby has a physical confrontation with another character, the drunk Nick, who also happens to be living at Imber notwithstanding his relationship with Michael when he was at school, and urges him to confess about Michael’s advances to James Tayper Pace.
Michael is undone. And Toby meets his own tragic end.
The uncovering, and tolling, of the eponymous bell does indeed spell the end: for Imber, and for our beloved characters. But the world benefits from having understood their complex relationships.
Murdoch’s genius using the religious setting, and layers of religious guilt illustrates the boons and pitfalls of theology when it comes to making moral choices.
At its heart, The Bell is not a religious, nor existentialist, but a realist novel. The characters gain a better understanding of who they are, and what the world is, without excess guilt or moralising. They come to accept themselves for what they are too, seemingly with less. Although this book is not as accessible as others in Murdoch’s catalogue, that it occurs, albeit through tragic circumstances, is a testament to the power of it.
Before you go…
Read Our Catalogue of Long Form Literary Criticism:
Check out some of the highlights of 2023:
Joseph Heller’s masterwork novel Catch-22
Booker Prize Winner Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea
Booker Prize Winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of The Day
Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for Literature winner Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift,
Breakout Australian Novelist Amy Taylor’s Search History
Or see of our full range of literary criticism in our archive.
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