A review of Iris Murdoch's "The Sacred and Profane Love Machine"

Style: Narrative

Protagonist: Blaise Gavender

Antagonist: Blaise seems to be fighting against himself, struggling to solve the situation he himself has created and allowed to get worse through his inability to take action. Nevertheless, in this struggle there are sides: him and Emily on the one hand, against Harriet.

List of characters: Blaise Gavender, wife Harriet, and son David; neighbor and friend Montague Small, his wife Sophie (deceased) and his mother Leonie; Blaise's lover, named Emily McHugh, and their illegitimate son Luca; Constance Pinn (Emily's roommate); Edgar Demarnay, friend of the deceased Sophie; Magnus Bowles

Setting: Blaise and Harriet live in the country; their home is called Hood House. Blaise also spends a lot of time at Putney, which is where Emily lives. The story takes place in present time Britain. The setting is not particularly relevant to this story; what is relevant is the difference between the two places: Hood House is a much nicer place than Putney. Emily lives in a dump; she would like to live in a nice home, with Blaise.

Conflict: Man vs. himself. Blaise Gavender is the victim of his own acts: unable to take action, he suffers the consequences, as he has gotten himself into a very difficult situation, the outcome of which is about to change life as he knew it.

Plot: Blaise Gavender leads a double life: married to Harriet for almost twenty years, he has kept a mistress, Emily McHugh, for nine. He has been promising Emily to leave Harriet, but he loves both his families and feels unable to leave either one for the other. This situation is really hurting Emily, who begins to put more and more pressure on him to leave his wife and start a "real family" with her. Her demands, far from producing the desired effect, at first seem to backfire on her. As Blaise begins to realize he can no longer go on with the situation, he decides to write his wife a letter explaining everything to her and asking for forgiveness.

In the meantime, neighbor and friend Montague Small, whose wife had died a month before, seems to be developing some feelings for Harriet. She too admits to herself that he is quite attractive, and there are reasons to think she could, as the novel progresses, begin to like him: on the one hand, Blaise has neglected her for a long time; on the other hand, could her love for her husband die when she finds out he has been unfaithful?

After reading Blaise's letter, in which he confessed his infidelity, Harriet tries to get a hold of the situation. Blaise said he no longer loved Emily, so Harriet forgives him and tries to accept his other family. But things don't seem to change: Blaise soon begins to lie to her again, seeing that he can get away with it.

Harriet wants the best for everyone and tries to avoid bad feelings. In order to allow for reconcilliation, she invites Emily, Monty, Edgar and other people to her house for a party. Edgar (who has fallen in love with Harriet and is terribly hurt by the pain Blaise is inflicting upon Harriet) gets drunk, punches Blaise, and tells him he has to make a choice, that he can not go on with that double life. He can not have both women at his disposal for whenever he needs them. Emily runs away from the party, and Blaise follows her.

Climax: Edgar was right, and Blaise makes a decision. So now he leaves Harriet and moves into a new apartment with Emily. Harriet is terribly hurt when she finds out. She leaves Hood House and moves in with Monty (and Edgar, who is spending some time there).

Desperate, she throws herself at Monty's arms, but he rejects her. In order to straighten up her life, she travels to Germany to spend some time with her family. She takes Luca along, and had bought a ticket for David too, but he refuses to leave. Harriet is killed at the Hanover airport massacre.

Outcome: With Harriet out of the way, Blaise and Emily move into Hood House. Luca, whose life had been saved by Harriet, is in a state of shock and the couple gets rid of him too, by allowing him to be taken to a mental hospital. David refuses to cope with the new situation and goes to live with Edgar.

Comments: Blaise liked both his "marriages". On the one hand, he enjoyed the security and the sense of goodness from his marriage to Harriet, but he had ceased to love her. Nevertheless, he felt he should save that marriage, and that is why he decided to tell Harriet about Emily and try to end his extramarital affair. But, on the other hand, he loved Emily, and it was her he really wanted to be with... not Harriet. Only when he realized he must decide between the two, that he couldn't have both, he went away with Emily. It was with her that he felt he could be himself; it was her he felt attracted to. Though their union was not sanctified nor formalized nor moral it was, nevertheless, a product of love and it ended up winning over his marriage to Harriet.

Strangely enough, Iris Murdoch opts to move Harriet out of the way by getting her killed. Its as if otherwise, Blaise would have continued to drift between the two women, unable to make his mind up. I think it might have been more interesting to let her live. What would have happened with Luca? Would she have fought for his custody? Would she have started a new life at Hood House? I guess it was the only possible end for Harriet, for she almost died when Blaise left her. Murdoch just finished her off.