The novel, The Black Prince is written by Iris Murdoch and published in 1973. The setting of the novel is during the 1950s in London. This novel is considered by many critics as Murdoch’s best work. It revolves around the story of Bradley Pearson, a fifty-year old unsuccessful writer. When he retires from work, he decides that he wants to take his writing career on a different level. He decides to take a vacation in a rented cottage to get inspiration. However, before his plans could happen, strings of events occurred and revealed much about his personality and weaknesses. Even if he is the narrator of the story and he manipulates the reader’s belief towards him, we can still analyze the character through the perspective of other characters and the actual turn of events.
The first thing that one must consider when doing a character analysis about Bradley Pearson is that he is the narrator in the novel. Thus, his use of words and language is crucial. For one, he uses words to shield himself and to make him appear good. This is why the novel could be full with shadows and mysteries—Bradley uses words to manipulate the minds of readers and to make them sympathize with him. As the narrator, he can simply describe the problem. He can simply write about the emotional situations. However, he is not required to speak of his real emotions and actions. Just like in Hamlet, any potential confrontation is to be followed by philosophical monologue, and this negates the need for actual action. In this way, Pearson becomes simply a spectator rather than an actor in his story (O’Neil, 979). This could also be observed in Pearson’s tendency to fill his story with quotation marks and to define nouns and verbs for his readers. This shows that he is careful in using words and even dictates the meaning of such words to readers (Hauge, 101). Thus, in analyzing the character, the readers must read between the lines and look beyond the shadows and mysteries that Pearson writes to protect himself.
Nevertheless, despite having an intrusive narrator, we can still analyze Bradley by looking into the perspectives of other characters. For one, Julian views Bradley as self-absorbed man. She believes that Bradley does not really care about her. She repeatedly accuses him of being egoistic. She stated, “You talk as if there was nobody here but you… You don’t seem to know me at all. Are you sure it’s me you love?” True enough, Bradley would appear to be intensely focused to his own thoughts, feelings, and sufferings—to the point that the feelings of Julian are disregarded (Broackes, 136). Yet, Julian is not the only one who views Bradley as such. All other three commentaries coming from Rachell Baffin, Christian Marloe, and Francis Marloe state that Bradley is an unreliable narrator (Broackes, 137).
Moreover, the actual turn of events could also provide us with good insights about the character. For one, we can see that Bradley can be rude and impolite especially when he talks to and about Francis Marloe, his ex-wife’s brother. He also lacks compassion and concern towards his troubled sister; that even if she kills herself, Bradley chooses not to mourn so that he could still spend the night with Julian without troubles.
In sum, Bradley Pearson attempts to achieve the sympathy of his readers by portraying himself as a changed man. However, in the commentaries written by other characters in the story, readers can learn otherwise. Nevertheless, we can look into actual turn of events to decide whether to believe them or to sympathize with the narrator.
Works Cited:
Broackes, Justin. Iris Murdoch, Philosophers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hague, A. Iris Murdoch’s Comic Vision. Ontario: Associated University Press.
O’Neil, Patrick. Great World Writers. New York: Marshall Cavendish.