Laysee's Reviews > The Bell

'This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.’ - Shakespeare, Hamlet

The setting for The Bell is Imber Court, a palladian country mansion that is home to an Anglican Benedictine commune in Gloucestershire, just outside the walls of an Anglican convent. The Imber commune consists of a group of lay, religious people who seek a retreat from the world to live, for a spell at least, an ascetic and pious life. Life here is intended to be simple – prayer and tending a vegetable garden. But it is not to be.

Imber Court belongs to Michael Meade, the de factor leader, who along with a handful of devoted Anglicans, provide administrative and operational support for the commune. Michael (in his 30s), the key character in this story, was a former school teacher with a sketchy past in which his desire to be an ordained priest was foiled when he was dismissed for allegedly seducing his 14-year-old student, Nick Fawley. Years later (when the novel begins), Michael is put in a quandary to accept into Imber Court this same young man, now in his twenties, who is given to alcohol and suicidal ideation. Michael struggles excessively with his homosexuality and feels drawn again to Nick. To complicate things, into this commune comes Toby Gashe, a 18-year-old, carefree, youth who is seeking a religious retreat at Imber as preparation for Oxford. The story that unfolds is a tragic one that has devastating consequences for all involved.

Other characters provide the adrenaline that drives the plot in this masterfully narrated story. The character that grew on me is Dora Greenfield, a 21-year-old errant wife who, in her unhappy marriage, has run away, but is now compelled to return to her authoritarian husband, the art historian Dr. Paul Greenfield who is working on 14th century manuscripts that belonged to the Anglican convent. Paul is an intensely jealous man who watches his wife like a hawk. In a few pages, Murdoch painted for us a sympathetic profile of a flighty woman, not given to reflection, yet keenly aware of her husband’s contempt for her, and endearing in her scatter-brained but spontaneous responses to things that happen to her. It was a pleasure to see how Dora finds her own confidence and independence. There is Catherine Fawley, Nick’s twin sister, an angelic young woman who will soon take vows to become a nun. Beneath that fairy-like exterior churns deep psychological issues that took the reader by surprise.

But what about the bell, that carries the title of this novel? The Imber commune is looking forward to having a new bell installed and christened in the Abbey Tower. Legend has it that the old bell is accursed. It is said to be lying at the bottom of the lake. And woe betide the village whenever it rings again from the murky depths.

Murdoch wrote a prose style that is richly evocative. She created the stuffy and cloistered air at Imber court, the charm of the forests with its profusion of bird song, and the serenity and lure of the lake. So, the reader fleeing Imber Court with Dora or Toby senses the freedom that the natural world offers up as a foil to an artificially spiritual enclave.

Thematically, this is a very difficult novel to read. The Bell is about love and freedom; it is also about homosexuality and spirituality. This book was published in 1958. It is hard to fathom how incredibly painful it must be, sixty years ago, to be gay and deeply religious, not that it is necessarily easier now. Michael is fettered by his spirituality, so he is unable to love as he is inclined to, and this is what makes this story extremely sad. In his own words, ‘Spiritual power was indeed like electricity in that it was thoroughly dangerous. It could perform miracles of good: it could also bring about destruction.’

A recurring theme is truth, 'the truth-telling voice that must not be silenced.’ The tragedy in this story is the inability of several of its characters to be true to themselves and to be truthful. The consequences are severe. (view spoiler)[Michael does not come clean about his love for Nick; Nick pays the price for Michael’s reticence. Catherine, too, loves and suffers in silence, which precipitated her mental breakdown. Thankfully, Toby who has been brought up to be truthful unburdens his confusion after his encounter with Michael, and is able to move ahead to university life relatively unscathed. The other person who learns the hard way is Dora. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and is considered wanton and foolish, but she bumbles her way to a better future. (hide spoiler)]

The Bell is a satire on the religious life. We see in the Imber commune merely the form of organized religion; it has no substance. The ending, therefore, comes as no surprise.

There is perhaps ‘a higher and a better way’ to living a good life. I will close with the words of the Abbess to Michael, which brings me comfort at the end of this disturbing novel: ‘…we can only learn to love by loving. Remember that all our failures are ultimately failures in love. Imperfect love must not be condemned and rejected, but made perfect. The way is always forward, never back.’