How we cite our quotes: (Part.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I shall not attempt here to describe my marriage. Some impression of it will doubtless emerge. For the present story, its general nature rather than its detail is important. It was not a success. At first I saw her as a life-bringer. Then I saw her as a death-bringer. Some women are like that. There is a sort of energy which seems to reveal the world: then one day you find you are being devoured. Fellow victims will know what I mean. (1.1.31)
This "Christian-as-death-bringer" theme that Bradley Pearson develops throughout his narrative is one of the clues that connects Christian to Shakespeare's witches—particularly those who appear in Macbeth.
Quote #2
There is nothing quite like the dead dull feel of a failed marriage. Nor is there anything like one's hatred for an ex-spouse. (How can such a person dare to be happy?) I cannot credit those who speak of 'friendship' in such a context. I lived for years with a sense of things irrevocably soiled and spoiled, it could give suddenly such a sad feel to the world sometimes. I could not liberate myself from her mind. This had nothing to do with love. Those who have suffered this sort of bondage will understand. Some people are just 'diminishers' and 'spoilers' for others. (1.1.32)
Although Bradley Pearson is commenting on his own marriage here, his words also foreshadow Rachel Baffin's feelings and actions later on in Bradley's story. That said, Bradley himself never pays much attention to the connections between his own disappointment as a married person and Rachel's dissatisfaction with her married life. His dim view of most women makes it too difficult for him to see Rachel as someone like himself.
Quote #3
He has hit me before, oh this isn't the first time by any means. He didn't know it, I never told him, but the first time he hit me our marriage came to an end. And he talks about me to other women, I know he does, he confides in other women and discusses me with them. They all admire him so and flatter him so. He has taken away my life from me and spoilt it, breaking every little piece of it, like the breaking of every bone in one's body, every little thing ruined and spoilt and taken away. (1.3.100)
According to Bradley Pearson, Rachel Baffin had been deeply unhappy in her marriage to Arnold Baffin for a long, long time—well before the events that his narrative describes. What does Rachel herself have to say about this in her postscript to the text?
Quote #4
This is just a matter of experience. She never sulks for long after a thing like this, not if I lose my temper. She's kind to me then. It's if I keep quiet she goes on and on. Not that we make a habit of scraps like this. But we sometimes both explode and then it's all over at once, clears the air. We're very close to each other. These rows aren't real warfare, they're an aspect of love. This may be hard for an outsider to understand—…. (1.3.140)
A recurring theme throughout The Black Prince is the connection between violence and love—or, more accurately, the way that men like Bradley Pearson and Arnold Baffin argue that there's a connection between violence and love. On the whole, what does the novel seem to be saying about their ideas?
Quote #5
Of course we argue sometimes. Marriage is a long journey at close quarters. Of course nerves get frayed. Every married person is a Jekyll and Hyde, they've got to be. You mayn't think it, but Rachel is a bit of a nagger. Her voice goes on and on and on sometimes. At least it has lately, I suppose it's her age. (1.3.156)
Adding to the themes of unreliable narrators, duplicitous actions, and inconsistent perspectives that all come together in The Black Prince, Arnold Baffin's suggestion that all married people have two selves—a respectable self and a monstrous self—throws yet another complication into the mix. No wonder it's so hard for us readers to pinpoint the truth in this novel.
Quote #6
I then began to wonder what on earth was happening now back at the Baffins' house? Was Rachel still lying like a disfigured corpse staring at the ceiling, while Arnold sat in the drawing-room drinking whisky and listening to The Firebird? Perhaps Rachel had drawn the sheet over her face again in that appalling way. Or was it all quite different? Arnold was kneeling outside the door begging her to let him in, weeping and accusing himself. Or else, Rachel, who had been listening for my departure, had come quietly down the stairs and into her husband's arms. […] What a mystery a marriage was. What a strange and violent world, the world of matrimony. (1.4.4)
According to Rachel Baffin, Bradley Pearson made a habit of assuming that he had special insight into her marriage to Arnold Baffin. Can we readers take Bradley at his word when he claims to believe that an outsider can never know the truth about another person's marriage?
Quote #7
I hope that you and Rachel have forgiven me for yesterday. Although summoned I was nevertheless an intruder. You will understand me and I need exclaim no more on that point. One does not want witnesses of one's trouble however ephemeral it may be. The outsider cannot understand and his very thoughts are an impertinence. I write to say that I have no thoughts, except for my affection for you and Rachel and my certainty that all is well with you. I have never been an adherent of your brand of curiosity! (1.5.7)
Let's assume for a minute that we can believe everything that Bradley Pearson has told us about Arnold and Rachel Baffin's marriage. If Bradley is telling the truth, what do these comments suggest about his sense of his own responsibilities here? Is Bradley genuinely doing his best to be a good friend to both Arnold and Rachel, or is he simply trying to avoid getting drawn into a messy conflict?
Quote #8
Marriage is a curious institution, as I have already remarked. I cannot quite see how it can be possible. People who boast of happy marriages are, I submit, usually self-deceivers, if not actually liars. The human soul is not framed for continued proximity, and the result of this enforced neighbourhood is often an appalling loneliness for which the rules of the game forbid assuagement. There is nothing like the bootless solitude of those who are caged together. (1.10.1)
What is one exception to this argument, according to Bradley Pearson himself? In other words, what kind of "continued proximity" does Bradley value and appreciate?
Quote #9
You don't know what you're saying, Bradley. You've got dignity. Solitary people can have dignity. A married woman has no dignity, no thoughts which really stand up separately. She's a subdivision of her husband's mind, and he can release misery into her consciousness whenever he pleases, like ink spreading into water. (1.21.20)
Although Bradley Pearson has a habit of making terribly demeaning comments about the middle-aged women in his life, on the whole, The Black Prince is sympathetic to the unique problems that married middle-aged women face in a patriarchal society. How much of this sympathy and insight can we readers ascribe to Bradley himself, and how much seems to be coming from Iris Murdoch's own authorial perspective?
Quote #10
You see, this is one of the unfair things that married couples sometimes do, I'm afraid. They give sympathy to people, or they seek for sympathy, and then they run straight home and tell each other all about it. I've never deceived Arnold for a moment and he's never deceived me. Perhaps outsiders don't understand, perhaps they can't. A good marriage is very strong and flexible, it's tough. You spoke about betrayal and resentment. I'm afraid it's rather you who have been betrayed and who may have to bear the burden of resentment. […] Married people do sometimes victimize unmarried people in this way, one is just so lucky. (3.13.127)
In Bradley Pearson's view, how honest was Rachel Baffin being when she made these comments? Was she simply lying in order to twist the knife a little more deeply, or had she become deluded enough to believe she was telling the truth?