Nuns and Soldiers (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Iris Murdoch
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The late 1970’s
- Setting: London and southern France
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Philosophical realism
- Subjects: 1970’s, France or French people, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Love or romance, Art or artists, Religion, Friendship, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Obsession, England or English people, Cancer, Feminism, Lesbianism or lesbians, Death or dying, Good and evil, London, Remarriage, Women’s movement, Christ figures or saviors, Wealth, Convents or nunneries, Nuns
- Locales: France, London, England
Characters Discussed
Guy Openshaw, a senior official in the Home Office; he is wealthy, intellectual, highly competent, and dying of cancer. He is a helper of Tim Reede and a friend to the Count. Although they lost their only child, Guy and his wife, Gertrude, have had a successful marriage. Although he is terminally ill, Guy renounces painkillers long enough to tell Gertrude lucidly that he wishes her to be happy again. He has wandering, philosophical conversations with the Count and discusses vice and virtue with Anne Cavidge, a former nun. Guy believes that his own virtue is...
[The entire page is 1325 words long]
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