It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of Catholic dogma and theology on those of Greene's novels he deemed "serious," such as TheHeart of the Matter.
The novel's protagonist is Major Henry Scobie, a deputy commissioner of police in colonial West Africa during World War II. At first, Scobie seems an unlikely sinner; he's an upright, highly scrupulous official whose lack of vices make him something of a pariah to his peers. However, he's deeply responsive to the pain of the novel's main characters: his unhappy wife, Louise; his widowed young lover, Helen; and a Portuguese ship's captain with a secret. In fact, one might say he's cursed with empathy, since it's only in his attempts to solve the problems and alleviate the suffering of these people that he finds himself tragically ensnared.
As is so often the case with Green's characters, although the bonds of marriage suffocate,...
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shedding them leads to a deep sense of doctrinally-induced guilt. And here, Scobie fears that if he breaks off his joyless relationship with the young refugee, she will be completely lost. Thus, living in a state of what Catholic theology terms "mortal sin," he is denied the consoling ritual of the sacraments. And of course, in this time period, the option of divorce as a solution to his loveless marriage would result in the unthinkable prospect of excommunication from the Church.
So, although Scobie's final decision may strike non-Catholics as extreme, for him it is the only logical choice. But, as Greene's priest concludes,
The Church . . . doesn't know what goes on in a single human heart.
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene, like many of Greene's works, invokes both common theological problems and those rather specific to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.
The first religious issue raised in the novel is that of whether it is acceptable to commit a lesser evil to prevent a greater evil or bring to fruition something good. One can see that Scobie is making such choices in agreeing to borrow money from Yusef to finance his wife's vacation, and in his eventual decision to commit suicide.
The second religious issue Scobie struggles with is the prohibition against taking communion if one is not in a state of grace. Other issues where Scobie's own wishes conflict with his duty of obedience to the church are the prohibitions against divorce and suicide. Scobie's dilemmas raise a more fundamental question of whether all sins are equal. In other words, would divorce have been a better solution than suicide?
Another religious issue here is whether intention or act counts more in making moral judgments.