Murdoch’s Villains: Enchanters, Psychopaths and Saints

This chapter identifies and develops a link between psychopathy and the evil characters in Murdoch’s novels: her antagonists and demons, often called enchanter figures, echo the psychopath’s moral psychology, as do her saintly figures. Such ambiguity resonates with contemporary discussions of psychopathy. The chapter first explores how Murdoch’s literary portraits of evil resonate with the mixed fascination with antiheroes and villains in contemporary media. It then analyses A Word Child in the light of the clinical construct of psychopathy, demonstrating Murdoch’s prescient awareness of the complexities associated with criminal deviance and the moral ambiguities associated with psychopathic traits. Finally, it shows how Murdoch’s philosophical discussions of the existentialist and mystical hero reveal the paradoxes associated with evil: antiheroes and psychopaths may be dangerous but their extremity and truthfulness are important.