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"To what extent do Martin's negative experiences of love, push him into a state of mental and physical ill-health?"

The novel, "A Severed Head" by Iris Murdoch, is heavily laden with upsetting incidents concerning love. Most of these revolve around the main character Martin, and proceed through the course of the novel to further disintegrate his mental and physical state. Martin's sturdy marriage to his beautiful wife is torn into pieces, his secret affair is exposed and he falls madly in love with someone ever unlikely. This Specialist Study attempts to asses the main factors which eventually push the main character into a state of depression and poor well-being.

Martin, a forty-one year old Businessman, sits alone in his study one night, contemplating the perfect situation he is in. A beautiful, understanding wife was his as was his adoring Mistress, Georgie. Unbeknown to Martin however, his wonderful life was about to come crashing down all around him. His wife, Antonia, out of the blue asks for a divorce. Thus, the first tremendous blow to his world of perfection. His wife, he was about to realise, had not been as perfect, nor as faithful as she had him believe… For Antonia was also having an affair. And to add to matters, the chosen man that was to steal dear Antonia was in fact Martin's good friend Palmer. These facts to begin with were hard for Martin to understand. His first feelings started to directly mimic those of Antonia's, as his "angel" was "so shaken, and this in itself was dreadful". As she continued to speak, and convince Martin her feelings for Palmer were true, and that she did indeed desire a divorce, it started to sink in to Martins perhaps pushed by Antonia's own sadness and fear as he felt the "first light touch of a nightmarish terror". Martins feelings here are foreshadowed of his feelings in the rest of the novel also, as they tend to mirror Antonia's. This perhaps emphasises the closeness of their relationship, as she continually tries to be there for Martin.

To help himself deal with this blow, Martins takes Antonia's advice and turns to his good friend and psycho analysist who perhaps ironically, is Palmer. Martin half thinks that Palmer will be able to sort out his thoughts, being the man behind this ghastly scenario… although that is not entirely how things turn out. Palmer greets and treats Martin in a civilised way and with respect, thinking Martin is not annoyed or bitter in any way. However Martin does feel resentful to both his wife for leaving him, and his good friend for taking her away from him. These feelings he is experiencing

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Cannot be overwritten and will not go away, yet he cannot express them as he wishes as Antonia and Palmer try to "coax [him] along to accept an unpleasant truth in a civilised and rational way". They think this procedure healthy and normal, but inside Martin's head next to the "infernal headache", there are feelings that should have been vented and bottling them up could perhaps add to the mounting pressure he is under leading up to his nervous breakdown.

Christmas in London comes and goes for Martin. He spends it with his brother, Alexander and his wife, Rosemary in their large country house trying to sort out what he is feeling. At the end of the time away, he scribes a letter to his Mistress, Georgie. He tries to tell her his feelings, although his thoughts are uncertain. He "is suffering from shock… [He] feels scarcely sane and nothing seems solid any longer" to him. Martin convinces himself that Georgie will react horribly, yet later reflects on himself "I must have been in some irrational state of fear to have been so nervous about Georgie's reactions."

As Martin tries to deal with facts as they stand, he is also "tormented by physical desire for [Antonia]". In a moment of sadness, some realisation shone upon him. He understands that now, Antonia and him are "two new and different people". Through the short time of unpleasant happenings, they have learned a lot about each other and seen their differences in a new light. A huge weight is dropped onto Martin's shoulders as the glimmer of hope was holding onto is stomped out as he realises his marriage cannot be reconciled. "The scene with Antonia had left [him] stiff and weary, as if [he] had been beaten."

Martin decides it is time to come to terms with things how they are, and thinks the best way to do this is to introduce Georgie to a place he has lived his life away from her. Antonia and Martin's house. He feels it will be best to break down at least one secrecy barrier and let Georgie try to deal with Martin's other life while not with her. This plan backfires horrifically. While the couple are standing in the hallway, the door goes and in walks who they think is Antonia. Martin immediately reacts on instinct and pushes Georgie out into the back garden. Georgie feels abandoned and makes sure she is un-contactable for the next full day. Martin feels more hurt and cross with her that anxious at her whereabouts. The next Martin hears of what Georgie has been doing during this period is when he is sitting in Palmer and Antonia's living room. He receives a cold stare from one direction and a blank expression from the other. At once it is obvious that Palmer shatters the silence with the line, "Martin, we have found out about Georgie Hands". This statement makes Martin feel sick with worry and anxiousness. Georgie had spoken to Honor Klein, the half sister of Palmer. Everything was now out in the open. What once had been a treasured secret, part of what made the relations with his Mistress have a spark and charm, was now exposed prematurely to the harsh light. Martin "chiefly felt… overwhelming annihilating guilt" for his deceitfulness to Antonia over the years. Antonia and Palmer, again try to deal with things in a rational civilised manner, telling Martin they are there for him, and constantly trying to understand. This feels slightly crowding to Martin as he was also "shivering all over and [finding] it very difficult to breathe" as the situation he finds himself in begins to take a physical toll on his body, already racked with severe asthma. His feelings on Georgie though this period are also rocky as, "the blow of discovery had at least crippled if not killed [his] love for her".

One thing after another seem to keep falling on Martin as Georgie once described him as "a sort of vacuum into with interference falls". With one of Martin's loves forced to be reduced and the other forcibly broken, it seems only natural that love would find another way to get to him, and indeed it would, however un-intended by Martin himself. Honor Klein, Palmer's half-sister is the victim which Martin's subconscious chooses for his undoubted zealous love for her. At the Palmer residence, apart from disturbance in the cellar, is where Honor and Martin first encounter each other with remembrance. It is here, while Martin does not even himself realise his new love, that he drunkenly attacks Honor. He pounces on her and she falls to the floor, repeatedly being punched by Martin. After the third punch, he realises his drunken slandering, and cannot even remember her name when she runs off to call her back. The next day, Martin writes letter, the three drafts of which, he tries to choose the best one to send her. He explains to her his obscene drunkenness and tries incandescently to apologise for the disgusting state he was in. He explains that "[He] is feeling thoroughly persecuted at present… I was particularly strained." As Martin meagrely tries to justify his insane actions, his ill health is taking many turns for the worst. Martin's "continual tension and expectancy affected [him] positively with a physical ache. In addition [he] felt sick, unable to eat." His physical state was driven mainly by his mental attitude, as is apparent when he finds his "temperature exasperatingly normal". He cannot lie comfortably nor find anything to do when he was up. He found it impossible to read and a trip to the cinema almost reduced him to tears. His well-being was seriously starting to disintegrate.

After careful consideration on Martin's part, he decides to confront Honor with his feelings. A trip to her house is required and so is executed. On knocking the door and receiving no answer he proceeds to transcend the stairs, and up to her bedroom where again, he receives no answer to his knock. Martin, perhaps un-thoughtfully, opens the bedroom door, and is greeted by a sight that is to further eat away at his remaining healthy mental state. Palmer and Honor are in bed together. This view of incest shocks and disturbs Martin deeply, as he is also faced now with the knowledge that his wife has been a victim of incestual adultery. Martin at this point feels, "dazed and in great pain". A shiver of "violent amazement not distinguishable from horror; and [he] felt as though in physical pain" as he contemplates the view he just unintentionally interrupted. Martin's health is surely and steadily disintegrating before his eyes.

Palmer decides to come clean with Antonia and thus leaving her in as much emotional turmoil as Martin himself. During this period of total mental exhaustion while their experiences and feelings again directly mirror each other, they seek a sort of comfort in each others company. For a brief period, things almost reverted back to normal for this bizarre husband and wife as neither Palmer nor Georgie's name was mentioned during the time they spent living together again. This state does not console the couple forever though, as Martin has unquestioned feelings for Honor Klein. He is in fact, utterly and desperately in love with her.

Alexander, Martin's dear brother, the brother that stole all Martin's girlfriends in the past, lives true to form. Antonia winds up with him, claiming that their feelings for each other have stretched back to before her marriage to Martin. Martin, now distraught, has to deal with another blow. Georgie has fallen in love with Palmer, and the pair run away to the U.S. Martin, at this point, one would feel he should be in a state of utter, consuming depression, but however he reacts quite the opposite. With his previous lovers tied up in love, Martin can now with a clear conscious, confront Honor with his feelings. All the ill health Martin suffered and endured, he starts to believe was because of the new found deep love for Honor. And now, with all his problems behind him, or leaving the country Martin can concentrate on the one he really wants. The book comes to a dramatic end, Martin shaking out of happiness as he realises there might just be a glimmer hope for Honor and him.

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