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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 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”.
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