“Is it God’s Will in This Business?”: Will on Query in William Golding’s The Spire

Year 2016, Issue: 3, 131 - 146, 06.09.2016

Seda Arıkan

Abstract

William Golding’s fifth novel, The Spire, set in the fourteenth century, tells the story of Dean Jocelin, who desires to erect a spire on the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary. As Dean Jocelin claims that his will is the God’s will that has been inspired to him by vision, he adheres to his will acquiescingly. However, all of the people around him, especially the master builder Roger Mason who doubts the endurance of a 400-foot-high spire, are against the idea of constructing it. The problematic proposition in the novel is whether Dean Jocelin is right or wrong trying to actualize his will that is going to result in material and spiritual losses. Is Dean Jocelin an especially faithful servant of God? Is he a latent or overt solipsist, sacrificing many lives for his will? Or is he just an ordinary person and as such, in possession of the human nature that is considered inherently evil by William Golding? This study will try to answer these questions by adopting the eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant’s ethics, which use good will, reason, and duty as measures of moral action, and which claims that all of these together bring freedom for human beings.

Keywords

William Golding, The Spire, Kantian ethics, good will, freedom

"Bu İş Tanrının İstenci mi?": William Golding'in Kule Romanında İstencin Sorgulanması / “Is it God’s Will in This Business?”: Will on Query in William Golding’s The Spire

Abstract

William Golding’s fifth novel, The Spire, set in the fourteenth century, tells the story of Dean Jocelin, who desires to erect a spire on the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary. As Dean Jocelin claims that his will is the God’s will that has been inspired to him by vision, he adheres to his will acquiescingly. However, all of the people around him, especially the master builder Roger Mason who doubts the endurance of a 400-foot-high spire, are against the idea of constructing it. The problematic proposition in the novel is whether Dean Jocelin is right or wrong trying to actualize his will that is going to result in material and spiritual losses. Is Dean Jocelin an especially faithful servant of God? Is he a latent or overt solipsist, sacrificing many lives for his will? Or is he just an ordinary person and as such, in possession of the human nature that is considered inherently evil by William Golding? This study will try to answer these questions by adopting the eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant’s ethics, which use good will, reason, and duty as measures of moral action, and which claims that all of these together bring freedom for human beings.

Keywords

William Golding, The Spire, Kantçı ahlâk felsefesi, iyi niyet, özgürlük

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