The Green Knight (novel) - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia

The Green Knight is the 25th novel by the British writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch, first published in 1993.

Plot summary

The lives of Louise Anderson and her daughters Aleph, Sefton and Moy become intertwined with a mystical character whose destiny both affects and informs the novel's central conflicts which include a murder that never actually occurs, sibling rivalry, love triangles, and one extremely sentient dog who dearly misses his owner. This novel loosely parodies the Medieval poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; however, it is largely a comedy of errors with bizarre twists and turns in circumstances that threaten the stability of a circle of friends in a London community.

Characters

Louise Anderson, an emotionally repressed mother of three girls

Sefton, daughter of Louise, a student and lover of history

Aleph, daughter of Louise, an extremely beautiful and desired young lady

Moy, daughter of Louise, a psychic animal lover

Joan, a childhood friend of Louise and mother of Harvey

Harvey, Joan's son who breaks his foot

Clement, brother of Lucas who is also his nemesis

Lucas, a dark, Byronic figure who mentally tortures his brother Clement, the antagonist

Bellamy, a wannabe monk

Peter, a gentlemen who was assaulted by Lucas and has come back to demand reparation

Anax, a border collie who desperately misses Bellamy who gave him up to prove his Christian convictions

References

The Green Knight (novel) Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

Contents

Plot summary

Characters

References