full title The Black Prince

author  Iris Murdoch

type of work  Novel

genre  Modernist Novel

language  English

time and place written  England, 1972

date of first publication  1973

publisher  Viking Press

narrator  Bradley Pearson

point of view  First Person

tone  Ironic

tense  Past tense

setting (time)  Early 1970s

setting (place)  London, England

protagonist  Bradley Pearson

major conflict  Bradley's need to break out of his writing block

rising action  Arnold Baffin's fight with his wife; Tutorials of Julian; Date at the opera with Julian Rachel's attempted seduction

climax  Arnold Baffin's murder

falling action  Bradley's trial and conviction; Bradley's writing of his novel; Bradley's death

themes  Art and Truth; Eros; Randomness of Life

motifs  Marriage; Hamlet; Boots and Feet

symbols  Kites; Priscilla's jewels; Der Rosenkavalier

foreshadowing  Arnold's initial call to Bradley; Rachel's prediction of her fire; Bradley's threatening note to Arnold; Der Rosenkavalier; Bradley's destruction of Arnold's books

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