Memory Loss & Morality: The Buried Giant

This week in class we discussed the myriad themes in the novel The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro, and the questions that arose from those themes. Among other things, we discussed morality, trauma, and motives. Tying these themes together was a question regarding the ethicality of King Arthur’s decision to have Merlin cast a memory loss spell over the English and Saxon people. 

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This spell, which caused both parties to forget their differences and history of conflict, was effective in securing peace but had other negative consequences. This was very interesting to me, as well as to the class, and our interest in the matter was reflected by the significant amount of time we spent discussing our varying opinions on Arthur’s actions. 

While thinking about this and trying to formulate my own opinion, I was initially unable to reach a conclusion. After continued consideration, however, I found it necessary to engage in the debate using a different approach. Instead of considering Arthur’s actions at face value as purely moral or immoral, I realized that it was necessary to think about his decision in terms of underlying motivations. While he ostensibly directed Merlin to cast the spell in order to affect peace between the two warring parties, I began to wonder if Arthur did so simply in order to mask his own guilt in the situation. He was the one responsible for the war between Saxons and Britons, as his orders directly led to the gratuitously brutal attack on the Saxon village, which in turn precipitated retaliation and the subsequent war that followed. By all appearances, Arthur is the one at fault for the whole situation. 

(Is King Arthur, shown above, as brave and noble as we have been led to believe?)

Did he simply want Merlin to cast a memory loss spell in order to hide his own culpability? In this case, the spell would surely be considered immoral and unethical. Or, on the other hand, were his intentions, as we might expect of King Arthur, nobler? What are your opinions are on this matter? What do you think was the true motivation behind Arthur’s decision to order Merlin to cast his spell? Depending on your opinion, was doing so an ethical thing to do? If so, why? If not, why?