Is Jessie right to end her life?

Presupposing that our consideration of ethical issues can be enriched by examining literary works, this paper focuses on Marsha Norman's play ‘night, Mother. The play describes the last hour and a half in the life of Jessie, a young woman who decides to die by suicide. Before ending her life, J...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Philosophical forum Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 163 - 174
Main Author Landau, Iddo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2022
Subjects
Drama
Ethics
meaning in life
Norman, Marsha
Philosophy
suicide
Suicides & suicide attempts
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Presupposing that our consideration of ethical issues can be enriched by examining literary works, this paper focuses on Marsha Norman's play ‘night, Mother. The play describes the last hour and a half in the life of Jessie, a young woman who decides to die by suicide. Before ending her life, Jessie explains to her mother her reasons for her suicide. In the context of the play, these are presented as quite weighty and as, perhaps, justifying her decision. Scholarly research on the play has also treated Jessie's suicide favorably. In this paper I argue that Jessie, and people in similar conditions, are wrong to die by suicide. Among other points, I criticize Jessie's arguments from the impossibility to improve life; the assured termination of suffering; the badness of the world; and the right for suicide. I also criticize arguments in the scholarly literature that view Jessie's suicide favorably, such as the arguments from independence, heroism, authenticity, and emotional closeness.
ISSN:0031-806X
1467-9191
DOI:10.1111/phil.12326