LITERATURE: The Unbearable Lightness – Responsibility

I knew that Tomas’ reflections on political responsibility was heading somewhere and so stopped at a point where I can switch direction along with him:

But, he said to himself, whether they knew or didn’t know is not the main issue; the main issue is whether a man is innocent because he didn’t know.  Is a fool on the throne relieved of all responsibility merely because he is a fool? (p. 177)

We can see the stirrings of political theory here, and Tomas’ beliefs on politics may be in direct conflict with his personal dealings with relationships. Let’s watch:

Let us concede that a Czech public prosecutor in the early fifties who called for the death of an innocent man was deceived by the Russian secret police and the government of his own country. But now that we all know the accusations to have been absurd and the executed to have been innocent, how can that selfsame public prosecutor defend his purity of heart by beating himself on the chest and proclaiming, My conscience is clear! I didn’t know!! I was a believer! Isn’t his "I didn’t know! I was a believer!" at the very root of his irreparable guilt?

Tough call; I would think the horror at the tragedy, at the grave mistake would be enough to cause guilt-like response. Is there guilt for not having seen through the lies that led him to his action? I would grant him the benefit of the doubt. Tomas, looking again to the example of Oedipus, does not:

It was in this connection that Tomas recalled the tale of Oedipus: Oedipus did not know he was sleeping with his own mother, yet when he realized what had happened, he did not feel innocent.  Unable to stand the sight of the misfortunes he had wrought by "not knowing," he put out his eyes and wandered blind away from Thebes.

When Tomas heard Communists shouting in defense of their inner purity, he said to himself, As a result of your "not knowing," this country has lost its freedom, lost it for centuries, perhaps, and you shout that you feel no guilt? How can you stand the sight of what you’ve done?

So Tomas has branded them as guilty; ignorance no excuse for action. Yes, I suppose I can justify the outrage, the blame-laying, and yet, there are degrees of guilt that should lessen the pain from the known and committed; the venial versus the mortal sin of the Catholic mind.