Murphy is a character who yearns for an existence that is unburdened from all demands, desires, and limitations of the physical body. This is immediately understood as the beginning of the novel details a nude Murphy, who has created a self-imposed confinement by tethering himself to a rocking chair with seven scarves. “He sat naked in his rocking-chair…Seven scarves held him in position. Two fastened his shins to the rockers, one his thighs to the seat, two his breast and belly to the back, one his wrists to the strut behind…He sat in his chair in this way because it gave him pleasure. First it gave him body pleasure…Then it set him free in his mind. For it was not until his body was appeased that he could come alive in his mind.” (Beckett 5-6). This act reflects Murphy’s yearn for pure intellectual existential experience, free from bodily interference. This desire to withdraw from physical existence is also highlighted in his understanding of the mind as an enclosed, independent being. “Murphy’s mind pictured itself as a large hollow sphere, hermetically closed to the universe without.” (Beckett 63). This metaphorical sealed-off-from-the-rest-of-the-world mindset suggests Murphy’s belief that true existential fulfillment can only be reached in a purely intellectual realm, one entirely removed from the distractions and demands of the body. By perceiving this to be the only way to reach existential peace, Murphy attempts to create a reality where he does not have to engage with the external world, reinforcing not only his unhealthy obsession, but also foreshadowing his downfall. The mind, no matter how much he might attempt to separate them, is always tethered to the body. Murphy’s attempts to sever said connection—whether through physical restraint, or philosophical understandings—highlight the idea that mental isolation will not bring him closer to enlightenment but further alienate him from life’s great joys and make him gradually directionless and detached from human connection.

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            Murphy’s perception of Neary’s heart-stopping “ability” is one that is a fraction of what true separation of mind and body could look like—Murphy admires this unattainable mastery of mind over the body. Beckett describes how “[Neary] could stop his heart more or less whenever he liked and keep it stopped, within reasonable limits, for as long as he liked…he exercised [it] frugally, reserving it for situations…” (Beckett 6). This act of voluntary pause symbolizes a divine form of detachment, a liberation from the burdens of the body—the very control over bodily functions that Murphy so desperately seeks. However, Murphy can never exert such control; no matter the attempt, his body remains stubbornly present, continuing to sweat, require breath, harboring hunger, and suffer despite his efforts. While Murphy seeks to transcend physicality, he remains inescapably bound to it. In the end, his destruction is not his own choosing but dictated by the very body he wished to escape, thus emphasizing Beckett’s assertion that the mind cannot exist without the being. Murphy’s relationship with Celia is also another example of his yearning for a separation of mind and body on an emotional level. Celia is a pragmatic and emotionally present character, thus she represents the physical, social, and emotional realities Murphy rejects. Murphy’s relationship with Celia serves as a clear illustration of his resistance to bodily necessities and his detachment from human connection. While Celia yearns for a true, functioning relationship in the real world, Murphy continues to withdraw himself, eventually treating their exchanges as interferences to his preferred isolation of the mind. His understanding, “But what is the good of going merely in body?” (Beckett 24), reveals his view of physicality as superfluous without intellectual detachment. He resists the idea that love and relationships are meaningful on a bodily spectrum, ignoring Celia’s affection as an unwanted tether to the real world. In rejecting Celia, Murphy does not achieve the very enlightenment he yearns for, but instead further digs himself down the hole of isolation. His intellectual detachment does not free him from suffering as he perceives—it merely renders him incapable of engaging with the world in a way that matters. This detachment foreshadows his eventual demise, proving that the attempt to suppress bodily influence is not a path to liberation, but a river to self-destruction.

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            Despite Murphy’s best efforts to transcend bodily existence, he dies in a pure physical accident. Murphy’s death is the ultimate irony in his struggle to separate mind from body. While his life has been borderline dedicated to escaping physical existence—whether through self-imposed restraint, philosophical musings, or emotional detachment—his demise is entirely human, a harsh reminder that the body cannot be ignore nor transcended. Beckett describes after the fire spreads throughout a saloon where Murphy is residing, “By closing time the body, mind and soul of Murphy were freely distributed over the floor of the saloon.” (Beckett 154). This imagery of his physical disintegration starkly contrasts with his lifelong yearn for mental autonomy. Rather than achieving the eternal desire for pure intellectual existence, Murphy’s body is reduced to meaningless ashes, obliterating the very mind he sought to elevate. His death did not grant him enlightenment or detachment but rather emphasized the inescapability of the physical world. Beckett presents this grim resolution to Murphy’s existential conflict—no matter how much he might resist, the body will always have the final say. In the end, Murphy does not achieve a state of pure intellect, nor does he escape the burdens of the body—he is simply erased, leaving behind no trace of the mind he so desperately sought to liberate.

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            Murphy harbors an obsessive search for mental detachment that not only isolates himself from the real world but ultimately leads to his self-destruction. Throughout the novel, Murphy attempts to suppress his physical needs through self-inflicted restraint, philosophical justifications, and emotional detachment, believing that true fulfillment of existence lies in mental liberation. However, this destructive pursuit proves futile, as the body remains an unchanging, unavoidable force, exerting its existence and necessities no matter how desperately he tries to reject it. His final moments alive serve as the ultimate irony—rather than reaching the existential transcendence, Murphy perishes in a meaningless, bodily accident, his mind and body obliterated in equal extent. Through Murphy’s demise, Beckett delivers a brash existential understanding: the mind cannot escape the body’s limitations, and the attempt to sever the two will only accelerate one’s torment and destruction. Murphy’s futile efforts to oppress bodily influence—even through the emotional denial of all relationships—further emphasize the superfluousness of escaping the duality of human existence. His fate only strengthens the theme of the futility behind forcing conflict between mind and body—they will always need the other. In the end, Murphy’s quest for intellectual purity does not lead to enlightenment or freedom, but nothingness, confirming that isolation from the physical world is not a means of escape, but a slow river toward self-erasure.