Plato's Soul-Body Dualism in The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Introduction: Lightness, Weight, and Platonic Dualism

When asked about his characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being and how they emerged, Milan Kundera said, referring to the character of Tomas: "And once more I see him the way he appeared to me at the very beginning of the novel. This is the image from which he was born.... Characters are not born, like people, of woman; they are born out of a situation, a sentence, a metaphor, containing in a nutshell a basic human possibility... The characters in my novels are my own unrealized possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them and equally horrified by them." (Doctorow). Indeed, Kundera's characters are bits of himself subjected to two major influences: the historical context of the novel — very familiar to Kundera himself — and the existentialist philosophy expressed especially by Heidegger in Being and Time (Kimbrell: 71). The title of Kundera's book is itself a reference to this philosophical tradition. The lightness of being in Kundera's novel is represented as a lack of attachment, commitment, or moral responsibility toward what material earthly life presupposes.

In this sense, each of the four major characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being is portrayed so as to illustrate different ways of engaging with the philosophical theme of spiritual weight and lightness. The philosophical theme is closely related to the historical and political context of the story. Kundera's novel is an exploration of this connection, generated by Soviet Czechoslovakia — a product of harsh historical circumstances filtered through a philosophical and deeply reflective consciousness.

Kundera opens his novel with a discussion of Parmenides' dichotomization of the world, and ends this section with a question about the accuracy of Parmenides' conclusion that lightness is positive whereas weight is negative: "Was he correct or not? That is the question. The only certainty is: the lightness/weight opposition is the most mysterious of all." (Kundera: 6). Kundera assigns a deeply philosophical question to his main character, Tomas: "What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?" (Kundera: 5). Lightness is associated with freedom, experimentation, and a total lack of commitment. Albeit attractive, the perspective of lightness is also "unbearable" because it is marked by fragility and the hard realities of life. Weight, on the other hand, is linked to commitment and permanence, and thus becomes unbearable because it is associated with responsibility. As far as the characters are concerned, this dichotomy also encompasses the duality of body and soul.

The structure of Kundera's four major characters reflects Plato's theory on the dualism of the body and soul. Plato was a dualist whose philosophy centered on the idea that the soul and the body are two separate substances that interact, and that the real identity of an individual lies within the soul. The soul is conceived as light matter whose existence precedes that of the physical body; similarly, upon the death of the individual, the soul leaves the deceased body. This paper argues that Plato's theory of the dualism of soul and body is applicable to all four major characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Furthermore, it examines how the connection between the two substances takes place in the case of each character, and to what extent they are marked by this interaction.

Theoretical Framework: Plato on Soul and Body

In order to understand how the theory of the dualism of body and soul applies to the characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, it is important to establish a few theoretical considerations. The body belongs to the world, but the soul is associated with the Ideas (Roberts: 373). By "soul," Plato, like any other Greek, understands life — that is, the vital principle manifested in all entities regarded as living and moving, such as plants, animals, human beings, and higher orders of beings (Clendon Lodge: 470).

As far as the relationship between soul and body is concerned, two points deserve consideration. First, the body is an instrument. It is never a piece of meaningless mechanism; rather, it is adapted, within its limitations, to serve as an instrument for the expression of spiritual values. Second, the function of the soul in relation to the body — conceived in this way as an instrument — is to use it, to make the fullest and wisest use of it, and to direct all its energies into the most valuable channel. "Moral and spiritual development consist of a reorganization of the bodily mechanisms so that these come to express, in ever closer approximation, the Ideas of temperance, courage, justice." (Clendon Lodge: 483).

The theory of the dualism of soul and body was addressed by ancient philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In the case of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, all four main characters exhibit this dichotomy, though each in a distinct manner.

Tereza: The Soul Struggling Against the Body

It is Tereza who best represents Plato's theory. In her case, the dualistic approach is synonymous with a split between the two parts that make up her individuality. Kundera notes that his characters are "born of a stimulating phrase or two or from a basic situation. Tereza was born of the rumbling of a stomach." (Kundera: 39). Regarding the duality in his characters more broadly, Kundera observes that "the old duality of body and soul has become shrouded in scientific terminology, and we can laugh at it as merely an obsolete prejudice." (Kundera: 40).

At the beginning of the novel, Tereza is controlled by her self-image — more precisely, by her body: "Tereza tried to see herself through her body." (Kundera: 41). Her entire identity as an individual is dictated by this image, and the only way she can confront herself is by looking in the mirror: "She often stood in front of the mirror, even as a girl. She looked in the mirror to see her own 'I'." (Ibid.). Tereza is convinced that one's outer appearance reflects one's inner self, and she believes that by seeing herself she can perceive her interiority: "She thought she saw her soul shining through the features of her face." (Ibid.).

Tereza's belief is rooted in her relationship with her mother. The mother-daughter relationship was never fulfilling for Tereza, who finds the physical resemblance to her mother deeply upsetting. Because she rejects these physical similarities, she tries to make them disappear by staring harder at herself and wishing them away: "Each time she succeeded was a time of intoxication: her soul would rise to the surface of her body..." (Kundera: 41). Her mother's habit of looking in the mirror frequently, coupled with behavior that both embarrassed and fascinated young Tereza, forms the foundation for grown-up Tereza's behavior. Growing up, Tereza was confronted with her mother's lack of inhibitions, which she perceived as a lack of shame — her mother would walk around the house in her bra, or even naked. Tereza's habit of looking in the mirror can thus be read as a kind of confrontation with her mother and her childhood: "It was a battle with her mother. It was a longing to be a body unlike other bodies, to find that the surface of her face reflected the crew of her soul charging up from below. It was not an easy task: her soul — her sad, timid, self-effacing soul — lay concealed in the depths of her bowels and was ashamed to show itself." (Kundera: 47).

Tereza's soul-body duality is also reflected in her intimate relations with her husband, Tomas. The first time they make love, she screams. To Kundera, this act of screaming is not the manifestation of desire and fulfillment — it is not the scream of sensuality, which is "the total mobilization of the senses" (Kundera: 54) — but rather Tereza's attempt to suppress her own senses: "What was screaming in fact was the naive idealism of her love trying to banish all contradictions, banish the duality of body and soul, banish perhaps even time." (Ibid.). Kundera paints the picture of a woman desperately searching for a higher aim to her life. Tereza loathes the emptiness inside her and tries to defend herself against it: "No, vertigo is something other than the fear of falling. It is the voice of emptiness below us, which tempts and lures us; it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves." (Kundera: 60).

In this context, the fall represents an inner revelation that would end the emptiness. Tereza dreams of women marching around a swimming pool doing knee bends, and of her husband shooting them from above — a desire for release and freedom manifested in her dreams, a reflection of her consciousness: "These were her vertigo: she heard a sweet (almost joyous) summons to renounce her fate and soul. She was ready to dismiss the crew of her soul from the deck of her body." (Kundera: 60). At this point, a strong connection between body and soul is forged. Her mother is unwell, and Tereza wants to visit her; however, Tomas opposes this trip and she does not go. Tereza falls in the street hours later and injures herself. What follows is a series of small accidents that serve as symbols of her soul falling as well: "She was in the grip of an insuperable longing to fall. She lived in a constant state of vertigo." (Kundera: 61).

The third step in the evolution of her dualism occurs when Tereza embarks on an extramarital affair with an engineer. She wants to become like Tomas, hoping to get back at him for his infidelities. The intimate relationship she establishes with the engineer helps Tereza understand both her body and her soul. The touch of his hand on her breast "erased what remained of her anxiety. For the engineer's hand referred to her body, and she realized that she was not at all involved, only her body, her body alone." (Kundera: 154). She also learns that she cannot resist the engineer's touch, even though she does not initially respond to it. Although her soul takes no part in the affair, her body is filled with excitement and responds very much against Tereza's will. She realizes that in order for her body to remain responsive, her soul must be silenced: "The moment it said its yes aloud, the moment it tried to take an active part in the love scene, the excitement would subside. For what made the soul so excited was that the body was acting against its will; the body was betraying it, and the soul was looking on." (Kundera: 155).

The soul's silence allows Tereza to see her own body in a different light for the first time; she is now fascinated by it and regards it as something extraordinary: "This was not the most ordinary of bodies (as the soul had regarded it until then); this was the most extraordinary body." (Kundera: 155). The affair ultimately makes her realize that once the engineer is no longer looking at her, her excitement turns to "an intoxicating hatred" and she is "overcome by a feeling of infinite grief and loneliness." (Kundera: 157). These feelings of grief and loneliness cause the soul to retreat to the depths of her physical being, "waiting desperately for someone to call it out." (Ibid.). Tereza ultimately realizes that the affair with the engineer is weightless, and that the sight of her soul could only be restored through it: "But her soul was still blinded by love, and saw nothing. Making love with the engineer in the absence of love was what finally restored her soul's sight." (Kundera: 161).

Conclusion: Lightness and Heaviness as Unbearable Absolutes

The opposition between light and darkness is one of the fundamental dichotomies of the world. The ancient philosopher Parmenides argued that light was positive and the other side of the spectrum negative. However, in the case of the characters in Kundera's novel, such a clear delimitation is not possible. Lightness means freedom, lack of attachment and commitment, and the absence of coercion and responsibility. Heaviness, on the other hand, means morality, commitment, and — to the extent that human life allows it — permanence. Kundera does not formulate a conclusion as to the nature of each of these two facets of human existence. On the contrary, he does not even attempt to concretize such an endeavor. His characters are confronted with themselves, and after a series of experiences and revelations, they realize that both lightness and heaviness become unbearable in large doses.

From a Platonic point of view, the four main characters — as well as the relationships they have with each other — are determined by the extent to which they acknowledge the soul as the supreme sphere of the individual: the true substance capable of formulating real identity. Tereza, Tomas, Sabina, and Franz each navigate the tension between soul and body in distinct ways, and it is precisely this navigation that defines their existence within the novel. Kundera's narrative ultimately suggests that neither pure lightness nor pure weight can sustain a human life, and that the unresolved interplay between the two is what makes being — in all its forms — both meaningful and unbearable.