Religious sensibilities and determinism in Brighton Rock

Abstract

Brighton Rock as a novel thus complexifies our ideas of worldly justice and ideas of freedom and determinism- Pinkie is indeed evil and a criminal but he is also a product of his upbringing and environment, if Rose feels she must be damned with Pinkie it is because she feels more compassion for their similar background rooted in poverty than for the shallow bourgeoisie legal justice of Ida Arnold. Brighton Rock is thus a complex examination of how metaphysical and divine justice, which is explained as more merciful and mysterious than legal justice to Rose at the end of the novel, contrasts with the empirical, logical but also superficial and entirely rational justice lacking divine mercy and compassion for the circumstances that produce the evil that Pinkie Brown has become.