Moral Conscience
"
She moved away, took a few steps, still firm, then advanced along the wall of the corridor, almost fainting, suddenly her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground. Her eyes clouded over,
I'm going blind
she thought, but then realised it would not be just yet, these were only tears blurring her vision, tears such as she had never shed in all her life,
I've killed a man
she said in a low voice,
I wanted to kill him and I have.
"
(Saramago, 1995)
In this scene, the Doctor's wife, who has represented the good in human nature in all the previous chapters, takes another human life. Saramago uses this unselfish, moral, and loving character to demonstrate that amid extreme conditions, more specifically the viral spread of a society-destroying illness, even the most righteous of humans can conduct "evil" acts. That being said, the thug leader who is killed was not the perfect human either; in fact he was responsible for much of the torment inflicted upon the blind internees. However, despite his inhumane actions, we see that the Doctor's Wife is still morally agonized over the fact she had just taken another human's life.