There are some who have a moral problem with the way The Exorcist ends. They assert that Good kind of wins (the girl is freed from the demon) but through questionable means (the young priest becomes possessed instead and jumps out the window, sort of like a suicide). I think they have a point. What do you think about this?
I think Fr. Karras' decision to call the demon into himself is a sign of his spiritual immaturity. He's not an exorcist himself, so he can't finish the ritual, and in his wroth he tries to substitute himself for Regan. It's an admirable if deeply misguided impulse in my opinion.
I also don't think he did so with the intention of committing suicide, but as soon as the demon entered him he realized just how unprepared he was for this fight, went insane, and jumped out the window. He comes to his senses at the end and dies repentant and absolved, which I think is an important point. Instead of being a conscious (and thereby sinful) choice for suicide, this reminded me more of the Gadarene swine from the Gospel, how the legion of demons was driven from the demoniac into the pigs and they hurled themselves into the sea almost reflexively.
So no, don't call demons into yourself and then jump out windows, but I think in the context of the story and its illustration of Fr. Karras as deeply flawed and spiritually immature (to the point where he thought that might work) I think it's unobjectionable.
There are some who have a moral problem with the way The Exorcist ends. They assert that Good kind of wins (the girl is freed from the demon) but through questionable means (the young priest becomes possessed instead and jumps out the window, sort of like a suicide). I think they have a point. What do you think about this?
I think Fr. Karras' decision to call the demon into himself is a sign of his spiritual immaturity. He's not an exorcist himself, so he can't finish the ritual, and in his wroth he tries to substitute himself for Regan. It's an admirable if deeply misguided impulse in my opinion.
I also don't think he did so with the intention of committing suicide, but as soon as the demon entered him he realized just how unprepared he was for this fight, went insane, and jumped out the window. He comes to his senses at the end and dies repentant and absolved, which I think is an important point. Instead of being a conscious (and thereby sinful) choice for suicide, this reminded me more of the Gadarene swine from the Gospel, how the legion of demons was driven from the demoniac into the pigs and they hurled themselves into the sea almost reflexively.
So no, don't call demons into yourself and then jump out windows, but I think in the context of the story and its illustration of Fr. Karras as deeply flawed and spiritually immature (to the point where he thought that might work) I think it's unobjectionable.