THE BIBLICAL MOTIFS IN "MORPHO EUGENIA" BY A. S. BYATT

The article investigates the canonical and apocryphal biblical motifs in “Morpho Eugenia” by A. S. Byatt, namely the motif of “expulsion from the paradise” as one of the ma- jor structural elements of the work, symbolizing the rejection of the Old Testament in favor of the Christian ethic; the cognition of sin and betrayal with “false wife” and attainment of “true Eve”. The article shows that different “localizations” of the “paradise” in the book indicate different levels of the hero's psychological state. They are: the wilds of the Amazon jungle; the hills, fields and woods of England, where the heroes study the ant colonies, and the coun- try-house of the Alabaster family. The names of the characters are also allusions to the bibli- cal characters