“I stopped believing there was a power of good and a power of evil that were outside us. And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are.”
This quote is said by scientist Mary Malone, and adequately sums up the grey morality of most of the characters in The Amber Spyglass. Just because someone is a priest, or a rebel, or God, does not mean they are inherently good or evil. Their actions define how others see and react to them, and Mary sums up this point in a way even children like Lyra and Will can easily understand.
“So the snake said, “Put your foot through the hole in the seedpod where I was playing, and you will become wise.” So she put a foot in where the snake had been. And the oil entered her blood and helped her see more clearly than before, and the first thing she saw was the sraf.”
When Mary Malone’s Mulefa friend Atal tells her the story of her people’s origin, it is easy to see the parallels between this story and the story of Eve from the Christian bible. When the young Mulefa did as the snake asked and put her foot through the seedpod, she gained self awareness and a level of metacognition before unknown to her people. She lost her innocence, but was granted a higher level of consciousness. The ‘sraf’ (known to Lyra as Dust) is a metaphor for original sin, and the young Mulefa’s awakening to it.
“You said I was a warrior. You told me that was my nature, and I shouldn’t argue with it. Father, you were wrong. I fought because I had to. I can’t choose my nature, but I can choose what I do. And I will choose, because now I'm free.”
When Will Perry speaks these words to his father’s ghost, it reinforces the novel’s theme of free will. Will is the keeper of the subtle knife, a blade that cuts doorways into worlds (resulting in Dust escaping and Specters roaming the multiverse) and thus could be viewed as a highly problematic character. However, this line illustrates his commitment to personal responsibility, and his firm belief that the novel’s message of free will is paramount. He cannot choose what he is, no one can, but he can choose what he does, and his options for that are infinite.
