Allegory In Staples The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is a children’s fantasy novel by Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis, the second of seven installments in his The Chronicles of Narnia series. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe may seem at first like an intriguing story of sacrifice, heroes, and good overcoming evil. However, upon further review, it is easy to see that C.S. Lewis was trying to tell the story of Jesus Christ through this story. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe can be seen as a religious allegory. In the story, Aslan, the lion king of Narnia, represents Jesus, the evil White Witch represents the devil, and the children represent people like us.

C.S. Lewis was one of the biggest defenders of the Christian faith during the 20th Century. Lewis,

however, was an outward atheist for a large portion of his life. Born in Belfast, Ireland in 1898 to a Christian family, C.S. became a self-proclaimed atheist when he became 15, after his mother died of cancer. Lewis was convinced that if there was a God, he would not allow someone to die in the fashion that his mother did. He began to view religion as a chore rather than something he wanted to do. According to a book by authors Kurt J. Bruner and Jim Ware, “In fact, he [Lewis] went to Oxford [his alma mater] as a skeptic, seeing the Christian gospel as just another myth bringing comfort to the weak-minded-offering little to the more sophisticated intellect” (Finding God in the Land of Narnia 9). He was staunch in believing that such a God was irrational and became a full-fledged atheist.
C.S. Lewis’ major problem with the faith was that there was too much pain and suffering in the world for his image of God to exist. Lewis used a quote from Lucretius to describe his atheism “Had God designed the world, It would not be world so frail and faulty as we see.”
From Lewis, he needed to be convinced intellectually in order to believe again. Indeed, in 1931 A friend and famous author, J.R.R. Tolkien (writer of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy) had a long talk with Lewis and the result was life changing for Lewis. In Lewis’s book, Surprised by Joy, he states “When we set out [to the zoo] I did not believe in Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did.” (www.cslewis.org) Lewis fought viscously against his conversion. He wanted to not (www1.cbn.com) believe. He later called himself “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” (Lewis came to realize the God works in mysterious ways though the death of his wife, he also died of cancer. He came to the realization the he should be thankful for the time he had with his wife, not blame God for having taken her from him. Lewis realized the fact that it was a miracle in himself that he had ever had time with his wife.
In time, Lewis became a huge proponent to the Christian Faith. Time and time again, Lewis defended the faith against opposers. Lewis learned that in Christianity is both a personal and social experience. Later in his life, Lewis came to realize that God all calls us and asks different things from us. According to Lewis, God wants us to make a personal response to the Gospel. At the same time, friendship in faith is invaluable, as shown in Lewis’ story. Lewis would have never become the Christian he was without the help and support of his friends like Tolkien and other friends.
Lewis did a lot to spread and defend his faith, as shown in his writings and works. One such writing is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, which has compelled and intrigued readers of every age, religious and non-religious.
The most clear and apparent representation of an allegory in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is Aslan as Jesus Christ. When the Pevensie children about Aslan and who he is, Mr. Beaver responds by saying “I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea” (86). In this case, the “Emperor-beyond-the-Sea” is God the Father and Aslan is Jesus, his son.
Again we see the correlation between Aslan and Jesus when Aslan is killed by the White Witch on the Stone Table and his journey to the Stone Table. First, Aslan sacrifices himself for safety of Edmund and the survival of the good in the world. He and the Witch, called Jadis, come to a deal that Edmund is allowed to stay with his siblings and Aslan’s army, but only at the cost of Aslan’s life. “You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill” (155). Aslan died to save the people, exactly how Jesus died to save humans from sin.
“A great crowd of people were standing all around the Stone Table and though…’Would you like a saucer of milk, Pussums’” (165-168).

These pages are very similar to Jesus’ walk to Calvary. In both Aslan’s and Jesus’ walks, they are jeered, made fun of, and disrespected. Also, both accounts end with the death of each respective person; Jesus on the cross and Aslan on the Stone Table. However, both arise from the dead to save their respective civilizations from eminent doom. Jesus saved the human race from sin and Satan, while Aslan saved Pater’s army from the wretched hands of the White Witch. “Peter’s army- which had their back to her-looked terribly few…The battle was all over a few minutes after their arrival” (193-195).

A final parallel between Jesus and Aslan is the final pages of the book. “That night they slept where they were. How Aslan provided food for them all I don’t know: but somehow or other they on the grass to a fine high tea at about eight o’clock” (Lewis 198). This is like how Jesus fed the 5,000 with only 5 loaves of bread and two fish (New American Bible Matthew

14:13-21).
Jadis, or the White Witch, draws a similarity to her and Satan. Lewis describes the Witch as “taller than any women Edmund had ever seen…white like snow or paper or icing sugar” (33-34) yet had a “beautiful face in other respects” (34). As U. Milo Kauffman puts it “While Lewis is all but merciless in presenting Jadis, he does show her to be extremely beautiful and also of great vitality.” Lewis shows the Witch as a tempting figure, not one who some would avoid at all costs. An example of this is when she allures Edmund with the enchanted Turkish Delights. “Probably the Queen knew quite well that he was thinking; for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who tasted it would want more and more of it” (39). But as the reader soon sees, the Queen is not someone in which one wants to associate with. When Edmunds arrives at her palace in the chapter “In the Witch’s House”, Edmund is treated as slave until the time he is rescued to Aslan’s army. For example, when the sledge breaks because Spring has come, Edmund is forced to walk as fast as possible while being whipped. “The dwarf obeyed, and in a few minutes Edmund found himself being forced to walk as fast as he could with his hands tied behind him. He kept on sliding in the slush and mud and wet grass, and every time he slipped the dwarf gave him curse and sometimes a flick with the whip (131). In St. Peters letter to the Ephesians he writes “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” ( New American Bible Ephesians 6:11), meaning that Satan makes sin very tempting and may even at times make one think that doing the wrong thing is doing the right thing. The witch employs the same method when tricking Edmund. He believes that he truly should go to the Witch’s castle because it is the right thing to do, because she tricked him into thinking that. Jadis made it seem she was the good one, when in fact she is evil, much like Satan does.
A final religious representation in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is Mr.

and Mrs. Beaver as prophets. The role of prophets in the Christian faith is to announce and prepare the way for Jesus. The beavers do exactly this in the story. Like Isiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Amos, and John the Baptist in the Bible, the beavers prepare the way for Aslan. They tell the children of Aslan’s ways and recites old rhymes about Aslan to the children (“’He’ll put to all rights as it says’…we shall have spring again” (Lewis 85) and “’for that’s another of the old rhymes...will be over and done” (Lewis 87)) The beavers lead the children to Aslan and make sure the path is safe for them, as shown when he first goes to see who is there when Father Christmas arrives (Lewis

116).
Overall, Lewis wrote this story in order to convey to his readers a deeper understanding of the Christian faith. Lewis was indeed a very religious man, and felt it necessary to spread his faith to his readers. It is very easy to see The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe as an allegory and Lewis does a masterful job of retelling the story of Jesus Christ through Aslan, with White Witch representing Satan, and the beavers representing Jesus.