Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on symbolism in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was one book out of a collection that reveals The Chronicles of Narnia. It was written by Clive Staples Lewis, better known as Jack Lewis. In this story, Lewis uses his characters to address several key points of interest such as: betrayal, forgiveness, and pride. Lewis uses these key points to reflect on Christian themes. This essay will compare "Deep and Deeper Magic from the Dawn of Time", the significance of the cracking of the Stone Table, and the role playing of prophecies. It will discuss how this story is a supposal, an example of symbolism, and how it could be called "just magic."
There were several significant characters in this story: Aslan- a lion, Edmund - a little boy, The Emperor-Beyond- The- Sea, Father Christmas, and The White Witch. The story begins when a group of siblings: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy discover Narnia from entering into the wardrobe. It is Lucy's childlike faith that begins the adventure. In this magical land they will befriend many mythological characters. They will meet the White Witch and Aslan, the lion who will change their lives for eternity.
In the story Edmund's character is somewhat ambiguous. He displays betrayal, deceit, and pride. He lies about his first trip into Narnia saying it's "just for fun, of course. There's nothing there really" (Lewis, 1950, p. 48). Edmund's statement is mean and spiteful and lets Lucy down. Next, Edmund meets the White Witch and begins to follow her. He overindulges in a delicious dessert called Turkish Delight. He grows very greedy over this fine candy and continues to betray his siblings knowing that the witch is evil. His pride shows when he comes across the stone lion in the courtyard. While in the cour...
... middle of paper ...
... everything in site. The sea symbolizes the land or the boundary between Narnia and Aslan's home just as there are boundaries between the heavens and Earth.
In this supposal Lewis talks about betrayal, forgiveness, and pride. He seems to have a moral agenda hidden behind his characters. Although he wants you to take and interpret this story the way it is, there are several moral issues discussed throughout this chronicle. He uses Christian themes in his writing but transplants them in a setting that takes place in another place at another time. His writing causes the reader to think deeper into the story concluding their own opinions. The reader can simply see the story as a magical children's book or as a book with biblical representations. The viewpoint of the story depends on how the reader chooses to interpret it. That is what makes Lewis' writing "magical."
As intended in the story Edmund is a static character and represents wit, deception, and the wicked. Yet with all these amazing traits comes the consequences of using the for evil and not good. Sadly and ironically him trying to kill Edgar eventually leads to Edgar killing him out of the rage he feels after their father dies. What goes around always comes around good or bad and Edmund just got the bad side
The youngest Pevensie brother, Edmund, is the mischievous child among his siblings in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He is a representation of the possibility of what can go wrong when a child is not properly taught and does not follow set boundaries. Edmund’s subversion of set standards is the cause of a great deal of the troubles the Pevensies face in Narnia. For example, when he goes to the White Witch’s castle instead of listening to the others when they say Aslan is the true leader. In order to redeem himself, he must first be renewed and return to an earlier state. He is not allowed to stay indignant, but is reformed when he learns that Aslan is really the true ruler, and Jadis is not. He is allowed to do so because of his status as a child who is still developing. Edmund’s corruption and later redemption show that he is not really wicked, but has an innate goodness.
The symbolism between C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, and the New Testament in the Bible, particularly the account of Jesus’ death is not merely coincidental because The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is, in fact, an allegory. An allegory is a story with morals in which characters, plots and settings are used as symbols. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis is rich with Christian symbolism even though the allegorical nature of it is the subject of much controversy. Nonetheless, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is an allegory. In this tale, four ordinary children find a wardrobe that leads them into Narnia, an extraordinary land parallel to our universe with talking animal and fantasy creatures. An evil witch has cast a spell of eternal winter over the land and has lured one of the children into betraying the others for enchanted Turkish Delights. Meanwhile, a magical lion, the nemesis of the witch, has arrived after a 100-year absence because of the betrayal of Edmund and ancient prophecies. Soon the children find themselves as involved in the battle as the other creatures and the lion must free Narnia from the clutches of the evil witch and atones for Edmund’s betrayal. The symbolism in the characters, plots, setting, miscellaneous things and themes prove Narnia is, indeed, allegorical
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader By: C.S. Lewis There are three main characters in the story, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace. Lucy and Edmund are brothers and sisters and Eustace is their cousin. Edmund is a young teenager, very smart and very kind.
Through the use of Christian symbolism, conflicts, and imagery, C. S. Lewis implements his religious background into his literary works.
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...
C.S Lewis is the author of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Warrdrobe. Lewis was born on November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland. He was born Clive Staples Lewis to Flora August Hamilton Lewis and Albert J. Lewis. Lewis’s mother passed away when he was on ten years old. After his mother died he went on to get his pre-college education at boarding schools and he also received help from a tutor. Lewis served in World War I with the English Army, but unfortunately was sent home when he was wounded. Lewis was a graduate of Oxford University with a focus on classic philosophy and literature. As a child, he was disappointed with the Christian faith, but when he became older he found himself embracing Christianity. During World War II, he gave popular radio broadcasts on Christianity and they won many converts. Lewis’ speeches were collected in Mere Christianity. In the year of 1954, C.S. Lewis joined the staff of Cambridge University as a literature professor. He met an English teacher by the name of Joy Gresham and in 1956 they married each other and became a happily married family. The two were joyful during their marriage; unfortunately in 1960, the wife became ill with cancer died. Lewis began publishing his works in the mid- 1920s. Lewis started to publish The Chronicles of Narnia during the 1950s. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first in the seven book series to be released. This was the story of four siblings who discovered a wardrobe with a magical land in the back of it (“Clives…”). In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis describes Aslan, Edmund, and Lucy.
Have you ever wanted to free yourself from the terrors and troublesome times of modern society and escape to a magical place? Clive Staples Lewis, or C.S. Lewis as he is better known, created such a place, in his extremely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. In these books, Lewis has an underlying message about Christianity. He represents four key aspects of Christianity in this series: Christ and God, evil in the world, and faith.
Fiction has always been used as a way to relay different types of messages throughout time. In many cases authors use fiction to make political commentary, use stories to bring out the major flaws that society has, as well as a way to spread different types of beliefs or ideals. C.S. Lewis’s used his work, “The Chronicles of Narnia”, to reiterate the messages of the Bible to those who might have gotten lost during their lifetime. Though his whole series was full of connections the book that have the most prevalent connections are The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In both there are places that are very similar to and very different books in the Bible. Taking into context when Lewis wrote this series is extremely important to see what some of his motivations might have been. These stories were started soon after World War II had ended. These stories were a way to teach the next generation some of the morals that the Bible was teaching. By creating these fantastical stories Lewis was able to make connections to help bridge the learning gap between the two generations. Also by using children as a target audience Lewis was able to remind adults as well, instead of being ignored because of the recent war. Lewis was able to address these lessons and morals in a way that both taught the children the way of the Bible, as well as to put a new spin on old tales so that adults were able to come back to religion, after losing some faith during the brutal war.
Kaufmann, U. M. (2008). The Wardrobe, the Witch, and the Lion: CS Lewis and Three Mysteries of the Christian Faith. The Dulia et Latria Journal, 1, 47-62.
seemingly have no problem at all? During his time with the Witch, Edmund begins to realize he does not
The Chronicles of Narnia are veritably the most popular writings of C.S. Lewis. They are known as children’s fantasy literature, and have found favor in older students and adults alike, even many Christian theologians enjoy these stories from Lewis; for there are many spiritual truths that one can gleam from them, if familiar with the Bible. However, having said this, it is noteworthy to say that Lewis did not scribe these Chronicles for allegorical didactics of the Christian faith, but wrote them in such a well-knit fashion that young readers might understand Christian doctrine through captivating fantasy and thus gain an appreciation for it. With this in mind, and in the interest of this assignment, the purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze one of the many doctrines of the Christian faith from The Lion, The Witch, And, The Wardrobe (LWW), namely, temptation and how Lewis illustrates it through an individual character, Edmund.
C.S. Lewis uses a secondary world, Narnia, to convey complex, thought-provoking messages to readers of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. This paper examines the way a selection of Narnia's key characteristics prompt debates over logic and faith, comment on the nature of spiritual and metaphysical journeys, allow readers to broaden their conception of their own capabilities, encourage new reflection on the story of Christ and help to clarify conceptions of good and evil.
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie are four siblings that lived in England, and they are sent away from London to live on the countryside, where they will be safe from air raids and bombings of World War II. While they are staying in a large, historic country mansion owned by an old professor called Digory Kirke. While Lucy is exploring the mansion, Lucy finds a magical wardrobe that takes her to a mysterious land called Narnia. The others didn't believe her, but they did as soon as they found out for themselves. Narnia is under a spell of winter, cast by its evil queen, Jadis The White Witch. Edmund is held captive by the White Witch. Lucy remembers the prophecy about them and about Edmund being held captive told by a pair of talking beavers. The King of the talking Beasts, Aslan, is executed by the Witch. He is resurrected when Lucy cries on him, and he helps fight back against the White Witch and her army. The four children become king and queens of Narnia, until they find their way back home.
Many people believe that Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’s storyline and plot are based off of a Christian-based allegory; however, it is not. With the early childhood and teenage years of C.S. Lewis, the author of Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the story could be a reflection of his life. Lewis also had a fascination with mythology, which plays a key role in the making of the characters. Many think that Lewis’s Christian conversion is what inspired him to write Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Without the Christian conversion of C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’s content would not change but the focus on the meaning would change from a Christian allegory to a children’s fantasy novel. The first fact that would support this theory is Lewis’s childhood.