To every protagonist in a novel, there has to be an antagonist that presents a perplexing challenge. Clive Staples Lewis is profoundly known for his successful children’s book series The Chronicles of Narnia, especially The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which had a popular plot for an undermined war between the White Witch named Jadis, the friendly lion Aslan, and the “Talking Beast” of Narnia (Bloom 25).
C.S. Lewis was a theologian for Christian beliefs and had a great aspiration of showing it in his writings. Aslan, the “Talking Lion”, is perceived as a holy entity and has the mirror image of Jesus Christ (Kay 134). However, before C.S. Lewis unveils Aslan as the “savior”, the evil essence of a competitive enemy comes into play. Mr.
…show more content…
Lewis uses this distinct order of revealing the bad character first to create the need of a liberator and give foreshadowing details on what’s bound to happen. The most notable techniques he uses are the combination of Greek mythology and biblical analogies throughout the series to have a better connection with his “imaginative world” (Bloom 34). The White Witch is a representation of Medusa, the cursed Greek mythic woman that turns people to stone at sight.
In Lewis’ books, the White Witch turns people to stone who oppose her power. Medusa is compromised of being a great deceiver and a frightening sight such as a demon literally, which is the perfect example to model off of considering that the White Witch is the daughter of Adam’s “first wife Lilith” who was banished from Earth for her demonic sins as said in Jewish folklore (Breman). The way Lewis puts this into this work is prudent since he lets Mr. Beaver, a “popular modernized” animal with ancient knowledge, talk about it to give a better understanding on the Witch’s background, to undermine Adam’s children being depicted as saviors (Lewis 74). This “background check” serves as insight on Jadis being expressed as a tyrannical being which has to “live parasitically” off the host and feed of their persona, in this case Aslan, to give her an advantage over the animals’ trust in Narnia (Wood …show more content…
8). The more in depth Mr.
Lewis gets into this great fairy tale, the more and more it stops seeming so. Lewis created this story to be a children’s book, however to an audience with more experience in life, it begins to exhibit more “religious politics” (Bloom 98). As the White Witch gains the infamous trust of the youngest boy Edmund through “Turkish delight”, many of the Christian “deadly sins” become to arise (Wood 8). The two biggest “sins” seen throughout the change of Edmund’s character are, envy and gluttony. Envy is the feeling of desiring other’s simple material things, achievements, to even respect. The gluttony of course is excessive consumption of Turkish delight Edmund continues to eat. In conformity with those two sins, the young Edmund becomes corrupt under an evil individual, such as Adam and Eve under the influence of the snake. Lewis’s ability to convey old biblical stories into modern children books is so “beautifully handled” (Bloom 86). The lesson that Jaris explicitly covers in this tale involves the death of good being the “birth of something beyond believing” (Kay
136). The well-known protagonist in this series, Aslan is without doubt a “Christ figure” (Kay 134). Lewis makes this first allusion once he refers to Aslan being the son of “the Emperor-beyond-the-sea” (Lewis 138). This is a direct version of Christianity’s “Lord of Heaven of Earth” entity given to Jesus Christ’s father. In essence with that, using the biblical technique of capitalizing anything stating Jesus’ or God’s is capitalized such as “His” or “Him”, Lewis capitalizes any other title given to Aslan such as “Talking Lion”, to show the significance he has in the Narnia world in equivalence to Jesus’ prominent figure on Earth (Kay 134). The land of Narnia shows the humanly mistakes done on Earth and the dramatic change it can make on the land and residents of it. Narnia has the comparability of the Garden of Eden, a utopia turned corrupt and evil over an evil reality looming over it. As Aslan walks with the Pevensie family through Narnia, he changes the winter and cold path of White Witch into spring. It is familiar to “God walking with Adam and Eve” in the Garden of Eden, rising up to the question in today’s time period; is Jesus Christ God’s son, or are they merely the same entity just under one body (Bloom 114)? So to speak, it is remotely possible for Mr. Lewis to depict that in his writing due to the fact that Aslan posses the power to “move mountains” and create Narnia out of “nothingness” just as God created the universe (Bloom 101). Aslan bears a resemblance to the Holy Trinity as well. However Lewis subverts this ideal, by not stating it thoroughly just as he did to show how Aslan is Jesus’ mirror image. Hints are given on how Aslan has the entity of the Holy Spirit within his soul when he solemnly breathes. In the New Testament in the Holy Bible, Jesus is said to have breathed upon his disciples and said, “receive the Holy Spirit” (Bible Jn 20.22). To free the animals that were caught my Jaris and turned into stone, Aslan simply breathes on them and “releases their soul” (Kay 134). C.S. Lewis does not only put the impression that a holy entity was released from a lion’s nostrils, but he also creates the image of a priest cleansing a soul after confessions. Aslan is the perfect example of “The Savior” for children who are to young to understand the bible, and that is where C.S. Lewis succeeded at being an author (Brennan). Considering all the allusions and “holy imagery” that the Chronicles of Narnia posses, Clive Staples Lewis successfully created a “remix” of the Holy Bible. Involving many basic literature devices such as; protagonist/antagonist plots, to moral meanings and metaphors, to more profoundly visible, allusions and personification, Lewis changed the standard on how fairy tales should be written (Bloom 178-179).
During his early life, Clive Staples Lewis was raised in church (Stewart 1). However, as modernism continued to gain influence, Lewis started to create his own, new perspective. Individualized, unique perspectives were one of the major aspects of modernism. Modernists of that time also rejected religion and instead chose to see it as a myth. They appreciated religion, but as an interesting story instead of a belief system (Matterson 1). That is just what C.S. Lewis came to believe; that Jesus' life was no more than an embellished story of an ordinary man. He put aside his Christian roots and became enthralled with Pagan myth. Lewis' writings reflected his atheist beliefs, until the early 1930s when he- after many talks with devoted Catholic J.R.R. Tolkien- rededicated his life to Christ (Gopnik 13).
Some of the greatest villains in literature are characters who have merely been misunderstood. While we are drawn to literary heroes and admire their strengths, we often forget to consider the point of view of their enemies. Many of these enemies also possess strengths that the reader does not realize. Along with traditional heroes, the villain in a story can be considered an anti-hero. In the story Grendel, by John Gardner, the reader is challenged to contemplate the thoughts and feelings of the anti-hero, Grendel. Exploring heroes like Beowulf, and anti-heroes like Grendel, and the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, causes the reader to develop a better understanding of the relationship that exists between the characters and their society.
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
Katelyn Matroni Professor Torrence English 102 February 12th, 2014. Meaning of Life According to Bruno Bettelheim, in Introduction: The Struggle for Meaning taken from The Uses of Enchantment, the use of fairy tales in a children’s life allows them to deal with their fears in a symbolic way. In order for a story to hold a child’s attention, it must “help him to develop his intellect and to clarify his emotions”(263). The use of fairy tales in Burn Your Maps, by Robyn Joy Leff, portrays the subtle but important influence of fairy tales on a child.
Through fresh writing, the character of Witch is allowed to have the most contradictions, therefore blurring the rigid binary of good vs bad, an idea ingrained in popular culture for eons, in effect making her the play’s most human character. This is key to de mystifying the Grimm Brother’s fairy tale “Rapunzel”, as she is no longer placed in a 2 dimensional mold of evil figure. While her defining moments in the text are marked by unexplained rage, jealousy and retribution lensed with zero objective perspective within into the Woods she is given opportunity to be viewed in a more well rounded light as she is central in everyone else’s story allowing the audiences to experience more of her. Through this there is chance to
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.
Nowadays, children books are full field with morals and lesson to teach children how to behave and react in real life situations. A classic subject that teaches children is the rivalry between good and bad, where good defeats bad after a battle. An example of a children novel that explores in different ways the good versus the bad is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written by C.S Lewis. The author of this novel uses literary elements to demonstrate the idea of good and evil, an example of which would be characterisation. Aslan and the White Witch embody the characteristics of the good and the evil, two of which are their physical and psychological descriptions and their actions in the novel.
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...
Throughout history it is known that fairy tales were written to teach children lessons about life in a way they could understand and that is fun and unique. Authors of fairy tales put simple lessons into the stories so the children could understand them easily while reading. Whether this be a lesson to be nice to all people, like in Cinderella, or to not judge someone by their appearance, like in Donkey Skin, both by Charles Perrault. Each fairytale has a moral that can be found throughout reading the stories that teach children right from wrong while letting them use their imaginations to discover that moral. The good and the bad lets them express their thoughts openly, rather it be their negative thoughts through the villian or their
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.
Most modern fairytales are expected to have happy endings and be appropriate for children, nonetheless, in past centuries most were gruesome. Consequently, fairytales have been modified throughout time. The stories “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont and “The Summer and Winter Garden” by Jacob and Wilherm Grimm share similarities and differences. The two stories are distinct because of the peculiar year they have been written in. LePrince de Beaumont’s story is written in London of 1783 and Grimm’s in Germany of 1812. At the time, wealthy people in London, were educated and had nannies who would read to their children; whereas, in Germany, the Grimm brothers created their own interpretation into a short story. Because many high class parents in 18th century London would not be able to spend time with their children, nannies would read “Beauty and the Beast” to them since they were intended for children and considered appropriate. In “The Summer and Winter Garden,” the Grimm’s’ story was mostly based to entertain misbehaved children and teach them the valuable lesson that everyone should be treated with kindness. The Grimm brothers’ goal in rewriting this short story is to better children’s behavior which worked quite well. Since these stories have been re-written for children, it would be safe to say the reason why parents expose the two stories to their children is because they both portray the same moral: good things happen to good people. The two interpretations of “Beauty and the Beast,” although written in separate countries, share important similarities and differences even though the authors have different interpretations and came from different cultures.
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.
Since the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 1997, J.K. Rowling’s best-selling series has become enormously popular, evidenced in part by its translation into more than seventy languages (Plunkett). As its popularity has increased, it has been held in correspondingly higher esteem until Harry Potter finally joined the likes of Peter Pan and Robin Hood, and Rowling’s series was unofficially labeled Children’s Literature. Due to this station, it is being treated more seriously and examined more analytically. This attention has illuminated allusions and patterns that impose additional layers of meaning onto the story. Harry Potter’s quest, detailed through seven books and thousands of pages, includes archetypal characters, situations, and structure of a classic epic.
There are many allegories in this story and many representations of Christianity. I have enjoyed reading the books and I have been enlightened reading the critic books. However, the critic books influenced me in thinking some of my own and so I have added on to what I think Lewis was trying to refer just for the purpose of the situation.