In 1950, eager readers approaching the children’s fantasy section of the bookstore were met with an unusual new title: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. To children, the combination of those three things was intriguing enough. To adults, the name of the author would have piqued more interest: C. S. Lewis, the renowned Christian writer. His name appears on such other titles as The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, The Weight of Glory, Miracles, and later Mere Christianity, a hallmark of religious classics. While the younger generation pondered how Narnia could fit into something as small as a wardrobe, mature readers would have mulled over a different question. How does The Chronicles of Narnia fit into his other religious works? …show more content…
Despite his “sin,” Digory repents of waking up the Witch and bringing her to Narnia (see Moses 5:10-11) and plants a Tree to keep the Witch away. It may not be a cherubim or a flaming sword (see Genesis 3:24), but it will prevent the Witch from coming within a hundred miles (The Magician’s Nephew, 189).
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The first book in The Chronicles of Narnia contains the most obvious Gospel reference. The story first gains traction when the Pevensies bring Christmas to Narnia. “[The White Witch] has made a magic so that it is always winter in Narnia—always winter, but it never gets to Christmas” (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 59). Likewise, the New Testament begins with the birth of Christ (see Matthew 1:1, 18). One of the Pevensies, Edmund, betrays Aslan to the White Witch, indirectly through Deep Magic (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 141-142). Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, while more deliberate than Edmund’s, is described in John 18:1-5. Aslan is able to overcome the Deep Magic by invoking Deeper Magic at the Stone Table, and defeats the Witch after coming back to life. Likewise, the scriptures prophesy of a Savior who will conquer death (see The Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:8) and the world (see John 16:33). At long last, “Adam’s flesh and Adam’s bone [s]it at Cair Paravel in throne” and “[t]he evil time [is] over and done” (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 81). Aslan leaves and Peter is given the
Another similarity between the Devil and the Witch is their appearance of beauty, when in reality, they are evil and grisly. When Edmund first meets the queen, he describes her as “a beautiful face, but proud and cold and stern” (Lewis, pg.34), but later in the book after he betrays his family, Edmund realizes how terrible she really is when she is cruel, malicious, and does not give him anything she had promised. In 2 Corinthians 11:4 it is written, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (NIV). Both figures give off the impression of sumptuousness to lure people towards evil.
Have you ever wondered about the deeper meaning of the book The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe? Although this children’s book was written as a fantasy by C.S. Lewis, there are many comparisons to the Gospel accounts of the Passion of Christ. This essay will explore the similarities and differences.
Memory is the quality that allows the readers to personally connect with a work of art. Relatable works tend to have more of an emotional impact on the reader. Symbols are used to connect the tangible to something intangible. Through this connection, readers will associate the aspects of the thing being symbolized to the symbol. For example, if a character is used to symbolize the devil in a work of art, the audience will associate the aspects of the devil to the character. Patterns allow readers to parallel one work of art to another work of art.
C.S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Within the quote, one can understand the Christian views of C.S. Lewis. Many know C.S Lewis as a fantasy novelist who wrote the infamous Chronicles of Narnia (Proquest Learning Literature). However, many don’t know that his other writings reflect his beliefs as a Christian. His vast variety of books allowed him to reach a large audience that ranges from children to the elderly ("About C.S. Lewis") . As an author of religious polemics and allegorical fiction, CS Lewis is considered a brilliant and influential Christian writer of the 20th century.
Clive Staples Lewis experienced adversity which forever changed his life. After the passing of his mother in 1908, Lewis gave up his childhood beliefs and decided there was no God. For the next twenty-three years he lived his life as a profound atheist. In 1931, J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson led Lewis back to Christianity. Lewis then began writing Christian and children’s literature.
The second part of the essay will explore the popular book series of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It will also compare any apocalyptic references with the Bible; hence, linking this source to the Jehovah’s Witnesses as they use the Bible as scriptural evidence for their apocalypticism. Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898. Lewis began writing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 1939. He pauses during the Second World War resuming writing in 1948.
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
C. S. Lewis is the magnificent author of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. He brought a thrilling and adventurous tale together to help people understand christ. It will have any reader hooked and wondering what is to come with the turn of every page. His novel uses allegory to the bible. He also created christian based characters in a way that will keep more interest. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe has unique allegory to the Bible, christian based characters, and is a perfect fictional story, written to understand christ.
C.S. Lewis often includes various religious allegories in many of novels but especially in The Chronicles of Narnia series. Throughout The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe we see many situations in which Aslan is representative of Jesus Christ. From the other characters’ descriptions of him, to the Pevensie children’s first encounter with him, to his torture, death and resurrection, Aslan is clearly meant to serve as the Jesus Christ of an alternate universe. He is the one who saves Narnia from the cold tyranny of Jadis and brings together the Pevensie children as the new kings and queens of Narnia.
It is through living a life filled with change and experience that Clive Staples Lewis was able to confidently proclaim, “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire” (The Quotable 223)? Without the events that led C. S. Lewis to this mindset, his famed novels would probably be nonexistent. The various aspects of Lewis’s life inspiring his works are especially prominent in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, an installment in his series The Chronicles of Narnia. These moments allowed Lewis to learn, mature, and grow as a person.
As, perhaps arguably, his most famous novel, from his most famous book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, there has been much debate as to his motives for the implementation of religion in his works, and even some question as to whether religion is an actual existing aspect of the work. This essay will not only outline the unmistakable presence of religious allegory, but also focus on the purpose of it being there. Thus being, that C.S Lewis uses religious allegory to effectively introduce and develop core themes of the novel in a fashion both comprehensible and relatable for a universal audience.
“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe functions as a spiritual allegory. The major characters parallel the central figures of the Christian religion, including Christ and Judas”(http://www.shmoop.com). In the book Christ is portrayed as Aslan and Judas as The white witch. There are many similarities between peter (The oldest brother) and St. Peter (one of Jesus’
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first of several novels in the C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. These books tell stories of another universe that is called Narnia. Here there are many unearthly things from talking animals and evil witches. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the story of four young siblings who discover this new world by entering a wardrobe. Little did they know, they were destined to become the new royalty of Narnia but only after going through many battles. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis analyzes the character Lucy, the theme of good versus evil, and the parallels of Narnia to other literature and Lewis’s life.
Callow, A. (2015). The Chronicles of Narnia, and How C.S. Lewis Created Christian Fantasy Fiction. Retrieved from Digitalcommons.linfield.edu: http://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=dcestud_theses
In C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis emphasizes the three points of philosophy, themes, and symbolism throughout his writing. Lewis was a strong Christian man, and wanted to make children see and understand all the stories of the Bible. Therefore, he put Christian elements through his books, but with fantasy characters as well. Especially in this story, Lewis conveys the differences between good and evil. Aslan is represented as Christ just as the White Witch represents the sense of evil. Lewis wrote several books in this Narnia series, but The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe became the most famous and recognized of his novels.