Sunteți pe pagina 1din 8

How Archetypal Approach Works in Narnia

In his novel, entitled The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The
Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis displayed an archetypal approach where readers look for such patterns in
literature, relying on archaeology, anthropology, psychology, history, and religion to identify and
explain the total human experience. And in this case, C.S. Lewis made use of the Christian
religion where he believed that in using interesting characters that serves as an allegory to some
Bible Characters and events, children would be able to appreciate the Bible more. I will be
focusing on (1) the archetypes shown only in the book, (2) the stages of an archetypal hero, and
(3) whether the book is an allegory or something else.
According to Carl Jung, there are seven commonly used archetypes: the hero, the mentor,
the threshold guardian, the herald, the shape shifter, the shadow, and the trickster. Among the
seven, the threshold guardian and the herald are not present.
The hero archetype is obviously the main characters which in this case is the four
siblings; Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.
The mentor is the one who provides motivation, insights, and training to help the hero.
In this book, the Professor, Father Christmas, and Aslan takes this role.
The shape shifter is the White Witchs Dwarf guard whose role is to mislead the Hero
by hiding a character's intentions and loyalties.
The shadow represents the darkest desires, untapped resources, or even rejected
qualities. It can also symbolize the greatest fears and phobias. The shadow can be seen in the
Turkish delight and the wolves of the White Witch.
And finally, the trickster is being played by the White Witch. The tricksters role is to
relish the disruption of the status quo, turning everything into chaos with their quick turns of
phrase and physical antics.
According to my research, there is what we call stages of an archetypal hero or the
stages of a journey. These twelve (12) stages are called the ordinary world, call to adventure,

refusal of the call, meeting with the mentor, crossing the threshold, test, allies and enemies,
approach to the inmost cave, ordeal, reward, the road back, resurrection, and finally return with
the elixir.
First stage is The Ordinary World. This stage is where the heroes are in their homeland
where in the case of the four siblings, London then they were sent to the Professors house. Next
is the call to adventure where it sets the story rolling by disrupting the comfort of the Hero's
Ordinary World, presenting a challenge or quest that must be undertaken. This starts where the
four siblings are playing hide and seek and Lucy, the youngest, wondered into a wardrobe. And
in there, Lucy meets Mr. Tumnas before returning to the ordinary world. When she entered again,
Edmund follows and unfortunately meets the White Witch who then tempts him into bringing his
other siblings there in Narnia.
The next stage is the Refusal of the Call where the Hero often refuses [or is reluctant]
to take on the Journey because of fears and insecurities that have surfaced from the Call to
Adventure. The Hero may not be willing to make changes, preferring the safe haven of the
Ordinary World. This becomes an essential stage that communicates the risks involved in the
Journey that lies ahead. Without risks and danger or the likelihood of failure, the audience will
not be compelled to be a part of the Hero's Journey. It can be seen in the part where Peter and
Susan refuses/doesnt believe Lucys claim about a magical land beyond the inside of the
wardrobe and Edmund lies about being there in Narnia. In anguish, Lucy runs away and
accidentally bumps into the professor.
In the stage of Meeting with the Mentor, The Hero meets a Mentor to gain confidence,
insight, advice, training, or magical gifts to overcome the initial fears and face the Threshold of
the adventure. In this scenario, the Professor advices the two siblings that they have to trust their
younger sisters words which shook the two eldest. This resulted to them being convinced and at
first plays along. That is until they accidentally broke something and decided to hide in the
wardrobe.
But the Meeting with the Mentor did not only happen there. It also occurred when the
four siblings met the Beavers wherein they had doubts before and it was the Beavers that finally
convinced them to seek Aslans help and fight against the White Witch and her army. This also

happened when Father Christmas or most commonly known as Santa Clause came. He had given
the powerless siblings useful tools that they would be able to use during their Journey: A bow
and arrow for Susan, a potion and a dagger for Lucy, and a sword for Peter. Edmund did not
receive anything for he was not with them at that time.
Crossing the Threshold signifies that the Hero has finally committed to the Journey.
He is prepared to cross the gateway that separates the Ordinary World from the Special World.
This happened immediately after as they magically got inside the world Lucy described as
Narnia.
The stage of Test, Allies, and Enemies is where the heroes face Tests, encounter Allies,
confront Enemies, and learn the rules of this Special World. They also find out who can be
trusted. Here they earned allies with the Beavers, Father Christmas/Santa Claus, and Aslan. They
also found out that the White Witch and her wolves are enemies. And in addition to that, the
heroes ends up with a question of their own: Lucy wonders of she can speak despite being the
youngest, Peter asks himself if he can be a hero, Edmund conflicts on which side hes on, and
Susan thinks whether she is not dreaming and is actually in a magical world and if she is ready
for commitment to her role.
The Approach to the Inmost Cave is where the Hero must make the preparations
needed to approach the Inmost Cave that leads to the Journey's heart, or central Ordeal. Maps
may be reviewed, attacks planned, a reconnaissance launched, and possibly the enemies forces
whittled down before the Hero can face his greatest fear, or the supreme danger lurking in the
Special World. This is the part when battle preparations are being done, the witch meets with
Aslan, Aslan sacrifices himself in the place of Edmund, and Peter is then elected as the new
leader.
The stage of Ordeal happens where the Hero engages a central life-or-death crisis,
during which he faces his greatest fear, confronts his most difficult challenge, and experiences
"death". His Journey teeters on the brink of failure. The Ordeal is the central magical Stage of
any Journey. Only through "death" can the Hero be reborn, experiencing a resurrection that
grants greater power or insight to see the Journey to the end. This is shown wherein Peter, with
much convincing on Edmunds and on the other Narnians part, agreed to go into battle with the

White Witch and her army still doubting if he can lead the army into victory despite Aslan not
being there to lead instead of him.
The Reward is where the Hero has survived death, overcome his greatest fear, slain the
dragon, or weathered the crisis of the heart, and now earns the Reward that he has sought. The
Hero's Reward comes in many forms: a magical sword, an elixir, greater knowledge or insight,
reconciliation with a lover. Whatever the treasure, the Hero has earned the right to celebrate.
This can be found in the chapters where Aslan gets resurrected and brings back all the petrified
creatures in the Witchs castle to the battle field, Lucy finally taking the lead, Susan managed to
win over her struggle of shooting her arrows now without hesitation, Edmund managed to fight
against the Witch and break her wand, where Peter then finishes the Witchs life.
The stage of Resurrection is where the Hero faces the Resurrection, his most dangerous
meeting with death. This final life-or-death Ordeal shows that the Hero has maintained and can
apply all that he has brought back to the Ordinary World. This Ordeal and Resurrection can
represent a "cleansing" or purification that must occur now that the Hero has emerged from the
land of the dead. The Hero is reborn or transformed with the attributes of the Ordinary self in
addition to the lessons and insights from the characters he has met along the road. This battle is
for much more than the Hero's life. Other lives, or an entire world may be at stake and the Hero
must now prove that he has achieved Heroic status and willingly accept his sacrifice for the
benefit of the Ordinary World. Other Allies may come to the last minute rescue to lend
assistance, but in the end the Hero must rise to the sacrifice at hand. He must deliver the blow
that destroys the Shadow/Trickster. This stage is seen when Edmund fights the White Witch
which resulted him in a dying state for the price of breaking her wand. Lucy then arrives and
makes use of a potion Father Christmas/ Santa Claus gave her back before and cures Edmunds
wounds, saving his life. Edmund thanks his sister and he deeply apologized to his other siblings
for lying and betraying them where he sold them out to the White Witch. The four siblings hugs
each other creating a new found bond between them. Lucy then stands and goes to resurrect the
other fallen Narnians.
The Road Back is where the Hero must finally recommit to completing the Journey and
accept the Road Back to the Ordinary World. A Hero's success in the Special World may make it
difficult to return. This is in the chapter where the four siblings, now with age of adults, stumbles

upon the lone lamp and accidentally found the wardrobe leading them back to the Professors
house as children or at least back to the age when they hid inside the said wardrobe.
The last stage is the Return with the Elixir where the Hero has been resurrected,
purified and has earned the right to be accepted back into the Ordinary World and share the Elixir
of the Journey. The true Hero returns with an Elixir to share with others or heal a wounded land.
The Elixir can be a great treasure or magic potion. It could be love, wisdom, or simply the
experience of having survived the Special World. In the case of this book, the four siblings
returned with new insights and knowledge which they gained in Narnia.
Before, Susan did not believe Lucy because a world inside a wardrobe was technically
not possible / logical. But after the incident, she now believes that not everything has to be
logical. Edmund, who before felt insecure and small in his family, now realizes that he will
always side with his family as he gained the sense of belonging with his siblings. Peter, who then
had doubts whether he can act as the eldest and if he can keep his siblings together, now has that
certainty that he has and he will be able to protect them and be the hero. And lastly Lucy, who
was always being told to grow up, has come back with renewed senses of child-like wonder and
faith in herself.
Now, this book has not only showed the types of archetypes and its stages but it also
shows allegory. M. H. Abrams defines allegory as a narrative in which the agents and action, and
sometimes the setting as well, are contrived so as to make coherent sense on the "literal," or
primary, level of signification, and also to signify a second, correlated order of agents, concepts,
and events. First off are the characters. To the readers of the book, it is most popular that Aslan
is Jesus. Here is a passage on Chapter 7:
"Aslan?" said Mr. Beaver. "Why, don't you know? He's the King. He's the Lord of the whole
wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father's time. But the word has
reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He'll settle the White Queen
all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus."
"Isis he a man?" asked Lucy.

"Aslan a man!" Mr. Beaver said sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and
the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan
is a lionthe Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is hequite safe? I shall feel rather nervous
about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear
before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

And it is also obvious that the White Witch is Satan. Here is a line about the witch in
Chapter 4:
"The White Witch?" said Edmund; "who's she?"
"She is a perfectly terrible person," said Lucy. "She calls herself the Queen of Narnia thought
she has no right to be queen at all, and all the Fauns and Dryands and Naiads and Dwarfs and
Animalsat least all the good onessimply hate her. And she can turn people into stone and do
all kinds of horrible things. And she has made a magic so that it is always winter in Narnia
always winter, but it never gets to Christmas. And she drives about on a sledge, drawn by
reindeer, with her wand in her hand and a crown on her head."

And Edmund was made to be quite similar to Judas Iscariot, the traitor amongst the
disciples of Jesus. Here is a line by the end of Chapter 4.
Edmund was already feeling uncomfortable from having eaten too many sweets, and
when he heard that the Lady he had made friends with was a dangerous witch he felt even more
uncomfortable. But he still wanted to taste that Turkish Delight more than he wanted anything
else.
Second are the events in the story. First of all is the most obvious part: Aslan and the
stone table. In this part, Aslan is tied down to the stone table and was killed by the witch. But a
little later, the stone tablet cracked and there stood the lion with all his glory. So this parallels the
story of Christs crucifixion and resurrection. Next is the part where Aslan offers the White
Witch his life instead of the life of the sinner, Edmunds. This is parallel to the fact where Jesus
gave his life for us sinners where we were the ones who are supposed to be crucified for our sins.

Another one is the chapter where Edmund was tempted by the Turkish Delight. This is similar to
the event of Judas being tempted by money. Next is the final battle which signifies the battle of
good and evil. And lastly, the part of the Witchs death is parallel to Satans defeat and fall to
Hell.
Surprisingly according to Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware, writers of the book Finding God in
the Land of Narnia, The Narnia stories are not allegory. Rather they grow out of a central
supposition. Suppose there existed another world peopled by animals rather than human beings.
Suppose that world fell, like ours, and had in it someone the equivalent of Christ. Based upon
this supposition, Lewis created a fantasy world that depicts the central theme of our real world
redemption through the incarnate Gods death and resurrection.
But Lewis did say that people still treat his work as a complete allegory despite him
saying that it is not when he said, Some people seem to think that I began asking myself how I
could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on a fairy tale as an
instrument;...then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out allegories to
embody them. This is pure moonshine. I couldnt write in that way at all. Everything began with
images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there
wasnt anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord. I was part
of the bubbling.
But pass the conflict of the book being a complete allegory or not, it is still a fact that
C.S. Lewis hoped his Narnia tales would draw readers toward a deeper love of Jesus and had
considered Carl Jungs archetypal approach to literary analysis and criticism. He had managed to
put together a wonderful piece of literary art that will surely give the readers an assured time of
their lives.

References:
(BOOKS)
Bruner, K., & Ware, J. (2005). Finding God in the Land of Narnia. Carol Stream, Illinois:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Lewis, C.S. (1950). The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. New York: Collier Books
Sibley, B., & Sage, A. (1999). A Treasury of Narnia. London: HarperCollins
(WEBSITES)
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Important Quotations Explained. (2012). Retrieved on
September 27, 2015, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lion/quotes.html
Brennan, M. The Lion, the Witch and the Allegory: An Analysis of Selected Narnia
Chronicles. Retrieved from http://cslewis.drzeus.net/papers/lion-witch-allegory/
Ageless Wisdom & The Hero's Journey in Story and Myth. Retrieved on September 27,
2015, from http://www.divineparadox.com/arts/archetypes_on_the_path.htm#
mythandmovies

S-ar putea să vă placă și