The eternal conflict between Good and Evil has been always the major topic of philosophy and literature. Many writers tried to disclose the problem by analyzing it from moral, cultural, and social aspects. One of them was C. S. Lewis, a famous British novelist and literal essayist, who greatly enriched the world literature heritage. Special attention should be paid to his work “Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, a fantastic story that has captured the world’s attention, the screen version of which was positively assessed both by the children and the adult audience. Though the language of the story is quite simple the writer managed to reveal the crucial philosophical and social points, such as the importance of forgiveness, the problem of generation gap and trust, and, of course, the problem of the Good and the Evil. Needless to say, the writer logically covers all aspects of the good and bad features of the characters; both the inner and outer conflicts are revealed in the story.
To follow the external battle of the good and the evil is possible from the beginning of the book, when four children, Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy face the second world war when they are forced to move to Professor’s old house (Lewis, C. S. 1989 p. 5). The ray of goodness here is the wardrobe symbolizing the transfer to the good world called Narnia. Here, Lewis strictly differentiates the real world where justice and moral values are forgotten by the people and the fictional world where these virtues are consistently disclosed. This world is created for detecting the real veritable features of the main characters. Another outer contradiction between Good and Evil is brightly illustrated by the heroes of the novels. The obvious one is the battle between the Lion Aslan, an embodiment of braveness and nobleness, and the White Witch, the symbol of all human vices (Lewis, C. S. 2008, p. 56). The outright description of the fight shows the reader that evil can be defeated only by uniting all the virtues together and by depriving of all the human vices. In this concrete example, Lewis depicts the confrontation of the human world and the world of nature which is always injured by people subconsciously. Here, all the animals and the faun Tumnus (Lewis, C. S. 2008, p. 14), the mythical creature, are regarded as the reflection of all human positive values and features of character. In addition, the personification of animals in the story discloses the veritable atmosphere in Narnia being a fairy country. Good and Evil conflict is exemplified by the struggle of animals and people.
The Good and the Evil opposition could be displayed not only as of the battle between individuals but also through inner conflict within one person. It proves the theory that a person cannot be purely good and evil and, thus, both features are typical of human beings. The fact is that some emotions prevail and some are hidden or oppressed. The quality of dominant emotions depends upon the person’s will and character. Getting down to the story, we can witness numerous examples of the inner struggle of the heroes. For instance, the writer illustrates the inner experience Edmund when he betrays his sisters and brother being blinded by the power of the White Witch. But, owing to his natural goodness he overcomes his dependence on avidity and was forgiven by Lucy. The avidity was mortified by the feeling of remorse and helped him to renew the equilibrium of soul and mind. This particular case shows that recognition of Goodness is impossible without its comparison with Evil. Hence comes, that domination of the evil virtue in the White Witch’s soul denotes the weakness of her character and her impossibility to overcome her anger and pride.
The story ends with the crowing of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy and awarding them with the titles. The symbolism of that extract is revealed through the end of the struggle not only between the material good and evil sides but also within the children. In other words, children’s adventures can be compared with their searching for what is good and what is bad. Children must acknowledge their fears and drawbacks so that they were able to recognize and respect other moral interests.
In a conclusion, it should be noted that in the book we could perceive the biblical motives when God is associated with the Lion whose mission is to punish his people for the sins they commit. So, the crowning of the children was the manifest the victory of the Good over the Evil (Smith, L. M. 2005). “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” is the brightest example of real human relations in the unreal world. Still, this story should be regarded as evidence of the fact that believing in a miracle is no easy matter. Simply speaking, the power of imagination is even stronger than the power of knowledge since human possibilities are unlimited.
Reference List
Lewis, C. S. (1989). The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. US: Dramatic Publishing.
Smith, L. M. (2005). Accounting for the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Web.