The Enchanted Mystery of the Gospel Through the Eyes of C.S. Lewis

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The girls come out of hiding after watching this horrific scene and rush up to Aslan’s body in disbelief. They feel very defeated until the sun rises and they look up from their slump to see the stone table broken in half and a triumphant and very much alive Aslan walking towards them. He greets them with joy and explains that the Witch did not realize that if a willing volunteer died in a traitor’s place, it would cause the stone table to break and defeat death itself. (Brennan, Matt. "Into the Wardrobe.")

As Aslan is resurrecting, the White Witch and her army and fighting against Aslan’s people. The Witch is turning all the animals to stone with her magic wand she carries. Aslan and the four children join together with the rest of his people to defeat the White Witch. The siblings finally sit on the four thrones and complete the prophecy. They rule in Narnia for several joyous years. (Brennan, Matt. "Into the Wardrobe.")

One day, the now grown children go out riding and see a white stag. As they are hunting it, they find the door to the wardrobe they entered into Narnia through but they do not remember it. They begin to pass back through it, slowly recognizing it as though it were something from a dream. When they return back to the professor’s home, they are amazed that no time as passed in reality and they are back to being children again. (Brennan, Matt. "Into the Wardrobe.")

All throughout this elaborate tale is evidence of allegory and symbolism being used by C.S. Lewis. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines allegory as, “the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence.” There are many different types of allegories including political, abstract, and fable. The beast fable is the category that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe falls under because it includes talking animals that symbolizes human figures. This fable exemplifies a unique kind of allegory where all the characters tell a story that signifies a second order of interconnected meanings. However, in Lewis’ On Stories and Other Essays on Literature, he discusses the fact that the Narnia chronicles were not allegorical. Despite this fact, there are obvious allegorical instances all throughout the story. Maybe Lewis got so consumed in his writing that the Holy Spirit began to overtake his work to manifest Himself through his books. Either way, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a beautiful depiction of the salvation story. (Lewis, C.S. On Stories and Other Essays on Literature)

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis introduces Narnia as a world already engulfed in evil. When Lucy first enters the world and meets Mr. Tumnus, she sees a wonderful world filled with enchanted creatures. Lucy believes all of the stories that Mr. Tumnus tells her of the evil the White Witch has brought into Narnia and how the four humans sitting on the thrones at the capital can end the curse. The second of the Pevensie children to enter this fairytale land is Edmund. His first interaction with the land of Narnia is the selling of his soul in exchange for Turkish Delight. Here, Lewis has set up the backbone of the narrative. He has developed a world overcome with evil and as soon as he introduces humans, one is equated with the side of good and one with the side of evil. This is where the allegory of salvation is revealed. Narnia is a symbol for the state of the current world: they are both enveloped in sin. Lucy represents the side of us as humans that is willing to do what is good and to believe. She is the first of the children to actually have faith that Narnia is a place of goodness and not evil. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus speaks on this side of humans as He says, “‘for the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!’” I believe that Edmund is a picture of the second half of that verse: “‘but the body is weak.’”

The first sentence of that verse says, “‘Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.’” I think that Lewis does an excellent job of displaying just how consuming sin can be through the development of Edmund’s character. Edmund fully succumbs to those temptations and eventually his sin has complete control over him. At first, he is very pleased with the reward his treachery has afforded him when he is being spoiled with Turkish Delight. But when the White Witch’s wrath comes down on him and she makes him her slave, he realizes the consequences of his sins. This is exactly the predicament we, as humans, are in on a daily basis. Sin looks so enticing and tasteful at first but once satan gets his foothold, chains begin to form that we cannot possibly break free from on our own. In Romans 7, Paul talks about how we do what we hate because sin is literally embedded in our flesh. Edmund is developed as a troublemaker with a good heart, meaning that he does not desire to do bad things but he cannot seem to escape from his mischievous side. All of humankind can relate to this internal struggle. I believe that the Turkish Delight here can have a direct correlation to some sort of addiction whether it be an addictive substance, or porn, or sexual addiction but it could also be correlated to any and all sin. Because it is our human nature to be sinful, any sin is just as addictive as a drug could be.

Lewis continues to deepen the display of how blind sin can make a person by developing Edmund’s relationship with the White Witch. He cannot even see her evil because his only concern is the Turkish Delight that he craves. Even when people try to warn him about her evil, he does not listen and is willing to go to extremes to satisfy his longing for his addiction like hurt his siblings. This is where Lewis truly identifies the strong hold that sin can have on a person. Such a tight grasp that one could not escape by his or her own strength.

In stark contrast to the White Witch and the evil that she brings, Lewis creates the character of Aslan. He comes into the picture and saves the world from the White Witch to parallel with Jesus coming down to earth and saving all of mankind from sin. In both scenarios, the Savior dies for the sinner; Aslan dies for Edmund and Jesus dies for man. After I became a Christian and watched the cinematic depiction of this book, it made my heart so full to watch the scene of Aslan taking Edmund’s place on that stone table because I realized the correlation to Jesus taking my place on the cross. Just as the White Witch thought that she had obtained full control over Narnia now that Aslan had died, satan thought that killing Jesus would lend him victorious. What an amazing story of hope that Jesus defeated death and we can now claim victory