A re-examination that female antagonists are representations of misogyny in c.s. lewis`s the chronicles of narnia - USD Repository

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A RE-EXAMINATION THAT FEMALE ANTAGONISTS ARE

REPRESENTATIONS OF MISOGNY IN C. S LEWIS’ STHE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree ofSarjana Sastra

In English Letters

By

Margareth Aritonang

Student Number: 014214063

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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A RE-EXAMINATION THAT FEMALE ANTAGONISTS ARE REPRESENTATIONS OF MISOGNY IN C. S LEWIS’ S THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree ofSarjana Sastra

In English Letters

By

Margareth Aritonang

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“Apa yang pernah ada akan ada lagi,

dan apa yang pernah dibuat akan dibuat lagi;

tak ada sesuatu yang baru di bawah matahari”

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They give me references to what Life is and help me to open my heart to the mystery of it. This thesis is my deepest expression of thankfulness and prayers to them: My parents, brothers, and sister,

Sr. Clare Hand, FCJ

The Jansons: Sheralyn, Rinus, Luke and Daniel

Faculty of Letters, University of Sanata Dharma,

Sunday School Ministry, Yogyakarta International Congregation,

Domby Kids Hope,

Ex-CO Mrican,

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am greatly indebted to Dr. Novita Dewi, who has patiently guided me during the process of writing this thesis. Her willingness to spent times to read my work amidst her hectic schedule is a treasure for me. I am also so grateful for my co-advisor, Dra. Theresia Enny Anggraini, M. A, who has given critical insights to improve my work. My gratitude also goes to Tatang Iskarna, M. Hum for being the guest examiner for my thesis defense. The inputs he suggested help me to make this thesis even much better. Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum deserves my gratitude also for being so patient to welcome me to his office to consult the schedule for the thesis defense.

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I would never complete my thesis without the love and support my family has been watering me. My big thanks and love goes to The Aritonangs. Mom and Dad have been a great motivation for me in doing anything. I thank the Light and the Darkness to give me such wonderful parents. My critical and 'philosopher' brothers and sister have motivated me not to take life for granted. My sincere gratitude also goes to my foster family in Buncit Persada. Thanks to Sabine Volker and Manfred Oepen for always welcoming me to their house every time I need shelter in Jakarta, and for Marieke and Leefke Volker for showing me a new fresh and challenging perspective to view life.

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ABSTRACT

Margareth Aritonang (2007), A Re-Examination that Female Antagonists are Representations of Misogyny in C. S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia,

Yogyakarta: English Letters Study Programme, Sanata Dharma University.

This thesis examines the portrayal of female antagonists in the seven books of C. S Lewis’s The Cronicles of Narnia which is assumed as the representations of Misogyny or of hatred towards women. Many critics have undertaken research on the ‘negative’ depiction of female characters in the chronicles, and make the assumption that either the novels or Lewis as the writer is misogynist.

This thesis focuses on the portrayal of the female antagonists in the novels and their literary allusions. The examination is done by analyzing each of the females who are considered antagonists in the novels according to their chronological appearance. Portrayal of several male antagonists who are considered major characters is also provided in scrutinizing the textual balance of depiction of antagonist characters, both female and male. The examination later continues by examining literary allusions from other works of literature which are found within the female antagonists in the chronicles. Finally it addresses the images of women from the Bible which has been inspiring numbers of literary works, including the Narnian chronicles. An intertextual approach is used to analyze these novels. This approach helps the writer to re examine the resemblances between literary figures in dealing with certain references they reproduce.

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ABSTRAK

Margareth Aritonang (2007), A Re-Examination that Female Antagonists are Representations of Misogyny in C. S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia,

Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Skripsi ini menguji ulang penggambaran karakter antagonis perempuan yang ada dalam ketujuh novel The Chronicles of Narnia karya C. S Lewis yang diasumsikan sebagai representasi ‘misogyny’ atau kebencian terhadap perempuan. Sejumlah kritikus telah melakukan penelitian yang menyangkut penggambaran negatif karakter-karakter perempuan yang ada di ketujuh seri Narnia dan mengambil kesimpulan bahwa novel-novel tersebut maupun C. S Lewis sebagai penulisnya memaparkan nilai-nilai kebencian terhadap perempuan.

Skripsi ini berfokus pada cara penggambaran karakter antagonis perempuan dalam novel Narnia dan juga sejumlah figur sastra yang mereka gaungkan, Pengujian dilakukan dengan menganalisa setiap karakter perempuan yang dianggap antagonis sesuai dengan kemunculan mereka dalam kronologi cerita. Penggambaran beberapa karakter laki-laki juga disertakan untuk menganalisa keseimbangan penggambaran karakter yang dianggap antagonis, baik perempuan maupun laki-laki. Penelitian dilanjutkan dengan menganalisa gaungan sastra yang ter-reproduksi lewat karakter perempuan dalam novel-novel Narnia yang akan menunjukkan imej-imej perempuan dari Alkitab yang diduga menjadi sumber yang banyak menginspirasi sejumlah karya sastra, termasuk novel-novel Narnia. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan intertekstual. Pendekatan ini memungkinkan penulis untuk meneliti kemiripan-kemiripan diantara figur-figur yang ada dalam karya Lewis dan gaungannya.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

The chronicles narrate the adventures of children who play essential roles in the history that takes place in the fictional world of Narnia, a place with talking animals, with inhabitants who live among and with magic, and where good fights against evil. In the majority of the books, children from the real world (Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve) are transported to the magical land by various ways through the intervention of Aslan, the Creator of Narnia. Once there, they are immediately involved in settling some wrongs to right and in ruling as Kings and Queens.

The novels, produced between 1954-1956, are considered as classic and are classified as literature for children. These novels gain the hearts of their readers, and thus praise them. However, there are also readers who oppose them and consider as inappropriate for children.

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Lewis thinks Circe is similar to Lilith, the examples of women who abuse men with their beauties. He believes this explains all women in general (David Colbert, 2006) [Translation Mine].

Some critics also think that Lewis’ old-fashioned view, his theology, and his “alleged” hatred of women contribute to the inappropriateness of the novels to be read by children (http://cslewis.drzeus.net/papers/success.html).

J. K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, while commenting on Lewis’s s sentimentality about children, has said

“There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She’s become irreligious basically because she found sex. I have big problem with that”. (http://new.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4347226.8htm).

Others read the stories even more critically, including the issue of sexism. The author of the children’s series Dark Materials, Phillip Pullman, publicly criticized The Chronicles of Narnia for what he describes as “religious propaganda”. Pullman said the Narnia stories were “monumentally disparaging of women” when he spoke at the Guardian Hay Festival, quoting his statement, “I hate the Narnia books…with a passion…”

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These opponents of the Narnian novels address their accusation of the novels as “disparaging of women” are mostly based on the description of Susan Pevensie, and relate this to Lewis’s experiences with women during his life time. Susan is in fact the most argued character due to her exclusion from Narnia in the final book,The Last Battle.

In contrast to previous studies made by other scholars, the writer scrutinizes the assumption of misogyny in the novels not by looking back through Lewis’s own life but by considering it from an intertextual perspective. It also concerns with other female characters in the novels, so it is not merely about Susan Pevensie.

Intertextuality as stated in Intertextuality, Theories, and Practices, believes that a text cannot exist as a “self-sufficient whole”, i.e. a text is unable to stand by itself, and therefore cannot function as a “closed system”. This is so for two reasons. Firstly, a writer is once a reader before s/he creates a text, so a work of art is built upon references, quotations, and influences of every kind. Secondly, a text is created only through the process of reading; “what is produced at the moment of reading is due to the cross-fertilization of the packaged textual material (say, a book) by all the texts which the reader brings to it” (Judith Still and Michael Worton, 1990).

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College, known as the oldest college (founded 1249) at Oxford University. Following the end of the war in 1918, after serving in The British Army, Lewis returned to Oxford. He took up his studies again with great enthusiasm. In 1925, after graduating with first-class honours in Greek and Latin Literature, in Philosophy and Ancient History, and in English Literature, Lewis was elected as English lecturer in Magdalene College, Oxford. He remained at Oxford for 29 years before becoming a professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature in Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1955.

Moreover, this thesis will examine those females whose characterisations are based upon stereotypes existing in literature. It is hoped that this paper will later show the literary figures from which Narnia might reproduced, and by doing so the assumption of the novels or Lewis as their author as misogynistic can be re-evaluated that later also evaluates the inappropriateness of the novels as literature for children.

B. Problem Formulation

Referring to the background affirmed earlier, the questions that this paper will attempt to answer are:

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2. In what way can the female antagonists in The Chronicles of Narnia be seen as the product of literary recycling and how does this understanding challenge the accusation that the novels are misogynistic?

C. Objective of the Study

This study aims to respond precisely to the questions formulated above. The focus of this study is the accusation of the Narnian chronicles as misogynistic. In order to examine this accusation, the writer will firstly provide the depiction of female characters which are considered to be antagonist. By doing so, she will later provide literary allusions which resemble similar depiction with Narnian female antagonists. This is done based on her literary competence and also on references from secondary resources.

It is hoped that as the study comes to its end the writer will have shown that the assumption that the novels are ‘disparaging of women’ or misogynistic is unproved and then is still under debate.

D. Definition of Terms

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1. Antagonist in All American Glossary of Literary Term is defined as the character in a story or poem, which “deceives, frustrates, or works against the main character, or protagonist, in some way”. It appears to prevent the main character or protagonist from living “happily ever after”, and doesn’t necessarily have to be a person since it could be death, the devil, an illness, or

any challenge that disturb the main character

(http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm). A Glossary of Literary Terms positions it against the protagonist. Contradictory to protagonist as defined as the “hero” or “heroine”, antagonist is the “opponent” or the “villain”. It is the evil and capable of behaving cruel and conducting criminal actions (Abrams, 1993: 159-160).

2. Misogyny is hatred or strong prejudice against women. The word comes from the Greek words μίσος (misos, "hatred") + γυνη (gunê, "woman"). There are many different forms of misogyny. In its most overt expression, a misogynist will openly hate all women simply because they are female. Other forms of misogyny may be more “subtle”. Some misogynists may simply have prejudice against all women, or may hate women who do not fall into

one or more acceptable categories

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women as she tries to position it in against to the term she coins “gynocritics” (Bressler, 1999: 184).

3. Representationis defined as formation of “ideological products” or “cultural constructs” of a particular era; and that these cultural and ideological representations in texts serve mainly to reproduce, confirm, and propagate the power-structures of domination and subordination which characterize a given society (Abrams, 1993: 249). The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy explains that the human mind (or sometimes the brain) works on representation of the things and features of things that are perceived or thought about (1994: 328).

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

This chapter provides information on C. S Lewis and his Chronicles of Narnia. The information is gained from the studies conducted previously by literary critics.

Many scholars are interested in studying the works of Lewis, and especially his seven novel series The Chronicles of Narnia. Generally, almost all of the proposed criticisms dealing with C. S Lewis oeuvre are theological analyses since C. S Lewis is best known as a Christian apologist though he produced numbers of non-Christian fiction and non fiction-works. To review all studies previously made by scholarly critics of Narnia would not be effective in relationship to the problems affirmed earlier. In light of the fact that there are countless numbers of critiques on different topics pointing to Lewis’ chronicles, therefore this review focuses particularly on the responses, both positive and negative, directed at Lewis’ attitude to women.

Amber Cowart in her article ‘The Success of C. S Lewis in The Chronicles of

Narnia’ dated on April 3, 1996 and posted on

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books about ‘exports and imports and governments’ and ‘elevators and fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools’. “It is co-educational, and moreover it is secular at any rate Bibles were not encouraged”.

Part of the criticism that the novels have received over the years centers on the description of Susan Pevensie in The Last Battle. In the last novel of the series, Susan does not go to Narnia; other characters describe Susan as being "no longer a friend of Narnia," and as being interested "in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations." In addition to sexism, Lewis has also been accused of racism. Pullman, an atheist, said the books were "blatantly racist". The racism critique is based on a perceived negative representation of other races and religions, the Calormenes in particular, as enemies of Aslan and Narnia. The Calormenes are described as dark-skinned people with a garlic-scented breath, who wear turbans and pointy slippers, and who are armed with scimitars. This depiction has been cited as a sinister comparison to the traditional characteristics of Islam and Sikhism. The Calormenes worship a main "false god" Tash, who is described as a stereotypical Satanic being requiring evil deeds and sacrifices from his followers.

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is fairly to think of as Lewis was a professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge and it is likely that his literary knowledge is consciously or unconsciously echoed in his own novels including his seven novelsThe Chronicles of Narnia, and this suggestion distinguishes this thesis from studies done by previous scholars.

B. Review of Related Theories

The theories, which will be applied in the analysis, are the theory on character and characterization, reader response and Barthes’ theory of Text.

1. Character and Characterization

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beginning of a story to its end, or may undergo radical changes through a gradual process.

TheDictionary of Modern Literary Termsdefines ‘character’ as “the fictional representation of a person” that is possible to change. We might recognize several ‘characters’ as of “the centre” and others as of “the circumference”. There are ‘characters’ in the Aristotelian sense, that is “detailed figures with their own motives and capacity for distinctive speech and independent action’; others are “enabling aspects of story, minor figures, stereotypes; and there are others “to whose perceptions we give credence and some we regard as contextual society”. ‘Characters’ are also those who partake in and are changed in the action (heroes, protagonists) and confidantes or devices” (1987: 27-28).

Mario Klarer in An Introduction to Literary Studiesexplains “it is possible to analyse character presentation in the context of narratological structures”. In general, characters in a text can be either “types” or as “individuals”. “A typified character in literature is dominated by one specific trait and is referred to as a flat character, and often represents the general traits of a group of persons or abstract ideas. The term round character usually denotes a persona with more complex and differentiated features” (2004: 17-18).

The writer analyses the depiction of female antagonists in the novels based on their emotional qualities, desires, and moral nature which are expressed in the dialogues and also their actions.

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Reader response criticism, which “came into prominence during 1960’s” (Abrams, 1993:269), focuses on the plurality of interpretations by readers. It believes that text or author cannot control the reading and signifying process of the audience. A Glossary of Literary Terms (1993) explains that “the meaning of a text is the “production” or “creation” of the individual readers, hence that there is no one “correct meaning for all readers either of the linguistic parts or of the artistic whole of a text” (Abrams, 1993: 269). Readers have the control to produce meaning of a text; they will signify a text according to their personal experience dealing with the theme of the text and literary competence. Literary competence, which means the mastery of literary knowledge, will determine the result of reading, whether or not the readers can interpret certain literary elements properly (Culler, 1977).

3. Roland Barthes’ theory of Text

Modern Literary Theory encloses seven prepositions about Text by Roland Barthes, i. e method, genres, signs, plurality, filiations, reading and pleasure.

Text is a “methodological field”. It undergoes an ongoing process and will never stop. Hence, it can only be experienced in the activity of production (writing).

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Text is “symbolic”. It is formed by unlimited signifiers which “are realized according to a serial movement of disconnections, overlapping, and variations” (Barthes, 1996: 194). It is a system without end and centre.

Text is “plural”. It carries multiple meanings, thus does not fulfill a single interpretation.

Text is of a “network”. It is built upon series of combination and is knitted by endless play of signifiers. Thus, its destination cannot be surmised.

Text is not only an object of consumption. It is not closed by an act of reading only, but is also open to the act of writing, i. e “text is not only readable but also writerly. It is not only the object of consumption but also the object of production” (Barthes, 1996: 196).

Text is of pleasure. It gives pleasure for readers, and furthermore its openness to an act of re-producing (re-writing) emerges as the “jouissance” of the text.

4.Theory of Intertextuality

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about allusion and influence”. This concept becomes increasingly influential as a way of thinking how literary works produced and gained meanings. Intertextuality believes that “a text consists of multiple meanings and writings which are drawn from a range of discourses, already in circulation in some form or other” (Roger Webster, 1990: 96). Therefore the author is considered as a “synthesizer’ instead of “originator” for drawing together and orchestrating linguistic raw materials – in this sense literature becomes a form of repetition of an extent. For this reason, literary textuality is seen as “discursive recycling” although the relations are never the same, never completely repeated for there are “sets of cross-references and allusions which, to use a traditional term, provide a ‘richer’ reading experience or – to employ theoretical terms – the signifiers in the text evoke more complex signifiers” (Ibid, 1990: 97).

5.Misogyny in Literature

The term as man hatred of women is assumed to be influenced by the images of women in religious texts that show women as subordinate to men (Andresen, 1997: 248).

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gender roles and is politicized to legitimate women as subordinate to men in real life. However, this is challenged as feminist movement comes to being and as scholars, academics, and critics investigate gender roles from time to time. For this reason, the attitude that positions women as subordinate to men or as the second-class is becoming to be assumed as misogynist.

In the end of her book entitled The Troublesome Helpmate: A History of Misogyny in Literature Katherine M. Rogers summarizes misogynistic values which are mostly found in literature. These values are:

1. Women as imperfect creature, morally weak and are capable to be ruinous influence. This is found in the Jahvist’s story of creation and is continuously re produced from one work of literature to the others.

2. Women as seductive. This value is inspired from the story of the Fall, and as Rogers stated, had been being reproduced by patristic writers from the first century to the sixth.

3. Women as unfaithful lovers. This had become a constant theme in classical Roman writing.

4. Women as having uncontrolled passions. Women are described to be having weaknesses for flattery, greed, extravagant dress, pride, and duplicity.

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6. Women as being less rational than men in every respect. Women were encouraged to be weak and dependent and acceptable during the Restoration and eighteenth century

C. Biographical Background

The biographical background is concerned mainly with the careers of C. S Lewis as a scholar as well as a writer.

Lewis won a scholarship to University College of Oxford in 1916 and had a break from the study since he joined the British Army in 1917. He came back to the college and concentrated on his studies after being injured in World War I. He received a First in Honor Moderations (Greek and Latin Literature) in 1920, a First in Greats (Philosophy and Ancient History) in 1922, and a First in English in 1923.

He taught as a Fellow Professor at Magdalen College, Oxford, for almost thirty years (from 1925 to 1954). Later on he became the first Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow at Magdalene College Cambridge. Most of his scholarly works focused on the later Middle Ages, its use of allegory in particular. He was befriended by J. R. R. Tolkien, the writer of The Lord of the Rings,at Oxford. Tolkien was in fact one of those in Lewis’s circle of literary friends in a literary discussion group known as the “Inklings”.

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and Till We Have Faces. He also wrote books on Christianity, as he is known as a Christian apologist, such as: The Screwtape Letters, The Pilgrim’s Regress, Mere Christianity, The Four Loves, The Abolition of Man,and his autobiographySurprised by Joywhich tells of his conversion to Christianity.

Finding out the fact of Lewis’s broad knowledge of literary works, the writer sees the influences of literary works Lewis consumed being brought to his works. Lewis is in fact, consciously or unconsciously, has underwent influences from previous writers

D. Theoretical Framework

The analysis accusation of misogyny revealed through the female characters and their characterization will be based upon the concept of intertextuality. The discussion will be focused on the literary resonances in the way female characters in The Chroniclesare characterized.

As “the representation in fiction or drama of human character or personality”, the theory of character is used in order to reveal how misogyny is portrayed through female characters in the novels. The writer assumes that the misogyny revealed through the female characters is a Text assembled by C. S Lewis as the author of the novels through the process of many readings.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The objects of the study of this analysis are the seven books ofThe Chronicles of Narnia. Critics and scholars interested in the books divide them into two different ways of reading: by publication order and by chronological order. The difference between the two is shown in the following:

Publication order vs. Chronological order

Publication order Chronological order

1.The Lion, the Witch and the

Wardrobe 1.The Magician's Nephew

2.Prince Caspian 2.The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

3.The Voyage of theDawn Treader 3.The Horse and His Boy 4.The Silver Chair 4.Prince Caspian

5.The Horse and His Boy 5.The Voyage of theDawn Treader 6.The Magician's Nephew 6.The Silver Chair

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Lewis expressed his agreement with this chronological order in a letter written in 1957 to an American boy named Lawrence as he wrote

(http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/narnia.htmal):

‘I think I agree with your order (i. e chronological) for reading the books than with your mother’s. The series was not planned beforehand as she thinks. When I wrote The Lion I did not know I was going to write anymore. Then I wrote P. Caspian as a sequel and still didn’t think there would be anymore, and when I had done The Voyage I felt quite sure it would be the last. But I found as I was wrong. So perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone read them. I’m not even sure that all the others were written in the same order in which they were published.’

And therefore this study is based on the chronological order of the story, namelyThe Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. All the copies used are imprints of Harper Collins Publishers. Furthermore, the chronological order is chosen to focus on the appearance of female characters in the books chronologically.

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The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe consists of 171 pages telling of the adventure of the other four children from the real world in the magical land. The Pevensies (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) are chosen for and entrusted with the task to free Narnia from the White Witch. This second book was published in 1950. It was first adapted for television in 1967. The ten episodes, each thirty minutes long, were directed by Helen Standage. The screenplay was written by Trevor Preston. In 1979 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was again adapted for television, this time as an animated special co-produced by Bill Melendez and the Children's Television Workshop (Sesame Street and The Electric Company). The screenplay was by David D. Connell. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program that year. A film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, titled The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, produced by Walden Media and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures was released in December 2005. It was directed by Andrew Adamson. The screenplay was written by Ann Peacock. Principal photography for the film took place in Poland, The Czech Republic and New Zealand. The movie achieved critical and box office success. Disney will produce a sequelThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian with a will expectedly be released date on May 16, 2008.

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Shasta and Bree experience brings them to true knowledge of Aslan.Prince Caspian was published in 1951 and consists of 190 pages. It tells of the hard efforts of the old Narnians to restore the throne to Prince Caspian, the real heir of the former King whose throne was forcibly seized by the usurping King Miraz. The four children from the real world who first appeared in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) are called again by Aslan to help the Prince to get his thrown back.

Different to the four Pevensies who became heroes and heroines while spending time in the magical land, Eustace Scrubb, a cousin of the four, would never forget his experience of turning into a dragon, an experience which later changed him into a really nice boy in the series entitled The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The edition the writer used was published by Collins Publisher in 1995 with 189 pages.

One day out of their school grounds, out of the real world into the enchanted land, Narnia, began the most exciting moment in Jill Pole’s life. Since she was given the task of finding the long lost Prince Rillian with her school mate Eustace Scrubb, who had experienced coming to Narnia before. This plot is provided in The Silver Chair, a 191 page novel published in 1953.

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won the Carnegie Medal for 1956. The printed volume used for the analysis is the imprint of HarperCollins printed in 1956.

B. Approach of the Study

The study conducted will use an intertextual approach. Encyclopedia of Postmodernismstates that it is a method of reading one text in against to another that “illuminates shared textual and ideological resonances” (2001: 229). In Studying Literary Theory Roger Webster cited one point from Barthes’ essay ‘Theory of the Text, which says

Any text is a new tissue of past citations. Bits of codes, formulae, rhythmic models, fragments of social languages, etc. pass into the text and are redistributed within it, for there is always language before and around text (1990: 97).

Further on Webster explains that “literary textuality then can be seen as a kind of discursive recycling, although the new relations which come to exist between the discourses appropriated and incorporated into a text ensure that literary writing is never the same, never completely repeated” (1990:97).

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The writer chose an intertextual approach because it enables her to examine the matter of misogyny from various points of view. The matter can be explored from historical, biographical, textual and reader response aspects. Readers are considered to have an important role in giving meanings to works of literature in intertextuality as Derrida, one of the theorists, argues that “not only are texts intertextual but also how the act of reading itself is an intertextual experience”.

C. Method of the Study

To be able to answer the problems constructed by offering appropriate answers, the writer employed a library research method using data available in Sanata Dharma library and also the writer’s personal collection on Lewis and his works to assemble all supporting information related to the study. To access information that books may not provide, the writer browsed Internet sites also.

A secondary source the writer consulted at the same time as reading the novels is The Magical Worlds of Narnia (2005) written by David Colbert which is translated into Indonesian by Gramedia Pustaka Utama (2006).

The study aims to answer the problem formulations based on the theory and review of related studies.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

A. Female Antagonists in The Chronicles of Narnia and the Depiction of Male Antagonists in Re-examining the Assumption that the Novels are Misogynistic

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1.Depictions of Female Antagonists inThe Chronicles of Narnia

Quoting Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms, “characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say- the dialogue -and by what they do- the action”, it can be seen that the descriptions of female characters below are based on what they or other characters in the books say and also on what they do throughout the plot.

a. The White Witch, Queen Jadis

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that she is physically beautiful as he keeps saying to himself, “A dem fine woman, sir, and a dem fine woman. A superb creature”, when he saw her accidentally appear in the real world, London.

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The story goes in relating that Jadis does not like Aslan, the Creator of Narnia, and therefore the creation of Narnia is a terrible experience for her. Everybody enjoys the songs by Aslan as he creates Narnia but Jadis and also later Uncle Andrew

“But the Witch looked as if, in a way, she understood the music better than any of them. Her mouth was shut, her lips were pressed together, and her fists were clenched. Ever since the song began she had felt that this whole world was filled with Magic different from hers and stronger. She hated it. She would have smashed that whole world, or all worlds, to pieces, if it would only stop singing” (1955: 95).

She hates Aslan so much that she throws an iron bar straight at his head as soon as she sees him. But it does not kill him, and for this reason “the Witch shrieked and ran: in a few moments she was out of sight among the trees” (1955: 100).

Jadis is also portrayed as seductive, not only physically attractive but also strongly persuasive to make others do things they do not want to do. In The Magician’s Nephew, she appears to Digory and Polly in the garden with its peculiar and powerful fruits, in much the same way as the serpent appeared to Eve and Adam in the biblical Garden of Eden. As the serpent intended to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God’s command, Jadis tries to tempt Digory to disobey Aslan’s order to take one of the fruits. She tempts him to take the fruit for himself (to cure his mother who has been ill for many years) instead of giving it to Aslan

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Then she will fall asleep—think of that; hours of sweet natural sleep, without pain, without drugs. Next day everyone will be saying how wonderfully she has recovered. Soon she will be quite well again. All will be well again. Your home will be happy again. You will be like other boys” (1995: 150).

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drawn by a reindeer, with her wand in her hand and a crown on her head” (1950: 41-42). Edmund was persuaded to believe that Jadis is a “rightful Queen”, though “deep down inside him he really knew that the White Witch was bad and cruel”. Later on Edmund sees the Witch turns Narnian creatures into stone and orders wolves to chase his siblings and kill them, and this changes his view on Jadis. He no longer thinks she is a nice person but someone who is terrible as his sister once described. InThe Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Jadis later on expects Aslan’s life in exchange for Edmund’s, and has a battle with Aslan, which is ended by the Witch’s death.

b. Mrs. Lefay

Mrs. Lefay is mentioned only in The Magician’s Nephew. She is Uncle Andrew’s godmother who gives him the box that contains the materials later used to form the magical rings, which later drive Digory and Polly to Narnia

Uncle Andrew sat down and said,” Well, I’ll tell you all about it. Have you ever heard of old Mrs. Lefay?”

”Wasn’t she a great-aunt or something?” said Digory.

“Not exactly,” said Uncle Andrew. “She was my god-mother. That’s her, there, on the wall.” (1955:21).

Uncle Andrew thinks that she is a “remarkable” woman who in fact was “one of the last mortals in the county who has fairy blood in her” (1955: 24).

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box she later gave to Uncle Andrew is in fact the remnant of the magic she learnt. For this reason, Mrs. Lefay is assumed to be the source of the evil that comes into Narnia, as she handed the box to Uncle Andrew, even though she asked him “to burn the box soon, unopened, with certain ceremonies”. Mrs. Lefay is suspected of being the gate by which evil came into Narnia because the rings would never have been made if she had never handed the box to Uncle Andrew

“All in good time, my boy,” said Uncle Andrew. “They let old Mrs. Lefay out before she died and I was one of the very few people whom she would allow to see her in her last illness. She had got to dislike ordinary, ignorant people, you understand. I do myself. But she and I were interested in the same sort of things. It was only a few days before her death that she told me to go to an old bureau in her house and open a secret drawer and bring her a little box that I would find there. The moment I picked up that box I could tell by the pricking in my fingers that I held some great secret in my hands. She gave it me and made me promise that as soon as she was dead I would burn it, unopened, with certain ceremonies. That promise I did not keep” (1955:23).

c. Lilith

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is the reason that Jadis is half giant and half Jinn since Lilith is said to be from the Jinn race

“That’s what I don’t understand, Mr. Beaver,” said Peter,” I mean isn’t the Witch herself human?”

“She’d like us to believe it,” said Mr. Beaver,” and it’s on that that she bases her claim to be Queen. But she’s no Daughter of Eve. She comes of your father Adam’s” (here Mr. Beaver bowed) “your father Adam’s first wife, her they called Lilith. And she was one of the Jinn. That’s what she comes from on one side. And on the other she comes of the giants. No, no, there isn’t a drop of real human blood in the Witch.” (1950:76).

The fact that Jadis resembles Lilith’s race is said to be one of the causes of her devilish characteristics

“That’s why she’s bad all through, Mr. Beaver,” said Mrs. Beaver.

“True enough, Mrs. Beaver,” replied he,” there may be two views about humans (meaning no offence to the present company). But there’s no two views about things that look like humans and aren’t” (1950:77).

d. Queen Prunaprismia

Appearing only in the chronologically fourth book entitled Prince Caspian, Queen Prunaprismia is physically described to have red hair

“Prince Caspian lived in the centre of Narnia with his uncle, Miraz, the King of Narnia, and his aunt, who had red hair and was called Queen Prunaprismia” (1951:42).

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“He has changed his mind about you because of something that happened only two hours ago. The Queen has had a son,” says Doctor Cornelius to Prince Caspian. “I don’t see what that’s got to do with it,” said Caspian. “Don’t see!” exclaimed the Doctor. “Have all my lesson in History and Politics taught you no more than that? Listen. As long as he had no children of his own, he was willing enough that you should be King after he died. He may not have cared much about you, but he would rather you should have the throne than a stranger. Now that he has a son of his own he will want his own son to be the next King. You are in the way. He’ll clear you out of the way” (1951:57).

It was not only King Miraz alone who has hatred toward Caspian, but also the Queen. The plan to rid of the young prince does not come from a single hand

“He also learned a great deal by using his own eyes and ears. As a little boy he had often wondered why he disliked his aunt, Queen Prunaprismia; he now saw that it was because she disliked him” (1951:54).

The writer assumes that by delivering a son, the Queen is regarded as the gateway of evil for Prince Caspian and other Narnians.

e. Susan Pevensie

Susan Pevensie is the most discussed among all characters in the chronicles. She appears as a friend of Narnia in the beginning of the stories then turns out to be no longer a friend of Narnia as she grows older, for this reason she is included as one of the antagonists of the books.

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She is described as a protagonist as a child, who is someone with excellent skill in archery. InThe Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, she is gifted with a bow and arrows by Father Christmas and also with a magical horn to bring aid in the difficult times to come in the magical land

“Susan, Eve’s daughter,” said Father Christmas. “These are for you,” and he handed her a bow and a quiver full of arrows and a little ivory horn. “You must use the bow only in great need,” he said, “for I do not mean you to fight in the battle. It does not easily miss. And when you put this horn to your lips and blow it, then, wherever you are, I think help of some kind will come to you” (1950:100).

Susan is known for her beauty and also her archery skills as an adult. She grows into a tall and gracious woman whose black hair almost falls to her feet, and later many suitors asked her for marriage. Her beauty causes Narnia to go to war with the Calormenes as she refuses to marry Prince Rabadash, the Calormenes’ Prince. Shasta, inThe Horse and His Boy, described her as the most beautiful woman he has ever seen

“…but he had no time to think of that before the most beautiful lady he had ever seen rose from her place and threw her arms round him and kissed him” (1954:54).

In the same book, Prince Corin describes her as “an ordinary grown-up lady” who does not ride and join in the wars though she is an excellent archer (1954:144).

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is because she is the pretty one of the family and she does not do well at schoolwork, thus, she is the best one to be taken on the trip

Grown-ups thought her the pretty one of the family and she was no good at schoolwork (though otherwise very old for her age) and Mother said she “would get far more out of a trip to America than the youngsters” (1955:8). In the chronologically final book The Last Battle, Susan is not taken to the New-Created Narnia, “the Real Narnia”, as the other adventurers are, since she is no longer considered to be a friend of Narnia. It is said that this is because she no longer believes in matters in the magical land since they are only memories of a game from childhood for her

“My sister Susan,” answered Peter shortly and gravely,” is no longer a friend of Narnia.

“Yes,” said Eustace, “and whenever you’ve tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says,” What wonderful memories you have! Fancy you’re still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children” (1956:127-128).

And this is said because she has less and less interest in the magical world as she grows older and puts more interest in grown-ups matters such as “nylons and lipstick and invitations”

“Oh Susan!” said Jill. “She’s interested in nothing nowadays except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up”.

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f. The Lady of the Green Kirtle, also known as Emerald Witch

The Lady of the Green Kirtle is the Queen of the Underland who is present in the chronologically sixth book of the chronicles, The Silver Chair. She enslaves Prince Rillian and also kills his mother when she is in the form of a serpent. She means to take over Narnia by enslaving Rillian the crowned Prince who is becoming Narnia’s King.

Prince Rillian describes her as the most beautiful creature ever made. The Prince takes Lord Drinian, Captain of the Dawn Treader, one afternoon to meet her and Drinian says she is “the most beautiful lady he had ever seen”, she is “tall and great, shining, and wrapped in a thin garment as green as poisons”, and it shocks him later as he understands that she is an evil being (1953:51-52).

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and your blood” (1953:138). She weaves a spell over them to make their minds fixed on her so that all of them will forget about Narnia and about everything but her, which of course fails to succeed. She later transforms herself into a great green serpent, the one that killed Rillian’s mother. The green serpent is killed by Rillian with help from the children and Puddleglum, and Narnia is not taken over by the evil power.

There are two similar characteristics that the antagonists mentioned above possess: 1. They have physical beauty, i. e considered physically beautiful women, and 2. They have magical powers and are considered as witches.

2 Portrayals of Male Antagonists in The Chronicles of Narnia in Re Examining the Chronicles as Misogynistic

a. Digory Kirke

In the eleventh chapter of The Magician’s Nephew a question is addressed to Digory by Aslan on the presence of the evil Witch, Jadis, in Narnia

“Son of Adam,” said the Lion. “There is an evil Witch abroad in my new land of Narnia. Tell these good Beasts how she came here.”

A dozen different things that he might say flashed through Digory’s mind, but he had the sense to say nothing except the exact truth.

“I brought her, Aslan,” he answered in a low voice (1955: 125).

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Make your choice, adventurous Stranger; Strike the bell and bide the danger,

Or wonder, till it drives you mad,

What would have followed if you had(1955: 50).

The writer assumes that Jadis might never have woken up and thus evil might never have come into Narnia if Digory had not struck the bell. If Jadis is depicted as the evil Witch in the book, Digory is depicted as the one who releases the evil Witch into Narnia.

b. Uncle Andrew

Uncle Andrew as the maker of the rings through his experiment also plays an important role in bringing evil into the magical land. Just as Digory is so curious to what might happen if someone rings the bell, Uncle Andrew is also so curious about the things inside the box that Mrs. Le Fay handed to him before her death. So curious is he that he ignores Mrs. Le Fay’s words to burn the box as soon as he takes it from the secret drawer of a bureau. Furthermore Uncle Andrew declares to Digory that he, like his Aunt has an interest in magic and magical things

“She had got to dislike ordinary, ignorant people, you understand. I do myself. But she and I were interested in the same sort of things” (1955: 22).

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c. Edmund Pevensie

One male who plays an antagonist role in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is Edmund Pevensie, one of the Pevensies who later rule as Kings and Queens in Narnia. He is willing to betray his siblings for Turkish Delight at his first encounter with the White Witch

After offering a drink to Edmund, “It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating,” said the Queen presently. “What would you like best to eat?”

“Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty,” said Edmund.

While he was eating the Queen kept asking him questions. At first Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one’s mouth full, but soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the Queen should be so inquisitive (1950: 36-37). The Queen later exploits Edmund’s uncontrolled desire for Turkish Delight by promising that he will get more later after he brings the other three Pevensies to her palace and she says she will even make him Prince of Narnia.

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Aslan has to sacrifice his life to save Edmund from the Witch, and he is saved indeed which changes him into a better person.

d. Rabadash and Tisroc

Rabadash is the Prince of the Calormenes whose hand in marriage is refused by Queen Susan inThe Horse and His Boy. So full of pride is he that he cannot take Susan’s refusal and he prepares a war against Narnia. As a Son and a Prince, Rabadash requests permission and suggestions from Tisroc as his Father and the King of Calormenes on to his plan to attack Narnia. The devilish characteristics of both appear from their conversation one to the other

“I desire and propose, O my father,” said Rabadash, “that you immediately call out your invincible armies and invade the thrice-accursed land of Narnia and waste it with fire and sword and add it to your illimitable empire, killing their High King and all of his blood except the queen Susan. For I must have her as my wife, though she shall learn a sharp lesson first.”

“Understand, O my son,” said the Tisroc, “that no words you can speak will move to me to open war against Narnia.”

“If you are not my father, O ever-living Tisroc,” said the Prince, grinding his teeth, “I should say that was the word of coward.”

“And if you were not my son, O most inflammable Rabadash,” replied his father, “your life would be short and your hath slow when you had said it.” (1954: 90-91).

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“That is why you will never think even in your secret heart that I am the hardest hearted of fathers who thus send my first-born son on an errand so likely to be his death.”

“I also love none of these things in comparison with the glory and strength of my throne. If the Prince succeeded we have Archenland, and perhaps hereafter Narnia. If he fails – I have eighteen other sons.” (1954: 97-98).

As a Prince Rabadash treats those from a lower position wickedly which is clear the way he responses to Vizier’s suggestion at his insistence on having Susan as his bride

“But I want her,” cried the Prince. “I must have her. I shall die if I do not get her – false, proud, black-hearted daughter of a dog that she is! I cannot sleep and my food has no favour and my eyes are darkened because of her beauty. I must have the barbarian queen.”

“How well it was said by a gifted poet,” observed the Vizier, raising his face (in a somewhat dusty condition) from the carpet, “that deep draughts from the fountain of reason are desirable in order to extinguish the fire of youthful love.”

This seemed to exasperate the Prince. “Dog,” he shouted, directing a series of well-aimed kicks at the hindquarters of the Vizier, “do not dare to quote poets to me. I have had maxims and verses flung at me all day and I can endure them no more.” (1954: 89-90).

e. King Miraz

King Miraz appears in Prince Caspian as someone with hunger for power, wealth, and position. He raises Caspian as a Lord Protector after his father’s death. Caspian later learn that Miraz in fact killed his father so that he could have the throne. He also designs a scene to get rid of the lords who are loyal to the late King so that no one will hinder him from ruling the country

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Uvilas were shot with arrows on a hunting party: by chance, it was pretended. All the great houses of the Passarids he sent to fight giants on the Nothern frontier till one by one they fell. Arlian and Eriman and a dozen more he executed for treason on a false charge. The two brothers of Beaversdam he shut up as madmen. And finally he persuaded the seven noble lords, who alone among all the Telmarines did not fear the sea, to sail away and look for new lands beyond the Eastern Ocean, and, as he intended, they never came back (1951: 56-57).

It is clear then that Miraz and his Queen Prunaprismia support one another in planning to kill Caspian once their son is born since neither is willing to pass the throne to Caspian later on.

f. Eustace Scrubb

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g. Shift the Ape

The Last Battle as the final of the chronicles and the climax of the Narnian stories tells of the wicked male ape, Shift, who so desires position and possession that he designs a plan to create a false Aslan. He discovers a lion skin in the river and immediately designs the plan and persuades his “dim-witted” donkey friend, Puzzle to follow it. He successively persuades Puzzle convincing the donkey that he cannot think as sharply as he does, and this plot of imitating Aslan brings doom to Narnia and its inhabitants.

Narnian creatures are convinced that Puzzle who is covered with the lion’s skin is the real Aslan so that they obey all the words of Shift, playing as Aslan’s spokes person, and to provide him with the things he wants. Worst of all is that the Narnian creatures do not react when Shift tells them that Aslan requires them to work for the Calormenes. Shift’s corrupted agenda really brings Narnia to its end before Jill and her friends discover Puzzle as the fake Aslan and the real Aslan finally shows up.

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B. Re-examining the Assumption thatThe Chronicles of Narniaare Misogynistic by Looking at the Female Antagonists as the Products of Literary Recycling

1.Literary allusions recycled inThe Chronicles’female antagonists

In The Magical Worlds of Narnia, David Colbert states that one of the writers whose works mostly inspired Lewis was Edith Nesbit, and the writer thinks this statement is reliable since Lewis also told his readers in his biographical novels Surprised by Joy, “Of the books that I read this time very few have quite faded memory...much better than either of these was E. Nesbit’s trilogy,Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Wishing Carpet,andThe Amulet(Lewis, C. S, 1955: 14). The writer finds references to Nesbit’s The Aunt and Amabel reproduced in Lewis’s Narnia. InThe MagicalWorldsof Narnia, David Colbert states that one of the writers whose works mostly inspired Lewis was Edith Nesbit.

There was a girl named Amabel in Nesbit’s The Aunt and Amabel. She was looking for something to read and “a book with a velvet cover” was the only thing she could find. It was a schedule for trains. As she opened its pages she read on one of them a place called “Whenever-you-want-to-go” by a train at “BigWardrobeInEmptyRoom” station

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In The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Lucy Pevensie also stepped into the magical wardrobe on an unusual evening and was attracted by the light of the lamp post where she later experienced her first encounter with Mr. Tumnus. Nesbit’s Amabel in The Aunt and Amabel is not the only aspect recycled in Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia since other characters also elude resemblances to aspects of other works of literature.

a. Jadis

Lewis is said to cite the word “Jadis” from a French medieval poem by Francois Villon entitled “Ballades des Dames du Temps Jadis” (translated by Dante Gabriel Rosetti as Ballad of Dead Ladies). Female figures with extraordinary beauties are also mentioned at the first stanza

Tell me now in what hidden way is Lady Flora the lovely Roman? Where’s Hipparchia, and where is Thais,

Neither of them the fairer woman? Where is Echo, behold of no man,

Only heard on river and mere,-She whose beauty was more than human?…

But where are the snows of yester-year? (http://www.brindin.com/pfvildi3.htm)

And a White Queen, who is like Jadisin The Chronicles of Narnia, appear in three other stanzas of the poem

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(From Love he won such dule and teen!) And where, I pray you, is the Queen Who willed that Burden should steer Sewed in a sack’s mouth down the Seine?…

But where are the snows of yester-year? White Queen Blanche, like a queen of lilies,

With a voice like any mermaid, -Bertha Broad foot, Beatrice, Alice, And Ermengarde the lady of Maine, -And that good Joan whom Englishmen At Rouen doomed and burned her there,

-Mother of God, where are they then? ... But where are the snows of yester-year?

Nay, never ask this week, fair lord, Where they are gone, nor yet this year, Save with this much for an overword, -But where are the snows of yester-year?

Jadis’s encounter with Edmund in theThe Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe echoes Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. Andersen’s Snow Queen tempted Kay to obey her and then took him to an empty and cold place, in the same way that Lewis’s Jadis did to Edmund Pevensie

In the square some of the more adventuresome boys would tie their little sleds on behind the farmer's carts, to be pulled along for quite a distance. It was wonderful sport. While the fun was at its height, a big sleigh drove up. It was painted entirely white, and the driver wore a white, shaggy fur cloak and a white, shaggy cap.

All of a sudden the curtain of snow parted, and the big sleigh stopped and the driver stood up. The fur coat and the cap were made of snow, and it was a woman, tall and slender and blinding white-she was the Snow Queen herself

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The story later on tells that the boy, Kay, magically prey to the Queen’s tempting words followed her in the same way Edmund responded to Jadis

"We have made good time," she said. "Is it possible that you tremble from cold? Crawl under my bear coat." She took him up in the sleigh beside her, and as she wrapped the fur about him he felt as if he were sinking into a snowdrift.

"Are you still cold?" she asked, and kissed him on the forehead.Brer-r-r.That kiss was colder than ice. He felt it right down to his heart, half of which was already an icy lump. He felt as if he were dying, but only for a moment. Then he felt quite comfortable, and no longer noticed the cold.

"My sled! Don't forget my sled!" It was the only thing he thought of. They tied it to one of the white hens, which flew along after them with the sled on its back. The Snow Queen kissed Kay once more, and then he forgot little Gerda, and Grandmother, and all the others at home.

"You won't get any more kisses now," she said, "or else I should kiss you to death." Kay looked at her. She was so beautiful! A cleverer and prettier face he could not imagine. She no longer seemed to be made of ice, as she had seemed when she sat outside his window and beckoned to him. In his eyes she was perfect, and he was not at all afraid.

Jadis also resembles another female figure from Andersen’s other story that is the Ice Maiden

It is a wondrous palace of crystal, and in its dwells the Ice Maiden, queen of the glaciers. She, the slayer, the crusher, is half the mighty ruler of the rivers, half a child of the air.

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Colbert states in his book that Lewis once explained that Jadis is the Witch, Circe, in Homer’s Odyssey (2005:34). “Circe, daughter of the sun, was a sorceress best known for her ability to turn men into animals with her magic wand. The daughter of Perse and Helios, and whose daughter is Aega (goddess of the sun) she is remembered for her encounter with Odysseus and his men and renowned for her knowledge of magic and poisonous herbs”. Jadis recycles Circe in the sense that both are depicted to have magical powers and both turn men into animals (by Circe) or stone (by Jadis).

Jadis’s appearance in London, in The Magician’s Nephew, echoes Nesbit’s Queen Babylonian inThe Story of the Amulet.

Queen Babylonia surprisingly appeared in London to meet the characters from the books she had read. This produced chaos as she tried to speak to people she met on the street although none of them understood her strange language

'Good gracious!' cried Anthea, 'what's that?'

The loud hum of many voices came through the open window. Words could be distinguished.

''Ere's a guy!'

This ain't November. That ain't a guy. It's a ballet lady, that's what it is.' Not it--it's a bloomin' looney, I tell you.'

Then came a clear voice that they knew. 'Retire, slaves!' it said.

'What's she a saying of?' cried a dozen voices. 'Some blamed foreign lingo,' one voice replied.

The children rushed to the door. A crowd was on the road and

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And this scene is echoed in The Magician’s Nephew when Digory saw from the window of his house crow was coming to his house

“Hullo! What’s that?” thought Digory. “Fire-engine? I wonder what house is on fire. Great Scott, it’s coming here. Why, it’s Her.”

First the hansom. There was no one in the driver’s seat. On the roof-not sitting, but standing on the roof—swaying with superb balance as it came at full speed round the corner with one wheel in the air-was Jadis the Queen of Queens and the Terror of Charn (1955:82).

Moreover, both Jadis and Queen Babylonia stole a quantity of jewellery, Nesbit’s Queen Babylonia from museums, claiming that they belonged to her-thousands years ago, and Lewis’s Jadis from shops, claiming that she deserved them being a Queen.

b. Lilith

Mr. Beaver in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe told the Pevensie children that Lilith, from whom Jadis was descended, is “your father’s first wife”(1950:76). Lilith comes from ancient Mesopotamia mythology and is said to be a devil that tempts people and kidnaps children. This story passes on to Judaism and Christianity and is echoed for many years throughout literature. Dante described in one of his poems,For Lilith

Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told ... (The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,) ... That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,

And her enchanted hair was the first gold. And still she sits, young while the earth is old,

... And, subtly of herself contemplative, ... Draws men to watch the bright net she can weave,

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The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where ... Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare? ... Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went ... Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent,

And round his heart one strangling golden hair.

Lewis was aware of the numbers of works of literature telling stories of the relationships between Lilith and Adam thus absorbed it into one of his own stories. However, throughout centuries and in all the stories that existed, Lilith is described as a cruel, female creature disobedient either to Adam or God, and also evil. Colbert cited Robert Graves’s Raphael Patai, “God created Lilith, the first woman, the same way He created Adam, but by dirt instead of pure dust He used to create Adam”. Another way to describe Lilith is to speak of her not having human blood as Mr. Beaver said, ”She was one of the Jinn. There isn’t a drop of real human blood in the Witch”.

c. Mrs. Le Fay

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One of the works that retell the Arthurian legend is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain whose works were consumed by Lewis during his early age (!955: 13). This convinces the writer to believe that Lewis had good knowledge of the legendary King Arthur, from which story Mrs. Le Fay in The Magician’s Nephewis recycled.

Colbert explains inThe Magical World of Narniathe name “fay” is a symbol of magical power as it refers to “fairy” (2001:78). Morgan le Fay is presented as Arthur’s half sister, the daughter of Arthur’s mother from the Duke of Cornwall in Malory's Morte d'Arthur, she is often shown to be his enemy. This is a reason that Uncle Andrew’s aunt, Mrs. Le Fay is assumed to be called after the legendary Morgan Le Fay. Moreover, both are described as women with magical powers; Mrs. Le Fay who learnt magic and later created the box, and Morgan Le Fay who uses magic to fight against her half sister, and even tries to kill Arthur by sending him a cloak on which she has cast a spell to burn him as he puts it on (2001:78-79). In recalling the Arthurian Morgan Le Fay through his Mrs. Le Fay means furthermore that Lewis also pointed to the Greek Medea since Medea is also said to have magical powers which she uses on a cloak which will burn anyone who puts it on (Ibid.).

d.. Queen Prunaprismia

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‘threatened’ by her rival, her husband’s second wife, for being assumed to be unable to bear a child. This woman is the biblical Hannah and the rival is Penninah

Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Penninah. Penninah had children, but Hannah had no children (1982:147).

The story continues saying that once Elkanah found Hannah weeping and refusing to eat her food, and the reason is because her rival, Penninah, provoked her for having no children

Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And what is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons? (Ibid.)

Based on the scene from the Bible, it is seen that the portrayals of Penninah’s pregnancy are retold through Queen Prunaprismia’s pregnancy. Another story from the Bible which has the same illustration of a pregnancy that turns to be a threat or seems to be a threat can be found in the book of Genesis when it tells of Sarai’s grief over her maid’s Hagar, whose pregnancy provoked her

And now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar. Then Sarai took Hagar, her maid, and gave her to Abram that she would bear child for him. And so Abram went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes (Ibid.)

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threatening or evil by the Egyptians. Earlier scene of threatening pregnancy can also be found in the story of the mother of Greek’s legendary Hercules. She was a mortal wedded to the high God, Zeus whose pregnancy threatened Hera, Zeus’ first wife.

The idea of the female body as a gate of ‘evil’ or ‘threats’ is recycled in Lewis’s Prince Caspian as can be seen from the points explained above, and the writer believes that this is as a result of Lewis’ knowledge of the Biblical stories as a Christian writer.

e. Susan Pevensie

The Horse and His Boypresents a scene when Narnia has to go to war to fight against the Calormenes because Queen Susan, Susan Pevensie as an adult, rejects the hand of Prince Rabadash in marriage. This story reminds the writer of Helen of Troy who caused a war between Troy and Sparta for hideously running away from her husband, the King of Sparta, and running away with her beloved, Paris the Prince of Troy. Both Susan and Helen are described as having extraordinary beauty which makes every man want to have them.

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The Magical Worlds of Narnia, despairingly looked into the box and found hope was still there and she let it out also so that people on earth may have hope amidst the sufferings she had caused (2001: 78-80). The writer sees that the hope from Pandora’s box is recycled through Susan Pevensie.

That Susan was not one of those taken to the New-Created Narnia is meant to give Hope to the world’s inhabitants, represented by the people in England, since she also had experiences in Narnia. Does not Aslan say to the children that He is present also in England but in different forms with different names? And Susan is chosen since she is an adult woman (she is 21 by the time of the accident that takes her siblings back to Narnia) to depict regeneration – here meaning the regeneration of understanding about Narnia.

f.The Lady of the Green Kirtle

In a poem entitledVitrea Circe, one of his collections, Lewis narrates The name of Circe

Is wrongly branded

(Though Homer’s verses Portrayed her right)

By heavy-handed And moral persons

Misunderstanding Her danger bright