Resurrection in Narnia
Almost exactly a year ago, during last year’s Easter Octave, I wrote an essay focusing on themes of resurrection to be found in classic literature. Beginning with Tolkien’s invention of the word eucatastrophe to signify the sudden joyous turn in a story, we considered the Resurrection of Christ as the archetype and exemplar par excellence of the eucatastrophic turn in history. We then looked at themes of resurrection in literature.
Beginning with Oedipus’ assumption into heaven at the climax of the final play of Sophocles’ Three Theban Plays, or Oedipus Cycle, we then moved to themes or instances of resurrection in Christian literature, including “The Dream of the Rood” and Dante’s Divine Comedy, in three of Shakespeare’s plays (Hamlet, King Lear and The Winter’s Tale) and culminating in the final part of Eliot’s Waste Land. Twelve months on, as a way of basking in the presence of the Resurrected Lord during this year’s Easter Octave, let’s look at themes of resurrection in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of the greatest and most popular children’s stories ever written.
Although it is Aslan’s death and resurrection which redeems Narnia from the deathly and chilling grip of the reign of the White Witch, themes or inklings of resurrection are present even before Aslan makes his first appearance in the story.
In the midst of the bleakness of the never-ending winter that the Witch has cast upon Narnia, we are told by Mr. Beaver that it is rumoured that “Aslan is on the move”. The very mention of Aslan’s name, and the mention that he is “on the move”, makes Peter feel “suddenly brave and adventurous”. Susan feels that “some delightful strain of music” has just floated by her. And Lucy has “the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer”. Aslan is, therefore, the antithesis of the Witch and the antidote to her poison. She brings a winter in which it is never Christmas; he brings summer and the beginning of the holidays. She brings the chill of death in the absence and banishment of the holy; he brings the warmth of life in the presence of the sacred.
