The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Analysis

Applying the six Aristotle elements of a play or drama into the movie “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the following points were observed:

A. Plot

            It’s World War II and children need to move away from London to escape the war. As a result, the four Pevensie children, namely Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter, were sent over to a large mansion in the countryside owned by Professor Kirke. The house was huge and during one of the kid’s hide and seek games, Lucy, the youngest of the four, stumbled upon a large wardrobe.

She hid deep inside it, and quite magically, it led her into a snow-capped land.

            The land was called Narnia and in there she met Mr. Thomas. She was told that an evil witch, who made all days wintry and stopped Christmas celebrations, is ruling the place. Mr. Thomas tried to keep Lucy in Narnia with the hope that with her, they would be able to defeat the queen.

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But because they became good friends, Mr. Thomas decided to bring Lucy back where she came from.

            Back in wardrobe and into the house, Lucy tries to convince her siblings but no one believed in her. One sleepless night, she went back to Narnia via the wardrobe. But this time, Edmund followed her without her knowledge. Edmund too, was able to get to Narnia but he wasn’t able to catch up with her sister. Instead, he met the Witch who promised him he’d be a prince, and eventually a king.

But for that, the witch has one condition – that Edmund would bring all four of them to the castle. The queen left her and shortly that, Lucy appeared and they went back to the house together. Happy about Edmund’s own discovery of Narnia, Lucy tries to tell the others about the place again. And yet, they don’t believe her still - not with Edmund denying everything about it.

            One day while playing baseball outside, the kids accidentally broke the window, including some pieces of Professor Kirke’s artifacts. Afraid of the strict housekeeper, all four of them ran and hid – into the wardrobe.

            This time, all four of them explored Narnia. Lucy led them to Mr. Thomas’ hut but the Witch captured him, saying he had helped a human. At that point, they met Mr. and Mrs. Beaver who told them of the prophecy regarding the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve who will cause the Witch’s power to fail. But Edmund was unable to hear any of it because he slipped off to go to the queen’s castle and become prince. He doesn’t want his sibling enjoy the same privilege so he betrayed them.

            Edmund reached the queen but she didn’t make him prince. Instead, she took him captive. She was also angry because he did not bring his other siblings with him. Meanwhile, the other three realized that Edmund ran away to see the evil queen and they wanted to save him. But because they have insufficient powers to do so, the Beavers lead them to Aslan, the real King of Narnia who has been absent for so long.

            And because the four characters of the prophecy were now in the kingdom, the Witch’s power is slowly failing and summertime is fast replacing winter. The three reached Aslan and eventually saved Edmund. But because Edmund had betrayed his siblings, the Witch asked for him from Aslan as a sign of truce. This is in line with the laws of Narnia, which state that all traitors should be offered as a sacrifice.

            Aslan mediated and instead of Edmund, he offered himself to the Witch. The Witch agreed and he killed Aslan in the altar. But because Aslan has a pure heart and he so willingly submitted himself, he was brought back to life. But still, the news of the death of Aslan was enough to trigger an all out battle with the Witch. Although outnumbered, Peter and Edmund’s army was able to win the battle and kill the Witch. They won because Aslan appeared before them in the front line and brought reinforcement.

            After the war is over and the Witch was dead, the four children were enthroned as kings and queens of Narnia. They stayed there and ruled the land for many, many years. Until one day, they stumbled upon the old lamppost that lead them back to the wardrobe and into the real world. And they back from where they came from, not as adults but as children, as if they never even left.

B. Characters

            The main characters of the movie are the four children, the lion and the witch. The youngest of the children was Lucy Pevensie and she is also the warmest of the four. She has a friendly personality and a trusting nature. On the other hand, Edmund Pevensie is the second youngest. He can be referred to as a rather stubborn child.

But then again much of it was because his abilities were always doubted and his older brother and sister were quite hard on him. Susan Pevensie is the second oldest child. She exhibits intelligence and is the most rational thinker among the four. Peter Pevensie was the oldest. He was given the responsibility to take care of his younger siblings, but seems to be a rather reluctant leader.  Aslan, the Lion, was the great king of Narnia. He is fierce but gentle, just but forgiving. The queen’s name is Jadis and she is the evil witch. Her wickedness had caused misery and sowed fear all throughout Narnia.

C. Theme

            The story is about courage, generosity, and unity. The four kids were whisked away from the war to yet join a different one. Their generosity to the people of Narnia had caused them to forget about themselves and their own safety so they can defeat the evil queen. Even without proper training for battle, their courage is insurmountable as they take on the Witch’s massive troops. But even so, they were able to defeat her because for once, they have learned the value of respecting each other views, sticking with each other, and supporting one another in their actions.

D. Diction

            The dialogues in the movie, as far as the human characters were concerned, were delivered in an old English language and the British accent and that worked best with the movie’s place and date setting. The Witch’s voice was low and sharp, portraying ruthlessness in every way, except of course when she was seducing Edmund to hand over his siblings to her. On the other hand, the Lion’s tone was loud and strong. His voice alone shows authority and power, which was very effectively created in the film.

E. Music

            The choice of sounds, including the tone of voice of the characters as described above, were excellent. They are so effective that the audience can actually feel what’s happening in front of them. The joy of watching the film is not merely achieved in looking at the events as they transpire before the audience’s eyes. Instead, it is attained in the way that the audience can actually comprehend fear, pain, and joy. And at the exact moment those emotions were being conveyed. For example, fear was best shown by Edmund’s character when the Witch tried to kill him. Pain was perfectly expressed when both Lucy and Susan went to dead King Aslan after he was turned into a sacrifice. Lastly, joy was best shown when the four children were finally crowned as kings and queens of Narnia.

F. Spectacle

            The props, costumes, and special effects for this movie certainly required a lot of work.  But even so, the makers of the film were successful in two major points. The first was the notable depiction of the World War II era. The film was shot 60 years after the Great War and yet, they were able to replicate it by making sure the actors wear the right types clothes and use the appropriate modes of transportation, like the train and the horse-drawn carriage, popular during the those times. The second point is the way they were able to generate the many non-human characters in the film, lead by the lion Aslan. The mesh of real actor’s talent and the use of computer-generated graphics and animations were able to make everything appear as perfect as it was.