INDEPENDENT STUDY - 'On The Guilt Of Edmund'
A Sample Paper For My Independent Study.
Read and Comment Please
On The Guilt Of Edmund
By: Robert Filbin
Edmund Pevensie, the youngest male and the third youngest co-ed child in the Pevensie family. A betrayer and a liar, spiteful at times, but ultimately good, with the forgiveness of his family and Asland, as well as a great sacrifice on the great lions part. Yes, Asland saved him from Jadis, through an allegory of grace and Christ’s forgiveness, however this doesn’t mean that he is any less guilty of treason against his family. So then why is this so quickly brushed over in the book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe?
Lets start with an overview of his crimes. He essentially would have sold out his family to Jadis, for the equivalent of some candy (enchanted Turkish Delight) and a kingship when the White Witch moves on, had there not been an intervention by a few of the soldiers from Asland’s Army. Yes, he gets a damn sight more than Judas did, but are his crimes any less evil/immoral than those Judas made when he betrayed Christ? No, they are essentially the same, perhaps we could even go as far as to say he is a parallel to Judas. However once he realizes his betrayal, he must now go through great and very harmful lengths to protect himself and to ensure that some ‘good’, perverted or otherwise, comes out of the situation, this ‘good’ will of course be mostly for his gain, or so we can surmise from his actions, however things rarely work out as we plan them.
On page 74, where Beaver whispers to the children of Asland in the forest, each child feels something different, only Edmund has a negative reaction when he hears Asland’s name ‘Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror.’ Obviously, one can surmise that this is because of his promise to Jadis, however after all the children react to Asland’s name the text says ‘No one except Edmund felt any difficulty about trusting the beaver now…’. Why did he not trust Beaver, when all of his siblings did? Could it be because he was the only negative reaction to the lion’s name? Could it be because Beaver knows what he has done? I believe both to be true.
You see because Edmund felt ‘a sensation of mysterious horror’ he knew that his actions were wrong, but because he didn’t fess up right then about his plans, he must go through greater lengths to get his siblings away from Beaver, who he now knows is an ally of Asland, and back on the track that leads to Jadis. This means that he will now have to deepen the betrayal of his family, so that some ‘good’ for himself can come out of this. However he soon finds out that this will be neither easy nor good.
When the children and the Beavers first realize that Edmund is missing, Peter asks Beaver what to do. Beaver says ‘ Do?...do, We must be off at once we haven’t a moment to spare.’ Peter thinks he is planning on making search parties but Beaver has other plans. “There’s no point looking for him, … The reason there’s no use looking…is that we already know where he’s gone...Don’t you understand? He’s gone to her, to the White Witch. He has betrayed us all.’
At first, all the children try to defend their brother, saying that he wouldn’t do such a thing, but Beaver says ‘Can’t He?’ It is then that ‘…each felt suddenly quite certain inside that this was exactly what Edmund had done.’ They all knew before that their youngest brother had it in him to betray them, but they had thought he wouldn’t…until now. Peter tries again to defend him with a flimsy question of directions ‘But will he know the way?’ Which then leads us into a short discussion of what happened the last time Edmund had come to Narnia alone. Then Beaver says something that I believe both sums up Edmund’s sin/betrayal and proves the point that Edmund may have felt threatened by Beaver’s knowledge of his actions‘ Then mark my words, he has already met with the White Witch and joined her side, and been told where she lives. I didn’t like to mention it before (he being your brother and all) but the moment I set eyes on that brother of yours I said to myself “Treacherous.” He had the look of one who has been with the witch and eaten her food. You can always tell them if you’ve lived long in Narnia; something about their eyes.’
Now there is something to be said about how Peter and the others treated him, and the fact that the enchanted Turkish Delight made him only want it, it made him want to return to the Witch for more as well as his promised prince/kingship. And this would make him completely forgivable without another mention of it as the book essentially does in later chapters, but on pages 96 and 97 C.S. Lewis throws a very interesting paragraph about Edmund in. Verbatim it says ‘You mustn’t think that even now Edmund was quite so bad that he actually wanted his brother and sisters to be turned to stone. He did want Turkish Delight and to be a Prince (and later a King) and to pay Peter out (read: pay Peter back) for calling him a beast. As for what the Witch would do with the others, he didn’t want her to be particularly nice to them - certainly not to put them on the same level as himself; but he managed to believe, or to pretend he believed, that she wouldn’t do anything very bad to them, “Because,” he said to himself, “all these people who say nasty things about her are her enemies and probably half of it isn’t true. She was jolly nice to me, anyway, much nicer than they are. I expect she is the rightful Queen really. Anyway, she’ll be better than that awful Asland!” At least, that was the excuse he made in his own mind for what he was doing. It wasn’t a very good excuse, however, for deep down inside him he really knew that the White Witch was bad and cruel.’ Now Lewis has a reason to say this, and that reason is very clear. He is relating Edmund’s betrayal to all of us who sin and then make bad excuses within our own hearts for why we sin. Hence when Asland forgives him it is a parallel to Christ forgiving us. However this does nothing to expunge his evil deeds, but it is brushed over with little thought not because C.S Lewis was afraid of showing his questions/non-mainstream views of Christianity, but because that is how Christ treats our sin, once we (or a priest, if you believe in Confession) Christ holds our sin null, he wipes our slate clean, so thus Lewis is using one of the simplest techniques (just not explaining why something happens) to illustrate one of the most robust and traditional aspects of the Christian faith, that being Christ’s everlasting love and forgiveness for those who count him an ally.
Read and Comment Please
On The Guilt Of Edmund
By: Robert Filbin
Edmund Pevensie, the youngest male and the third youngest co-ed child in the Pevensie family. A betrayer and a liar, spiteful at times, but ultimately good, with the forgiveness of his family and Asland, as well as a great sacrifice on the great lions part. Yes, Asland saved him from Jadis, through an allegory of grace and Christ’s forgiveness, however this doesn’t mean that he is any less guilty of treason against his family. So then why is this so quickly brushed over in the book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe?
Lets start with an overview of his crimes. He essentially would have sold out his family to Jadis, for the equivalent of some candy (enchanted Turkish Delight) and a kingship when the White Witch moves on, had there not been an intervention by a few of the soldiers from Asland’s Army. Yes, he gets a damn sight more than Judas did, but are his crimes any less evil/immoral than those Judas made when he betrayed Christ? No, they are essentially the same, perhaps we could even go as far as to say he is a parallel to Judas. However once he realizes his betrayal, he must now go through great and very harmful lengths to protect himself and to ensure that some ‘good’, perverted or otherwise, comes out of the situation, this ‘good’ will of course be mostly for his gain, or so we can surmise from his actions, however things rarely work out as we plan them.
On page 74, where Beaver whispers to the children of Asland in the forest, each child feels something different, only Edmund has a negative reaction when he hears Asland’s name ‘Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror.’ Obviously, one can surmise that this is because of his promise to Jadis, however after all the children react to Asland’s name the text says ‘No one except Edmund felt any difficulty about trusting the beaver now…’. Why did he not trust Beaver, when all of his siblings did? Could it be because he was the only negative reaction to the lion’s name? Could it be because Beaver knows what he has done? I believe both to be true.
You see because Edmund felt ‘a sensation of mysterious horror’ he knew that his actions were wrong, but because he didn’t fess up right then about his plans, he must go through greater lengths to get his siblings away from Beaver, who he now knows is an ally of Asland, and back on the track that leads to Jadis. This means that he will now have to deepen the betrayal of his family, so that some ‘good’ for himself can come out of this. However he soon finds out that this will be neither easy nor good.
When the children and the Beavers first realize that Edmund is missing, Peter asks Beaver what to do. Beaver says ‘ Do?...do, We must be off at once we haven’t a moment to spare.’ Peter thinks he is planning on making search parties but Beaver has other plans. “There’s no point looking for him, … The reason there’s no use looking…is that we already know where he’s gone...Don’t you understand? He’s gone to her, to the White Witch. He has betrayed us all.’
At first, all the children try to defend their brother, saying that he wouldn’t do such a thing, but Beaver says ‘Can’t He?’ It is then that ‘…each felt suddenly quite certain inside that this was exactly what Edmund had done.’ They all knew before that their youngest brother had it in him to betray them, but they had thought he wouldn’t…until now. Peter tries again to defend him with a flimsy question of directions ‘But will he know the way?’ Which then leads us into a short discussion of what happened the last time Edmund had come to Narnia alone. Then Beaver says something that I believe both sums up Edmund’s sin/betrayal and proves the point that Edmund may have felt threatened by Beaver’s knowledge of his actions‘ Then mark my words, he has already met with the White Witch and joined her side, and been told where she lives. I didn’t like to mention it before (he being your brother and all) but the moment I set eyes on that brother of yours I said to myself “Treacherous.” He had the look of one who has been with the witch and eaten her food. You can always tell them if you’ve lived long in Narnia; something about their eyes.’
Now there is something to be said about how Peter and the others treated him, and the fact that the enchanted Turkish Delight made him only want it, it made him want to return to the Witch for more as well as his promised prince/kingship. And this would make him completely forgivable without another mention of it as the book essentially does in later chapters, but on pages 96 and 97 C.S. Lewis throws a very interesting paragraph about Edmund in. Verbatim it says ‘You mustn’t think that even now Edmund was quite so bad that he actually wanted his brother and sisters to be turned to stone. He did want Turkish Delight and to be a Prince (and later a King) and to pay Peter out (read: pay Peter back) for calling him a beast. As for what the Witch would do with the others, he didn’t want her to be particularly nice to them - certainly not to put them on the same level as himself; but he managed to believe, or to pretend he believed, that she wouldn’t do anything very bad to them, “Because,” he said to himself, “all these people who say nasty things about her are her enemies and probably half of it isn’t true. She was jolly nice to me, anyway, much nicer than they are. I expect she is the rightful Queen really. Anyway, she’ll be better than that awful Asland!” At least, that was the excuse he made in his own mind for what he was doing. It wasn’t a very good excuse, however, for deep down inside him he really knew that the White Witch was bad and cruel.’ Now Lewis has a reason to say this, and that reason is very clear. He is relating Edmund’s betrayal to all of us who sin and then make bad excuses within our own hearts for why we sin. Hence when Asland forgives him it is a parallel to Christ forgiving us. However this does nothing to expunge his evil deeds, but it is brushed over with little thought not because C.S Lewis was afraid of showing his questions/non-mainstream views of Christianity, but because that is how Christ treats our sin, once we (or a priest, if you believe in Confession) Christ holds our sin null, he wipes our slate clean, so thus Lewis is using one of the simplest techniques (just not explaining why something happens) to illustrate one of the most robust and traditional aspects of the Christian faith, that being Christ’s everlasting love and forgiveness for those who count him an ally.