Prince Caspian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Prince Caspian | |
.jpg/200px-PrinceCaspian(1stEd).jpg) Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
|
| Author | C. S. Lewis |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Pauline Baynes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Chronicles of Narnia |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, children's literature |
| Publisher | Geoffrey Bles |
| Publication date | 1951 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 195 pp |
| ISBN | N/A |
| Preceded by | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
| Followed by | The Voyage of the Dawn Treader |
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, written in late 1949 and first published in 1951. It is the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, though in the overall chronological sequence it comes fourth.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
While standing on a train station in 1941, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are magically whisked away to a beach near an old and ruined castle. After Susan discovers a chess knight, Peter soon realizes that they are in Cair Paravel, where they once ruled as the Kings and Queens of Narnia, and convinces the others of the same. They explore downstairs and find Susan’s bow and arrows and Lucy’s bottle of magical cordial. The horn that can call Aslan is not there, however, for Susan left it in the woods the day they returned to England after their first visit to Narnia. Peter finds his shield and royal sword Rhindon. Although only a year has passed in their world, 1300 years have passed in Narnia. Edmund figures out the time problem, suggesting that Narnian time operates differently from earth time and that hundreds of years of Narnian could well have passed since the one year of England time had elapsed.
Then they hear a boat coming down the river with two soldiers and a bundle that moves. Susan strikes one of the soldiers on the helmet with an arrow, and both jump into the water and head for the far shore. Peter and Susan plunge into the water and rescue the boat and its bundle. It is a Dwarf called Trumpkin. After offering him some apples, they listen to his story. He tells the legend of ghosts in the ruins of Cair Paravel, explaining why the two soldiers fled. Then they exchange stories. The Dwarf is a messenger of King Caspian the Tenth. During their absence, a race of men called Telmarines have invaded Narnia, driving the Talking Beasts into the wilderness and pushing even their memory underground. Narnia now is ruled by King Miraz, a cruel despot, with his wife Queen Prunaprismia.
Miraz is also a usurper, having killed his brother, King Caspian IX, to take the throne. His nephew, Prince Caspian, is initially ignorant of his uncle’s evil deeds, but learns the truth. He also learns about Old (pre-Telmarine) Narnia, first from his Nurse and later from Doctor Cornelius, his tutor. Unknown to Miraz, Cornelius is part Dwarf and part human and also tells the stories of old Narnia to Caspian. He especially tells much of the story in the middle of the night, on the roof of the Great Tower, when the planets Tarva and Alambil pass within one degree of each other. Cornelius tells Caspian that the story about ghosts at Cair Paravel was invented by the Telmarines because they fear the sea, never forgetting that Aslan came from over the sea in all the stories.
Miraz is childless and is thus willing for Caspian to be his heir, but when the Queen has a son, Cornelius warns Caspian that his life is now in danger. Before he leaves, Cornelius gives Caspian Queen Susan’s horn with instructions to use it only at the point of his greatest need. Caspian escapes on his horse Destrier. After a long ride and a long sleep, Caspian begins to ride again. The weather gets stormy, and Destrier bolts. Caspian hits his head on a branch and is knocked unconscious. He awakes in the den of a badger, Trufflehunter, and two dwarfs, Nikabrik and Trumpkin. Nikabrik wants to kill Caspian, but the other two won’t allow it. Caspian tells them his story, and they want him as their king.
The badger and Dwarfs take Caspian to meet many creatures of Old Narnia. They first meet the Three Bulgy Bears, Pattertwig the squirrel, then the Seven Brothers of the Shuddering Wood (Dwarfs work a smithy; they give Caspian a mail shirt, helmet, and sword), and the five Black Dwarfs. They inform them of a council at midnight three nights ahead on Dancing Lawn. Pattertwig takes the message to many others. Then they meet Glenstorm, the Centaur (also a prophet and a star gazer), and his three sons, who suggest that the council at Dancing Lawn must be a council of war. Next they meet Reepicheep the foot tall mouse and receive his assurance of the help of twelve mice. They also meet Clodsley the Mole, the three Hardbiters (badgers), Camillo the Hare, and Hogglestock the Hedgehog. They dream about waking up the trees, but the Dryads and Naiads have sunk into a deep sleep. Finally they meet fauns, dozens of them, including Mentius and Obentinus, Dumnus, Voluns and Voltinus, Girbius and Nimienus, Nausas and Oscuns, all sent by Pattertwig.
They gather for the council, when Camillo says there is a Man coming. It turns out to be Doctor Cornelius, who had used magic to find them. He says that King Miraz is coming with his army and they should flee to Aslan’s How and the Great Woods near Cair Paravel. But Miraz arrives there shortly after they do, and various skirmishes characterize the next few days with Caspian's forces gradually losing. In another council inside Aslan’s How, which had been built over the Stone Table in years past, they discuss whether or not to use Queen Susan's horn. Cornelius thinks it more likely to bring King Peter and company than to bring Aslan. Then they dispatch Pattertwig to Lantern Waste and Trumpkin to Cair Paravel to discover the results of the blowing of the horn.
The children realize that the horn summoned them the day before. Trumpkin tells how he was caught, trying to take a shortcut to Cair Paravel to discover whom the horn might have brought. He is a bit disappointed, having expected to meet the adult Kings and Queens of the past, not teenagers. So, after they outfit the Dwarf in mail and weapons, they challenge him to a sword fight and a bow and arrow contest. The Dwarf loses the first contest to Edmund and the second to Susan. His estimate of the four children improves greatly thereafter. Having heard the story, the true Kings and Queens of Narnia try to make their way to the battlefield.
They decide to save time by traveling by water and going up Glasswater Creek. Unable to sleep that night, Lucy tries to talk to the trees. They rustle but do not awaken. Finally she goes to sleep. The next morning they begin again. A grey bear attacks, but they kill it with arrows. They take some of the meat to eat later. After some time they realize they are lost. They decide to go down the ravine until it meets the river and then travel up the river. Lucy sees Aslan and wants to continue in his direction, but they ignore her. But the journey is long and hard, and the children lose their way.
Finally they reach the Great River. Suddenly arrows whiz past them, and they fall to the ground and crawl away. They have to return up the gorge from whence they came. After some distance, they light a fire and cook the bear meat. Then they sleep. In the night Aslan calls Lucy. She sees the trees moving and then she sees Aslan. He tells her that it was her fault for the detour. He instructs her to go back, awaken the others, and insist that they follow her, who would be following Aslan. She does.
They finally agree to follow Lucy in the middle of the night, and gradually, as they obey, they begin to see Aslan’s shadow, then Aslan himself. Susan apologizes in another moment of confession. Aslan finally stops, and the others catch up. Aslan says, “And now, where is this little Dwarf, this famous swordsman and archer, who doesn’t believe in lions?” Aslan gives Trumpkin a toss in the air and a shake. Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin are to head to the mound. The girls see the woods come alive and dance with Aslan, including Bacchus and Silenus.
Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin enter Aslan’s How and decide to listen at the door to the conversation. Nikabrik has brought two friends, one a Hag and the other a Wer-Wolf, trying to convince Caspian, Cornelius, and Trufflehunter to ally themselves with the powers of evil against Miraz. A fight ensues, and Nikabrik and his two friends are slain.
Peter decides to send a challenge to fight Miraz in single combat to decide which army shall be considered victorious in the war. Edmund, with Glenstorm and the giant along, delivers the challenge. Miraz accepts, even though he has a stronger army and thus has more to lose by reducing it to a single combat, in part because his two lords, Glozelle and Sopespian, egg him on. Peter picks his Marshals of the List for the fight — a Bulgy Bear, Giant Wimbleweather, and the Centaur Glenstorm.
The fight begins around two o’clock. They fight for a while and then take a rest. Miraz gets the advantage and Peter’s left wrist is sprained, so they bind it tightly. Peter does better in the next fight until Miraz trips on a tussock. Peter steps back, waiting for him to rise, but the Lords Glozelle and Sopespian stab Miraz, claiming treachery by the Narnians, and initiate a full scale fight. After a short time, the Wood enters the fight and end it soon. Early that morning Aslan, Lucy, and Susan had freed the river-god from the bridge at Beruna, children from school, a boy for a man who was beating him, and others, including Caspian’s old nurse, who had been ill and near death. They come by a schoolhouse where a girl is forced to teach several fat, rude, mean, pig-like boys. Aslan and company frighten the fat boys and they run, and it is implied they turn into pigs for their greed.
When Aslan arrives at the battle, the Telmarine soldiers surrender. Lucy uses her cordial bottle to heal Reepicheep, and Aslan restores Reepicheep’s tail, in payment for their having eaten away the cords that had bound him on the stone table long ago. The Telmarines are locked up at Beruna. Aslan and company celebrate. The next day messengers go throughout the country with an offer to allow people to go to another home if they do not wish to follow Caspian as King and live in a Narnia on equal terms with Talking Beasts and Dwarfs and Dryads and Fauns. Aslan tells the Telmarines of their true origin, from the world of men, where their ancestors were pirates in the South Seas who fell through a gap between worlds. About half of them accept the offer and arrive at the Ford of Beruna on the fifth day.
Aslan has set up two stakes of wood with a third piece uniting them on top. Peter, Aslan, and Caspian stand in front of the "door." Peter and Susan are told by Aslan that they will never return to Narnia. Peter tells the others he can cope with this as "it's all a bit different from what I thought." Though fearful that the doorway is a way of execution, one of the Telmarine soldiers advances and goes through the door and disappears. Then, to allay fears, Peter and the rest of the children go through the doorway, knowing that Peter and Susan will not be allowed to return to Narnia again. They arrive back at the railway station, Edmund without his new flashlight which he left in Narnia.
[edit] Characters
- Peter Pevensie is the oldest of the Pevensie siblings who is fabulous at sword-fighting. He doesn't believe Lucy's talk of seeing Aslan at first but later Aslan appears and he apologizes.
- Susan Pevensie is the second eldest of the Pevensie children who is a great archer. She doesn't believe Lucy's talk of seeing Aslan at first but later Aslan appears and she apologizes. She says she knew deep inside she was telling the truth, and had been stubborn.
- Edmund Pevensie is the third Pevensie child. He believes Lucy and follows her, mentioning that in their first adventure they didn't believe her and she turned out to be right.
- Lucy Pevensie is the youngest Pevensie child. Lucy is the first to see Aslan again.
- Aslan - The Great Lion and creator of Narnia.
- Prince Caspian is the true king of Narnia. Caspian reappears (as King Caspian) in the two subsequent books in the series: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair and makes a brief appearance in the end of The Last Battle.
- Miraz is Caspian's uncle and technically only Regent while Caspian is underage, though he plans to usurp the throne for himself and his heirs. He tolerates Caspian only so long as he (Miraz) has no children of his own, as he needs an heir to the throne. He dies when stabbed in the back by Lord Glozelle after his duel with Peter.
- Queen Prunaprismia is Caspian's aunt and Miraz's wife.
- Doctor Cornelius is Caspian's (half-dwarf, half-human) tutor and also aids in the Narnians' defeat of the Telmarines.
- Trumpkin is a red-Dwarf who helps Caspian defeat Miraz. When he is captured by Miraz's soldiers and taken to Cair Paravel in exile, he meets the Pevensie children and leads them to Caspian.
- Nikabrik is a black-Dwarf in Caspian's army. Though at first not wanting to fight alongside Caspian he changes his mind. He wants to fight Miraz by calling up the White Witch, with the black magic of a hag and a werewolf. However, he, the hag and the werewolf are killed.
- Trufflehunter is the wise old badger who aids Caspian in his struggle and is faithful to Aslan and old Narnia. He helps Caspian and saves him from the storm in the forest by taking him in to his den.
- Reepicheep is a large, dark, talking mouse who carries a rapier and wears a red plume tucked in his golden circlet. He is a direct descendant of the mice who chewed through the ropes that held Aslan down to the stone table. He thinks highly of his honor and aids Caspian in battle.
[edit] Chapters of the Book
|
Chapter 1: The Island |
Chapter 9: What Lucy Saw |
[edit] Themes
The two major themes of the story are courage and chivalry (this is Narnia's Civil War story) and, as Lewis himself said in a letter to an American girl, "the restoration of the true religion after a corruption" (Collected Letters, III, p. 1245). A leading Lewis scholar, Michael Ward, argues in his book Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (Oxford University Press, 2008) that Lewis based Prince Caspian on the imagery associated with the astrological planet Mars. As a mythological deity, Mars was both god of war (Mars Gradivus) and god of trees and forests. In this latter capacity, Mars was known in classical times as Mars Silvanus; he was the god who gave life to vegetation, which is why the spring month of March is named after him. Ward points out that the events of Prince Caspian are said to take place during the month of 'Greenroof' (the only Narnian month mentioned in the course of the series) and that 'Silvans' are included in the cast of characters in this story (the only time during the series that they appear at all). However, Aslan is portrayed by Lewis as the Christian Jesus Christ. Aslan's father (the "Emperor-Over-Sea") is God the Father. Some believe the story is a parrallel to Moses and the freeing of the Israelites. Edmund and Lucy assist Prince Caspian in his attempt to get to Aslan's country (over the sea) in Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
More obviously, the new Narnia can be seen as a parallel to the modern world, in which old beliefs are scoffed at. "Who believes in Aslan nowadays?" asks Trumpkin when he first meets Caspian. Those who "hold on", like the badgers, are praised: this links with Lewis's views on religious faith. Faith is another of the major themes of the book.
Recently, it has been suggested that the story has parallels with Lewis's own life. Lewis's nursemaid told him folktales, as did Caspian's, and later Lewis had a hugely influential tutor, as does Caspian. Both lack mothers. In both cases "myth becomes fact" with the finding of what has been longed for.
[edit] Film, television, theatrical, or musical adaptations
The BBC adapted Prince Caspian in its 1989 miniseries (see The Chronicles of Narnia.)
The second in the series of films from Walden Media, titled The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, was released in the US on May 16, 2008. The UK release date is on 27 June.
The book was the inspiration for a song of the same name on the Phish album Billy Breathes.
[edit] External links
- Prince Caspian publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
