One of the passages in C. S. Lewis’s novel Till We Have Faces that truly perplexed
me involved the conversation that took place in chapter 5 between the King, the
Fox and the priest of Ungit concerning “The Accursed”. After the argument
between the Fox and the Priest regarding human sacrifice subsides, Orual states
that “certainly, I would that moment have hanged the Priest and made the Fox a
king if power had been given me; but it was easy to see on which side the
strength lay” (Lewis 51). While this statement, due to how I imagined the Fox
represented rationality and the Priest of Ungit symbolized blind fanaticism,
initially disturbed me because Orual portrays the Priest as the victor I
eventual was able to perceive the purpose of the disappointing conclusion to
the argument. I believe the victory of the Priest was intended to symbolize the
power of myth/religion over the rational despite whether or not the rational
criticism successfully refutes the validity of the mentality behind myth. No
matter how sophisticated and critical rational thought becomes, the power of
myth and belief will always be more pervasive and influential.
No comments:
Post a Comment