Rose-Tree Dryad wrote:I rather think that it's silver because of silver's connotations with the moon and femininity. (Doesn't Planet Narnia suggest that The Silver Chair is the "lunar" book of CoN? I can't believe I haven't read that book yet....) Acts 19:24 describes a silversmith who made silver shrines for Artemis, so this connection is an ancient one. The fact that silver embodies feminine power and that Rilian is literally bound to the chair seems to mirror his mental and emotional entrapment. Even the one hour a day that he is sane, she has him literally tied to an instrument of her evil magic in order to keep him under her control.
Yes, and Artemis is the Greek name for Diana, the name of a Princess of Wales whose death in 1997 caused as many problems as the abdication of Edward VIII before WW2. A weeping Diana, already preparing for divorce, mentioned in an interview she wanted to be seen as a Queen of Hearts. But Lewis Carroll's Queen of Hearts who often said "Off with their heads", was a satirical view of Queen Victoria, who was Queen in her own right, with Prince Albert as her late, lamented consort. I don't remember any King of Hearts in
Alice in Wonderland. Queen Victoria died in early 1901, having authorised the proclamation of Australia's federation and independence. The only Princess of Wales who ever had that title in her own right was Mary Tudor, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, who became Queen with the Catholic King Philip II of Spain as her consort.
Because it is customary for women to defer to husbands, and for most titles to be carried on by men, a consort can never have a higher rank than the monarch herself. Victoria became queen because of the behaviour of her father's three elder brothers, the eldest of whom detested his wife, and wouldn't let her be crowned as his consort. Their only child was Victoria's cousin, Princess Charlotte, who died in childbirth, but her husband, Leopold, did eventually become king of the Belgians in a similar setup to UK. Belgium, whose neutrality was violated by Germany in WW1, might be considered one of those small kingdoms like Narnia and Archenland you mention. It was around Belgium's border with France where the main fighting was where C.S.Lewis fought alongside Commonwealth troops.
Original mirrors were made of silver and bronze, reflecting back one's image. Often in a distorted fashion. What would a silver chair tell Rilian to torment him? That he definitely wasn't 'the fairest of them all'? Only a helpless wretch in a pillory, complicit in grabbing power over others that he could have exercised anyway by right? That to avenge his mother, he deserted his father to murder others?
Rose-Tree Dryad wrote:There's a modern impulse to say "Well, what's the big deal? Why don't they just all vote and elect somebody as their new leader?" Lewis, however, was no great cheerleader for democracy; it seems the fact that Narnia and Archenland were small monarchies had just as much to do with his views about ideal hierarchy as it did with evoking the romantic past.
Yes I read that link you included, but it depends on what you mean by democracy, how it is organised, who is included in it and who is not. Democracy started in Greece, but the Athenian hoplites who wanted a say in what battles they fought, did not include women. And the senate of the Roman Republic specifically made it illegal for their protesting womenfolk to "teach in public", to avoid their demands for representation if they were to be taxed. And the first democratic country in the world to enfranchise women was New Zealand, a Constitutional Monarchy, with Australia following suit in 1902.
The democratic system used in UK and Commonwealth countries is called the Westminster system and it depends on what is called the separation of powers. The monarch becomes so at the point of death of his/her predecessor and is head of state from that time until their own death. In that capacity he/she not only is head of the armed forces, but also interacts with Parliament, where the Prime Minister, or in Germany's case, the Chancellor, is head of government. Basically what the monarch does is to be the impartial Chairperson in politics, who can advise, warn or encourage each side but who must not take part in the political discourse. The trouble is, the Westminster system of democracy works fine when the government is headed by both a Prime Minister and a monarch or that monarch's representative, but doesn't necessarily work quite so well when the monarch's place is taken by a president, elected or not. Currently, Angela Merkel is Chancellor of Germany, and the President is Joachim Gauke in a Westminster-style republic.
When the Kaiser abdicated in 1918, he left Germany in disorder, especially due to the vengeful conditions set by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. By the time President Hindenburg, who replaced the Kaiser, died, Hitler had already become Chancellor of Germany through repeated elections. Hitler took over the Presidency as a matter of practicality and got his actions confirmed by holding yet another election, rigged by intimidation and force. Bingo, the separation of powers no longer existed, and this is the way he got absolute power in Germany. Well might Lord Acton say that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The first cab off the rank in Hitler's power takeover was to outlaw any opposing political party, such as the Communists and Christian Democrats. Even Germany's disunited Christian churches were expected to bowdlerise the Bible, to get rid of any of those nasty bits, like the books of Daniel (Ch 2, 32-33) and Ezekiel (Chs 25-32), to suit Hitler, and those who resisted him were either imprisoned or executed, sooner or later, like Pastor Bornhoeffer and Admiral Canaris.
Women can be leaders, as Queens, even in war, sometimes dramatically so, despite the unwillingness of 12th century nobles to accept Empress Matilda as their rightful ruler, and not her cousin, King Stephen. But it was her son who succeeded him, not his own son, Eustace. It is when such Queens have been Queen Consorts, rather than Queens in their own right that they have caused the most grief, usually due to their husbands' weaknesses and frailties. In 1953, when
the Silver Chair was published, Elizabeth II had her coronation as Queen Regnant, to succeed her father, George VI, whom C.S.Lewis greatly admired for taking his brother's place to lead UK through the traumas it underwent during World War II. Named after her own mother, she isn't the first Queen Regnant, not even the first Elizabeth. As well as Queen, she became Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.
I can well understand C.S.Lewis' nuanced attitude to democracy. He was born in Northern Ireland which remained as part of UK, when the rest of Ireland became a Republic. He served in WW1, was part of UK's efforts in WW2 to resist Germany, and then in 1963 died the same day as did USA's President John F Kennedy, who with his wife was sometimes regarded as USA's answer to King Arthur's Camelot. Was it purely co-incidence that on that day another famous person also died - Aldous Huxley who wrote
A Brave New World?
Rilian, of course, could not be replaced by an elected someone else. Trumpkin could run the show effectively whilst Caspian was away on VDT, but he didn't meet the human qualification Aslan specified, even if he was elected by the Kings Council, the whole of Narnia, or even just by the Parliament of Owls. Besides, as Puddleglum pointed out, he, too was aging. And the elected someone else, could just as easily turn out to be someone like King Miraz or Jadis. Or LOTGK who planned to murder the chief men, anyway. And that is why Eustace had to recognise an old friend, why they had to go north to the Ruined City of the Giants so they could be instructed on what they needed to do next. And why LOTGK, who did not want them to be instructed at all, diverted them to the false and meaningless, but often popular, vision of what Royalty is all about, presented by Harfang.