The Magician's Nephew

As the most prevalent theme in The Magician’s Nephew, temptation plays a key role in the plot and character arcs. In fact, succumbing to temptation sets the entire story in motion. Long before the book begins, Uncle Andrew was tempted to meddle with magic to reach other worlds, creating the rings that later tempt Polly. The ring transports her to the Wood between the Worlds, which begins the domino effect of the rest of the book. Just as all of the events of the Bible flow from Adam and Eve’s expulsion from paradise, the Narnia series would not unfold as it does without these initial “transgressions.” These temptations also set the tone for the rest of the novel, which repeatedly demonstrates that giving in to temptation carries consequences while resisting it brings rewards.

Lewis explores temptation primarily through Digory, who has a basic understanding of how actions warrant consequences when the novel begins. As he tells Uncle Andrew, “I’ve never read a story in which people of that sort weren’t paid out in the end, and I bet you will be. And serve you right” (31). Nevertheless, Digory repeatedly succumbs to temptation, typically because he is curious: He persuades Polly to explore additional pools in the Wood between the Worlds, and he taps the bell that wakes the Witch. His justification for doing the latter illustrates the self-deception that accompanies temptation; he knows on some level that ringing the bell is a bad idea and that he has no reason to do it beyond wanting to, but he rationalizes that he will begin behaving erratically if he doesn’t. The consequences are immediate and compounding. The castle collapses and the Witch wakes up and travels to London with the children, where she terrorizes the locals and destroys a large amount of property. Even more seriously, she then enters a completely clean and pure world, tainting it for the rest of time. Though Aslan can keep the evil at bay for hundreds of years, Digory’s choice negatively affects many lives for generations to come.

In the novel’s Christian symbolism, Digory’s ringing of the bell plays the same narrative role as Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit: Both produce a “fallen” world. However, Lewis also alludes directly to the Garden of Eden story with Digory’s mission to retrieve the apple of youth. That Digory accomplishes this task is all the more noteworthy given the increasingly sophisticated temptations he must resist while doing so. First, he overcomes the purely physical temptation posed by the apple’s delicious smell. Next, the Witch tells Digory about the apple’s effects and tries to persuade him to eat it and rule alongside her, appealing both to the fear of death and to the desire for power. Lastly, the Witch tells him that the apple could heal his mother. This is the hardest temptation to resist, partly because it channels something genuinely good: Digory’s love for his mother. It does so selfishly, however, because stealing the apple would involve doing things Digory knows his mother would disapprove of, including breaking his promise to Aslan. By refusing to listen to the Witch, Digory demonstrates that he has learned to resist temptation. As a reward, Digory is publicly honored and given an apple to bring home to his mother.

By contrast, the Witch ignored the warning on the golden gates of the garden and climbed the wall, taking an apple of youth for herself. Because of this, she is punished by receiving misery along with her everlasting youth. Her fate demonstrates that while evil may appear to go unchecked for a time, it will eventually be destroyed by the forces of good.