Shift (Narnia)

Last updated
Shift
Narnia character
In-universe information
RaceTalking Ape
Nationality Narnia

Shift is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. He is the main antagonist of The Last Battle , which is the last book of the series. Shift is an ape who, like many animals in Lewis' work, can talk; Lewis does not specify what kind of ape, but Pauline Baynes' illustrations depict him as a chimpanzee. At the beginning of the book, he lives near his friend/servant Puzzle the donkey at the base of the Great Waterfall, next to the Caldron Pool where the Great River starts its course to the sea. Lewis describes Shift as "the cleverest, ugliest, most wrinkled Ape you can imagine." ( Lewis 1956 , p. 1)

Contents

Name

The name Shift can be viewed as a description of the character in the same manner as other characters in The Last Battle such as Jewel and Puzzle. In the case of Shift, his name picks up on the two themes of deception (shiftiness) and development (change/shift). ( GrenfellHunt 2005 )( Sammons 2004 , p. 212)

Biographical summary

Prior story

Nothing is known of Shift's history before he appears in chapter 1 of The Last Battle. There Lewis says that he is so old that no one remembers when he came to live at the base of the great waterfall. After his demise it is suggested that he may have been a spy of the Tisroc for years before the lion skin arrives in chapter one and he had only been waiting for an opportunity to betray Narnia.

Character development

Throughout the book, Shift's greed and lust for power serve as his primary motivations.( King 1984 , pp. 14–19) Shift's actions to satisfy his greed increase in vileness as the story progresses. From lying to his "friend" Puzzle, he moves to manipulating the other talking animals of Narnia by ways of outlandish lies and unruly decrees that largely benefit himself and the Calormene population. In the end he has no problem murdering them and selling them into slavery to increase his own wealth and power. As Shift's actions become increasingly evil, he also becomes increasingly human in his appearance and in the way he presents himself. He dons human clothing and claims that he is not an ape, and that if he appears as one, it is only because he is "so very old: hundreds and hundreds of years old." However, at this stage he takes to drink and becomes increasingly the spokesman of the Calormene captain Rishda Tarkaan, and the cunning cat Ginger.

Shift gains the power to pursue these actions by tricking Puzzle into impersonating Aslan, the true leader of Narnia. Later, to secure the assistance of the neighboring country Calormen, he insists that their god Tash and Aslan are one and the same. But Shift's plans unravel when his actions unwittingly summon the real Tash into Narnia. Shift meets his end when he is thrown by King Tirian into the stable where Tash dwells to prove that Tash is in fact there, and is eaten by the monstrous god.

Allegorical interpretations and literary references

Lewis, himself an expert on allegory, did not consider The Chronicles of Narnia allegory. He saw them as "suppositional" answering the question, "What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?' This is not allegory at all." ( Martindale & Root 1990 ) As such, Narnia presents significant parallels with elements from Christianity.

Shift is most often compared to the Antichrist from the biblical book of Book of Revelation.

Revelation 13:15 can be seen as a passable description of Shift's hold over the Narnians: "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Shift's ability to present his false Aslan is what compels the Narnians to obey him, and the Calormenes kill those who resist. ( Caughey 2005 , p. 27)

A. N. Wilson and John Goldthwaite [1] both suggest that Shift is intended as a type of the Catholic Church, in keeping with the traditional Protestant identification of the Pope with Antichrist. This identification is based on Shift's claim that Aslan cannot be bothered with speaking to a lot of animals and that he, Shift, is hereafter Aslan's sole mouthpiece. Similarly John J. Miller, writing for National Review , says: "I find it hard to see the ape Shift in The Last Battle, for example, as anything other than a satire of Roman Catholicism in general and the papacy in particular." ( Miller 2005 )( GrenfellHunt 2005 ).

However, in Lewis' other writings it is made clear that he had no special animus against Roman Catholicism [2] but detested theocracy in whatever form it might take. [3] In his Oxford History of English Literature in the Sixteenth Century [4] he endorses Milton's view that Elizabethan Presbyterianism was just as guilty as Roman Catholicism of interposing a priestly mediator between man and God: for example, in their belief that the Bible should never be read out in churches but only "opened through preaching". The ape's claim that Aslan (God) is not bound by human standards of good and evil is also a Puritan rather than a Catholic trait. [5]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Natural History of Make-Believe.
  2. ↑ Letter to Bede Griffiths, "You, in your charity, are anxious to convert me: but I am not in the least anxious to convert you. You think my specifically Protestant beliefs a tissue of damnable errors: I think your specifically Catholic beliefs a mass of comparatively harmless human tradition which may be fatal to certain souls under special conditions, but which I think suitable for you…."
  3. ↑ "A Reply to Professor Haldane", in Of This and Other Worlds, p. 105; "Lilies that Fester" in They Asked for a Paper, p. 112.
  4. ↑ p.444.
  5. ↑ ibid. p. 449. Cf. also the character of Straik in That Hideous Strength.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia</i> Series of childrens fantasy novels by C. S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts and talking animals. It narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the Narnian world. Except in The Horse and His Boy, the protagonists are all children from the real world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are sometimes called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil. The books span the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in The Magician's Nephew to its eventual destruction in The Last Battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narnia (world)</span> Fantasy world created by C.S. Lewis, setting of The Chronicles of Narnia

Narnia is a fantasy world created by C. S. Lewis as the primary location for his series of seven fantasy novels for children, The Chronicles of Narnia. The world is named after the country of Narnia, where much of the Chronicles takes place.

<i>The Last Battle</i> Childrens fantasy novel by C. S. Lewis, 1956

The Last Battle is a portal fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by The Bodley Head in 1956. It was the seventh and final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Like the other novels in the series, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.

<i>The Horse and His Boy</i> Childrens fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis, 1954

The Horse and His Boy is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1954. Of the seven novels that comprise The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956), The Horse and His Boy was the fifth to be published. The novel is set in the period covered by the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe during the reign of the four Pevensie children as Kings and Queens of Narnia. Though three of the Pevensies appear as minor characters in The Horse and His Boy, the main characters are two children and two talking horses who escape from Calormen and travel north into Narnia. On their journey, they learn of the Prince of Calormen's plan to attack Archenland, and warn the King of Archenland of the impending strike.

In C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series of novels, Calormen is a large country to the southeast of Narnia. Lewis probably derived its name from the Latin calor, meaning "heat". When using the name as an adjective or an ethnonym, Lewis spelled the name with an 'e' at the end: a Calormene soldier; "The Calormenes have dark faces and long beards."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Pevensie</span> Fictional character in the Narnia universe

Peter Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia book series. Peter appears in three of the seven books; as a child and a principal character in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, and as an adult in The Last Battle. He is mentioned in The Horse and His Boy, in which he is away on the northern frontier fighting giants, and in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in which he is studying under the tutelage of Professor Kirke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jill Pole</span> Fictional character in The Chronicles of Narnia

Jill Pole is a major character from C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series. She appears in The Silver Chair and The Last Battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puddleglum</span> Fictional character in The Chronicles of Narnia

Puddleglum is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Puddleglum appears as a principal character in The Silver Chair, and is mentioned briefly at the end of The Last Battle. Puddleglum is a "Marsh-wiggle", a species invented by Lewis which appears only in this book, and the only Marsh-wiggle given a name or any lines of dialogue. He is gloomy and pessimistic and described by other characters as a "wet blanket", although by his account other Marsh-wiggles are gloomier still.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telmarines</span> Fictional people in the Chronicles of Narnia

The Telmarines are a people in the fictional world of Narnia created by the British author C. S. Lewis for his series The Chronicles of Narnia. Hailing from Telmar, the Telmarines are prominent in the book Prince Caspian, the second book published in the series. The Telmarines were pirates in Earth before entering the Narnian world through a magical cave.

Aravis is a fictional character in the 1954 novel The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis.

King Tirian is a fictional character from C. S. Lewis's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. He is the protagonist of The Last Battle, in which he is the last King of Narnia, who has to defend his kingdom against subversion and invasion. He is well respected by the Narnians and a skilled swordsman. He is descended from Prince Caspian, and is the son of King Erlian. His closest friend is Jewel the Unicorn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tash (Narnia)</span> Fictional deity in The Chronicles of Narnia

Tash is a fictional deity and demonic god, found in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. He is an antagonist in the novels The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle.

Shasta, later known as Cor of Archenland, is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. He is the principal character in the fifth book published in the series, The Horse and His Boy. The book's events, however, are chronologically third in the series. He also appears briefly at the end of The Last Battle, the seventh and final book in the series.

Emeth is a Calormene character from C. S. Lewis's book The Last Battle from The Chronicles of Narnia series. He is a controversial character among some Christians who take the Chronicles to be allegories, and thus have expressed disagreement with Lewis' apparent soteriology. Specifically, the salvation of Emeth is understood to be an implicit endorsement of the doctrinal idea of Inclusivism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aslan</span> Fictional lion, a deity in The Chronicles of Narnia

Aslan is a major character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. Unlike any other character in the Narnian series, Aslan appears in all seven chronicles. Aslan is depicted as a talking lion and is described as the King of Beasts, the son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea, and the King above all High Kings in Narnia.

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages. The series borrows characters and ideas from Classical, Norse, Irish, Arthurian, Islamic, Jewish and Christian mythology. Of all the mythologies taken into consideration, the Christian one is the most fundamental for the Narnia series, due to the themes covered.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Narnia:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reepicheep</span> Fictional mouse in The Chronicles of Narnia, books 2 and 3

Reepicheep the Mouse is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. He appears as a minor character in Prince Caspian and as a major character in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and also briefly at the end of The Last Battle. Reepicheep is a Talking Mouse, the leader of the Talking Mice of Narnia; he is irascible yet imperturbably courteous, utterly without fear, and motivated by a deep concern for honour.

Magical creatures are an important aspect of the fictional world of Narnia contained within The Chronicles of Narnia book series and connected media originally created by C. S. Lewis. Throughout the seven books of the series, the protagonists encounter a variety of these creatures as they travel throughout Narnia and the surrounding lands and seas, including Archenland, Calormen, and the Great Eastern Ocean.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.