The Silver Chair

by

C. S. Lewis

Themes and Colors
Deception and Illusion Theme Icon
Freedom and Imprisonment Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
Courage Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Silver Chair, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Temptation Theme Icon

Although Jill, Scrubb, and Puddleglum are all well-intentioned, they regularly encounter temptations during their journey, and these temptations lead them astray. For example, because Jill feels Scrubb is too overbearing, she feels compelled to tempt fate and walk along the edge of a cliff. As a result of this behavior, though, she almost falls off the cliff, and the only reason she doesn’t is because Scrubb saves her—but, in doing so, he topples off the cliff himself. Jill’s decision to spite Scrubb and tempt fate leads to an unfavorable outcome that could have cost Scrubb his life if Aslan did not step in and save him. Later in the novel, Jill and Scrubb are also enticed by the tempting description the Queen of the Underland provides of Harfang castle. Jill and Scrubb have been traveling over rough terrain for a long time, and the thought of a warm meal and a cozy bed makes them travel to Harfang against their better judgement. As they approach Harfang, the children forget the initial purpose of their trip, which is to rescue Prince Rilian. When the children arrive at the Harfang castle, they discover that the giants that live there want to eat them. As such, like Jill’s walk along the cliffside, giving into temptation only leads to more danger. Through these examples, one can surmise that the novel’s view of temptation is that one should avoid it at all costs because it offers short-term rewards at the expense of long-term goals and moral sensibilities.

Related Themes from Other Texts
Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme…

Temptation ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Temptation appears in each chapter of The Silver Chair. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
chapter length:
Get the entire The Silver Chair LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Silver Chair PDF

Temptation Quotes in The Silver Chair

Below you will find the important quotes in The Silver Chair related to the theme of Temptation.
Chapter 1 Quotes

She was crying because they had been bullying her. This is not going to be a school story, so I shall say as little as possible about Jill’s school, which is not a pleasant subject. It was “Co-educational,” a school for both boys and girls, what used to be called a “mixed” school; some said it was not nearly so mixed as the minds of the people who ran it. These people had the idea that boys and girls should be allowed to do what they liked. And unfortunately what ten or fifteen of the biggest boys and girls liked best was bullying the others. All sorts of things, horrid things, went on which at an ordinary school would have been found out and stopped in half a term; but at this school they weren’t. Or even if they were, the people who did them were not expelled or punished. The Head said they were interesting psychological cases and sent for them and talked to them for hours. And if you knew the right sort of things to say to the Head, the main result was that you became rather a favorite than otherwise.

Related Characters: Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb, Aslan
Page Number: 1-2
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

“Human Child,” said the Lion. “Where is the Boy?”

“He fell over the cliff,” said Jill, and added, “Sir.” She didn’t know what else to call him, and it sounded cheek to call him nothing.

“How did he come to do that, Human Child?” “He was trying to stop me from falling, Sir.” “Why were you so near the edge, Human Child?” “I was showing off, Sir.”

“That is a very good answer, Human Child. Do so no more. And now” (here for the first time the Lion’s face became a little less stern) “the Boy is safe. I have blown him to Narnia. But your task will be the harder because of what you have done.”

Related Characters: Jill Pole (speaker), Aslan (speaker), Eustace Scrubb
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“Only tell them,” answered the Lady, “that She of the Green Kirtle salutes them by you, and has sent them two fair Southern children for the Autumn Feast.”

Related Characters: The Queen of the Underland (speaker), Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb, Puddleglum
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:

In the second place, whatever the Lady had intended by telling them about Harfang, the actual effect on the children was a bad one. They could think about nothing but beds and baths and hot meals and how lovely it would be to get indoors. They never talked about Aslan, or even about the lost prince, now. And Jill gave up her habit of repeating the signs over to herself every night and morning. She said to herself, at first, that she was too tired, but she soon forgot all about it. And though you might have expected that the idea of having a good time at Harfang would have made them more cheerful, it really made them more sorry for themselves and more grumpy and snappy with each other and with Puddleglum.

Related Characters: Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb, Prince Rilian, Puddleglum, Aslan
Page Number: 94-95
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“Are you still sure of those signs, Pole? What’s the one we ought to be after now?”

“Oh, come on! Bother the signs,” said Pole. “Something about someone mentioning Aslan’s name, I think. But I’m jolly well not going to give a recitation here.”

As you see, she had got the order wrong. That was because she had given up saying the signs over every night. She still really knew them, if she troubled to think: but she was no longer so “pat” in her lesson as to be sure of reeling them off in the right order at a moment’s notice and without thinking. Puddleglum’s question annoyed her because, deep down inside her, she was already annoyed with herself for not knowing the Lion’s lesson quite so well as she felt she ought to have known it. This annoyance, added to the misery of being very cold and tired, made her say, “Bother the signs.” She didn’t perhaps quite mean it.

Related Characters: Jill Pole (speaker), Eustace Scrubb (speaker)
Page Number: 103-104
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

And then it was not a toy lion, but a real lion, The Real Lion, just as she had seen him on the mountain beyond the world’s end. And a smell of all sweet-smelling things there are filled the room. But there was some trouble in Jill’s mind, though she could not think what it was, and the tears streamed down her face and wet the pillow. The Lion told her to repeat the signs, and she found that she had forgotten them all. At that, a great horror came over her. And Aslan took her up in his jaws (she could feel his lips and his breath but not his teeth) and carried her to the window and made her look out. The moon shone bright; and written in great letters across the world or the sky (she did not know which) were the words UNDER ME. After that, the dream faded away, and when she woke, very late next morning, she did not remember that she had dreamed at all.

Related Characters: Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb, Aslan
Page Number: 119-120
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“I don’t think it’s funny at all,” said Jill. “I think you’ll be a wicked tyrant.”

“What?” said the Knight, still laughing and patting her head in a quite infuriating fashion. “Is our little maid a deep politician? But never fear, sweetheart. In ruling that land, I shall do all by the counsel of my Lady, who will then be my Queen too. Her word shall be my law, even as my word will be law to the people we have conquered.”

Related Characters: Jill Pole (speaker), Prince Rilian (speaker), The Queen of the Underland
Related Symbols: The Silver Chair
Page Number: 165-166
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.”

Related Characters: Puddleglum (speaker), Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb, Prince Rilian, The Queen of the Underland
Page Number: 190-191
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

“My father went to the world’s end,” said Rilian thoughtfully. “It would be a marvelous thing if his son went to the bottom of the world.”

“If your Highness wants to see your father while he’s still alive, which I think he’d prefer,” said Puddleglum, “it’s about time we were getting onto that road to the diggings.”

Related Characters: Prince Rilian (speaker), Puddleglum (speaker), Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb, Golg
Page Number: 218
Explanation and Analysis: