Shift (Narnia) - Allegorical Interpretations and Literary References

Allegorical Interpretations and Literary References

Further information: Religion in The Chronicles of Narnia

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) While not allegorical, Narnia does present 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)

The portrayal of Shift also suggests elements of modern totalitarianism, as in his use of the Rousseauian argument that "True freedom means doing what I tell you" (see General will).

"And now there's another thing you got to learn," said the Ape. "I hear some of you are saying I'm an Ape. Well, I'm not. I'm a Man. If I look like an Ape, that's because I'm so very old: hundreds and hundreds of years old."

But behind Shift lie greater powers: the Calormenes and ultimately their god Tash. Lewis revealed in his science fiction trilogy, The Space Trilogy, through his hero Ransom, especially in the final volume, That Hideous Strength, the connection between demonism and false science. The darker tone of The Last Battle parallels that of That Hideous Strength as both novels unveil the true face of Good and Evil, True and False, in a final conflict.

A. N. Wilson and John Goldthwaite 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 but detested theocracy in whatever form it might take. In his Oxford History of English Literature in the Sixteenth Century 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.

It has also been suggested that the characters of Shift and Puzzle are a reference to a passage from the 16th century humanist Erasmus' satirical work The Praise of Folly, wherein the personified Folly, near the beginning of the work, discourses on reality and appearances:

I have no use for cosmetics. I do not belie the interior of my heart by my outward appearance. I am always myself and they who take for themselves the title and bearing of wise men are unable to disguise me even though they walk about like apes in purple robes or asses in lion skins.

Shift may also be an allegory for Charles Darwin. He argues that man and ape can be confused on a longer timeline and his name, Shift, could reference evolutionary change over time.