Entry # 11 (Till We Have Faces #1) A Just Reign
Katherine Forbes
One
of my most favorite chapters in Till We Have Faces is Chapter 20, when Orual’s
real reign begins. Among her
accomplishments are of course the three wars through which she led her
men. Most prevalent was of course her
military triumph over the fearsome Wagon Men, a terror to behold I’m sure. Orual attributed two things to the success of
her reign in retrospect. The first was of
course the presence of her just and wise advisors. Bardia and the Fox served Orual to the best
of their respective abilities, neither caring to pursue his own vanity or advancement,
and acting in a manner truly dedicated public servants should. The second factor essential to the success of
her reign was of course her veil: it was the source of both her internal and
external political strength. The veil
obviously plays an incredibly important role in this story, but oddly enough, a
specific description of that role is rather difficult to pin down. The veil was first a source of political
strength because it made her mysterious and therefore intimidating to the
people. The people fabricated amongst
themselves a far more fearsome and respected reputation than she could have
ever wrought on her own. This in turn
gave her internal strength and power, and a confidence that those who saw her
no longer looked down upon her for her ugliness. Even on top of that, the veil symbolized
Oruals forsaking of her own identity to assume that of the queen, and the veil
made this transformation physical and real.
With the veil she had become an entirely new person, someone not limited
to the same restraints of her former identity.
As Queen instead of
plain and ugly Orual, she was able to carry out an incredibly just and
prosperous reign. With her education
from the Fox (notably a Classical liberal education by modern terminology), and
perhaps because of the transformation the gods had caused her to undertake,
Orual became a just and truly good queen.
First, she enacted justice on her own household when she hanged Batta, a
source of evil, and when she sold the unjust slaves. She then rewarded the just with freedom, and
in a very Greek fashion, she gave them the means to support themselves
economically in their newfound liberty.
She then enacted justice upon the mines, investing in sweeping reforms
which established economic incentives and resulted in happiness and prosperity. She brought books and learning to the castle
and invested in the education of the young.
She formed strong ties with the reformed house of religion, and finally
she revised the laws creating institutional and economic infrastructure to spur
commerce within the state of Glome.
The question is, had
she not gone through the experience she did with Psyche and Cupid, would she
have donned the veil, the new identity as queen, and would she have spent so
many years serving as a just and good queen and public servant? She earned the love and devotion of her
people, though she did not enjoy that love and devotion beyond a couple good
friendships. Was part of her punishment
her inability to enjoy the wonderful life she had been given? Or was it because she did not enjoy being
queen that she was such a thoroughly good ruler? The answers to these questions are entirely
open to interpretation, as was likely Lewis’s design, but there is no doubt the
ideas he presents are a feast for thought.
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