Episode 6, Chapter 12: The Queen of the Underland

The story reaches a dramatic climax in the Queen's castle, and Puddleglum gives a memorable speech. Themes in this chapter include: (1) Enchantment leads to slavery (That which enchants us can so alter our perceptions that we lose ourselves and our values to the object of our desires), (2) What is Reality—Plato’s Allegory of the Cave--redux (The Witch presents one narrative of Reality, while the Prince, Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum argue for another and better narrative); (3) Pain can clarify Truth (The suffocating enchantment is breached by Puddleglum's heroic act of putting his foot into the fire, and with newfound clarity Puddleglum gives his rousing speech about Truth, through which Lewis expresses the ontological argument derived from Anselm and Descartes about a Reality bigger and better than what we can imagine); and (4) Evil wants to destroy and will brook no compromise (When Evil does not get its way, it will immediately seek to kill and destroy).