Yesterday, I was coming to the end of The Silver Chair, which is the penultimate volume in the series, and it forcibly struck me just how much Lewis could cram into a single idea.
The centre of the tale is that Prince Rilian has come under the power of purest evil in the guise of a beautiful, enticing and seductive woman. She has total power over him for twenty three hours in every twenty four but in that last hour - reality overtakes him and he is lashed to the silver chair so that he cannot escape her. (Don't worry - it all ends well.)
The chair is a satanic tool to prevent Rilian embracing spiritual reality. The story suggests that, however deeply we are ensconced in sin, there is always a small part of us which still knows the truth. Our 'chair' must be destroyed in order for us to free ourselves from spiritual darkness otherwise we are going to be bound in sin and all of its consequences for eternity. Sure beats fairy tales!
