Reepicheep
Reepicheep | |
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Narnia |
Reepicheep the Mouse is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. He appears as a minor character in Prince Caspian and as a major character in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and also briefly at the end of The Last Battle. Reepicheep is a Talking Mouse, the leader of the Talking Mice of Narnia; he is irascible yet imperturbably courteous, utterly without fear, and motivated by a deep concern for honour.
Description
Reepicheep is described as a "gay and martial mouse",[1] about two feet high when standing on his hind legs,[2] with ears "nearly as long as (though broader than) a rabbit's";[1] small Talking Beasts in Narnia are very much larger than their "dumb" counterparts.[3] He speaks with a shrill, piping voice. His fur is very dark, almost black. He wears a thin circlet of gold on his head, with a crimson feather.[2][4] His weapon is a rapier.
Appearances
In Prince Caspian
Reepicheep leads the Talking Mice in battle against the
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The only Talking Beast amongst the titular ship's crew, Reepicheep reveals that he has been driven since infancy by a vision of finding
In The Last Battle
When the main characters reach the gates of the Garden in Aslan's Country at the end of The Last Battle, it is Reepicheep who greets them.
Thematic significance
Christian elements
While The Chronicles of Narnia are often described as an allegory for Christianity, Lewis (himself an expert on allegory in literature) disputed this description on technical grounds, since most of the characters and plot elements do not "stand for" figures or events in Christian doctrine in any simple way. When a class of American fifth-graders wrote asking what the characters in Prince Caspian represented, Lewis replied
You are mistaken when you think that everything in the books "represents" something in this world. Things do that in
Nick-i-Brick [sic] don't, in that sense, represent anyone. But of course anyone in our world who devotes his whole life to seeking Heaven will be like R, and anyone who wants some worldly thing so badly that he is ready to use wicked means to get it will be likely to behave like N.[5]
In a letter to one reader, Lewis laid out the plan of the Narnia series: "The whole Narnian story is about
Chivalry
As a model both of ferocity on the battlefield and of courtesy in polite society, Reepicheep embodies the knightly ideal Lewis prescribes for manhood in his 1940 essay The Necessity of Chivalry.[7]
Portrayals
- In the 1989 television serial produced by the BBC, Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep was portrayed by Warwick Davis.[8]
- For the BBC Radio 4 adaptation (1995−1997), Reepicheep was voiced by Sylvester McCoy.[9]
- For the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre adaptation (1999−2002), Reepicheep was voiced by Robert Benfield.[10]
- In the Walden Media Narnia films, Reepicheep was voiced by Eddie Izzard in Prince Caspian[11] and by Simon Pegg in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.[12]
References
- ^ a b Prince Caspian p. 73
- ^ a b The Voyage of the Dawn Treader p. 16
- ^ The Magician's Nephew p. 107
- ^ The Last Battle p. 165
- ISBN 0-684-82372-1.
- ISBN 978-0-06-081922-4.
- ISBN 978-2-75-740225-2.
- ^ "Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader". IMDb.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-47135-036-8.
- ISBN 978-1-56179-787-5.
- ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- Lewis, C.S. (1951), Prince Caspian, Macmillan, New York
- Lewis, C.S. (1952), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Macmillan, New York
- Lewis, C.S. (1956), The Last Battle, Macmillan, New York