“The night circus” by Erin Morgenstern
“The circus arrives without a warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspaper. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. A child near you tugs on her mother’s sleeve, begging to know what it is. “The circus of dreams”, comes the reply. The girl smiles delightedly. Then the iron gates shudder and unlock, seemingly by their own volition. They swing outward, inviting the crowd inside. Now the circus is open. Now you may enter”.
The Night Circus is a fantasy novel written by Erin Morgenstern and released in September 2011. Erin Morgenstern was born on July 8th, 1978, in the USA. The pieces that she usually writes have to do with fantasy and she haswritten two really well-known novels, the Night Circus and the Starless Sea. She has been rejected many times during her career, but that didn’t stop her from winning the “annual Locus Award for Best First Novel” with her book “the Night Circus” that she first started working on in 2005, meaning that it took her almost six years to finish.
PLOT:
What made the book even more interesting was the fact that the plot was not just one main story, but many happening all at once. So, the night circus is a fairy tale of magic and romance set near an ahistorical late 19th century London in a magical circus that is open only from sunset to sunrise.
The book is about two powerful magicians, Prospero the Enchanter and Mr. A.H., who groom their young proteges, Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair, to proxy their rivalry with the exhibits on stage. The two young teens are bond with an unbreakable spell that marks their competition, but they only know about the challenge and not who their rival is going to be.
At the same time, one of the most well-known circuses is being constructed, with illusionists from all around the world performing real magic. Both Celia and Marco start working together, acknowledging their fate. The two of them come closer and closer, a kind of behavior that affects the challenge. What is to happen in the end, is truly magic!
CHARACTER ANALYSIS:
Prospero the Enchanter: Prospero the Enchanter and Mr. A.H are two of the most well-known magicians, the opposition of whom is as great as their fame.
He is an insensitive man, willing to wager his own daughter for the sake of the competition. “You would wager your own child”, Mr. A.H.once wondered, but Prospero quickly replied that he was convinced she wouldn’t lose. His arrogance was such that he risked everything, Celia’s well-being included, to have her ready for the challenge.
Mr. A.H.: Known for his astonishing performances and dedication, Mr. A.H., whose identity he rather keeps a secret, adopts a young orphan boy.
Unfeeling as he was, he never gave a hoot about actually naming the child, for the only thing he did care for was proving his skills and power.
Mr. A.H. was one of the main creators of the circus and the one who came up with the original idea. He was such a perfectionist that he paid attention even to the smallest details, chose the illusionists with great selectivity and was really focused on keeping the rules.
Marco Alisdair: As a young boy, Marco was plucked from an orphanage by Mr. A.H. and trained in the art of magic while spending his youth in isolation, reading and practicing. When he watches Celia Bowen audition for night Circus, he knows immediately that she is his opponent, and that the circus is to be the arena for their competition.Marco was an excellent student and really hardworking—Mr. A.H. even notes that he was probably the best he ever had. He was willing to cheat at first in order to win the competition, for he agreed on having his close friend Isobel join the circus to keep an eye on Celia and her progress. Of course, that didn’t escalate well neither for Marco nor for Isobel.
Celia Bowen: Celia Bowen is an illusionist at the Night Circus with her performancesbeing part of her competition with her fellow magician, Marco Alisdair. Celia is hard-working as well and maybe even better than Marco, for he was afraid that no matter how hard he tried, he would never reach her knowledge of magic. She had really struggled growing up, after losing her mother and being raised by her insensitive father, who showed no mercy on her and was constantly pushing her to the edge.
THEMES:
Competition: At the center of The Night Circus is the competition between Celia and Marco, who must outperform one another with magic until one of them dies. Both Prospero and Mr A.H. have seemingly rejected emotional vulnerability in favor of the victory over their century-long rivalry as well.
Love: Despite the fact that they are meant to be competing against one another, Celia and Marco fall in love. Their love is a rebellion against the isolation imposed by their guardians. Celia and Marco embrace the vulnerability of an intimate connection in a way their guardians were never able to do. While competition and rivalry lead only to isolation, love is presentedas a force, powerful enough to overcome any obstacle and engender both empathy and self-sacrifice.
Magic and Illusion: Spectators come to the Night Circus seeking for illusion and deception, and whether or not they recognize the magic for what it is; they are captivated by a world that defies logic and extends their sense of what is possible. With its maze of tents and uncharted paths through different cities and towns around the world, the Night Circus is unreadable and mysterious to spectators, imbuing it with magic from the outset. The novel begins with a statement: “The circus arrives without warning.” There is no explanation, no advertisement or leaflet to present its origin, meaning, or format.
SYMBOLS:
Rings: The two young teens are bond with an unbreakable spell that marks their competition. Both Celia and Marco get a ring that burns itself into their fingers, symbolizing a commitment that cannot be discarded as easily as a piece of jewelry. Even Isobel, Marco’s friend owns a ring that was from an arranged marriage, that would likely not have made her happy, as she herself once said “He looked for the ring longer than he looked for me”, when referring to her partner. So, In the Night Circus, rings symbolize commitment, enclosure, and infinite connection.
Bonfire: When the circus was first constructed all the illusionists gathered their power to create the massive bonfire at the center. That bonfire is what gives the circus life, and keeping that fire burning is essential to the survival of the circus and its performers. The lighting of the bonfire on the opening night is a symbolic ritual of birth, inaugurating the circus and its family. As a symbol of life, the fire also plays a huge role in the end of the book, but unfortunately, I cannot say anything else, for I don’t want to spoil the final scene.
BOOK IMPRESSIONS:
The Night Circus was the first fantasy novel that I have recently read. It wasn’t one of those fantasy books that talk about magic in the form of fairies and superheroes, but it was written in such way that I could sense the mystery. Pure mystery and pure magic, not like a fairytale in any sort of way. No one ever admitted that the tricks they were performing were based on real magic, and yet we knew they were, not because it was mentioned, but because we could feel it through the text itself. The variation of the plots happening all at once, the different timelines going on all together, the alternation of the characters, their relationships and their final connection with one another really brought the whole novel to life. I would really love to read it again and I strongly recommend you to do so, too!
Αικατερίνα Χαρίτου (Β4), Πρότυπο ΓΕΛ Ευαγγελικής Σχολής Σμύρνης