A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA

DIDITAL ESSAY


A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA





The novel A Wizard of Earthsea was written by Ursula K Le Guin in 1968. It was written before the fantasy genre began in the 70s. The story is about a boy’s journey through magic and life, while trying to get rid of the evil shadow that wants to defeat him. Vogler, (1998; 1992) states that all great filmic narratives share a similar deep structure. He further explains that any stories of any kind might be divided into three acts: for instance, act 1- the ordinary world, call to adventure, refusal of the call, enter the mentor, as well as, crossing the first threshold. Act 2 - tests-allies and enemies, approach to the inmost cave, the supreme ordeal, and seizing the sword. Act 3 – the road back, resurrection and return with the elixir. In this essay, I will analyze the novel “A Wizard of Earthsea” according to Vogler’s theory.
Act 1:
Ordinary world. Duny (Ged, Sparrowhawk) was the hero of the novel was born in a lonely village called Ten Alders in the Island of Gont. His mother named him Duny. He grew up poorly and he had a poor child life in Gont. His mother died before he was a year old. His father was a bronze-smith. Duny had six brothers and he was the youngest of them all. He grew up wild, a “thriving weed, a tall, quick boy, loud and proud, and full of temper” (Le Guin, p.2). He spent his time always roaming deep in the forest, swimming in the pools of the river or climbing cliff and scrap to the heights above the forest, from which he could see the sea. Ged had not close relationship with his father and his brothers, in other words they have no use for him. Ged has the ability to develop extraordinary magic power. Meanwhile, he was in many ways like other children in the village (www.bookrage). His auntie was the only person in the village who liked him, and sometimes did anything he needed. In fact, she was the first person who recognized Ged’s magic ability.
Call to adventure. The first adventure was when he defeated his villager of fog. Ged had used his magical ability to battle with thick fog and he used a variety of spells to win. His instinctive skills were put to a test when hordes of vicious Kargs invaded his village. His quick thinking allowed him to tap into his limited repertoire, and come up with a spell to enshroud the homeland and its people in fog, as they were invisible to the enemy and almost everyone was saved.
Enter the mentor. Ged in his life during the story had a few mentors. The first of them was his aunt. She was also sorcerer and she learnt some of her knowledge and a variety of tricks to Ged. For example, control on animals and talking to them.
The second mentor was master Ogion. The master played important role in Ged’s life. Ogion thought if he wanted to be a great wizard he must learn to be silent and hear more and about the need to preserve the balance and avoid unnecessary magic because every spell produce endless ripples of unknown consequence.
Another mentor in the story was Archmage . Ged begins to study the ancient runes of hardic, which has its roots in the old speech. Ged then learnt that every action had a reaction and he must keep everything in balance.
Additionally, about nine masters of Roke taught Ged different lessons of wizards whom they were also his mentors.
Crossing the first threshold.The first time in the story which Ged accepted to use his magic power was when he defeat his homeland against Kargs.

Act-2:
Tests, allies, and enemies. When Ged was young, he was full of pride and was inexperienced in the ways of the wizard till the evil shadow appealed and wanted to consume him. This incident scared Ged and he decided to improve his ability of magic powers to defeat the shadow. Therefore, when he learnt some tricks from his aunt, he felt that they were not enough to win and exterminated the evil shadow. That lesson to him was for fun, as well as, to show off.
Ged became famous in his area. Ged’s name became famous and well known in Re Albi. The great mage of Re Albi , Ogion, heard about him. When Duny celebrated his thirteenth birthday, Ogion attended to his ceremony and he had given him the name Ged. After that, all people called him Ged. He traveled with Ogion to Re Albi to learn how to read and write the six hundred Ruunes of Hardic. He learnt a lot from Ogion. Ged could develop his power which allowed him to call animals (www.sfx).
The young Ged did a huge mistake of using a forbidden magic which he had not enough experience. It was when Serret, a beautiful girl who met Ged for the first time in the field, and she annoyed him which made him felt dumb. He then tried to use power, which he could not handle, therefore, he felt ashamed of himself. Hence, Ogion recognized that he better sent Ged to the school for wizards in Roke Island because of his talent to develop his magic powerful as a young boy. Ged one more time met Serret in the Terrenon as Lady of the Benderesle ( ibid). Serret again could deceive him like first time and Ged had to use a magic to save himself and her life and they flew from Benderesle’s anger, the lord of the terrenon.
Another person that who could Ged was Yevaud. It was when Yevaud temped him he told Ged that he knew the shadow real name, this showed that Ged thought fast and was strong in spirit. Most importantly, Ged learned the lore of true names, the secret identities of all people and things. A mage had power over whatever he could name. In the school one day, a boy named Jasper humiliated Ged, and he said that Ged had no power, so he is powerless. Ged became angry, because he thought that he was better than Jasper in magic, and stronger wizard than him. He immediately thinks to use a spell to bring up an old sprit. Unfortunately, the shadow came up and killed his teacher. Ged hated Jasper and they had always argued with each other(Le Guin,1991).
Another sign of their repugnance appeared in the school’s dance Party. Both Ged and Jasper again have tried to prove each other that they are in different class of wizardry. Jasper was an enemy for Ged in the story. The shadow also was the powerful enemy for Ged that always followed him and scared him a lot and Ged struggled to keep himself safe from the shadow and it continued during the whole book. The shadow take on many shapes of people whom Ged does not like.The shadow may take several forms or wear different masks (Vogler, 1998-1992).Some times the shadow appeared like his father, which was about his need to be loved and cared for, Grd does not give into the shadow evilness. Because it was in the inner of Ged. The hero of the story wanted to learn many valuable lessons for defeating the shadow. He liked to learn so he could undo the evil shadow. But he made a lot of misteckes. For instance, one of that nine mentors named Lord Gensher said to him that “ you have great power inborn in you, and you used that power wrongly, to work a spell over which you had no control, not knowing how that spell affects the balance of light and dark, life and death, good and evil. And you were moved to do this by pride and by hate” (Le Guin, 1991 p. 72). Moreover, you should remember and keep in mind that sorcery is not a game.
Act- 3:
The road back: When Ged returned from terrenon to Ogion “he had a great wish in him to stay on Gont, and foregoing all wizardry and venture, forgetting all power and horror, to live in peace like any man on the known, dear ground of his home land” (Le Guin, 1991 P. 141). That was his wish; but his will was other. But his mission to defeat the shadow had not finished yet. He made a decision to go (chapter 8, hunting) and find out the shadow and killed him. Ged could find the shadow and he chased him. But in fact after a few minutes it seemed that they followed each other over the ocean for a long time. Suddenly, he remembered the Ogion’s advise that he said to him you have to chase after the shadow instead of the shadow chasing after you (bookrage). He did and at the end Ged could overcome the shadow. After that he came back to ordinary life and Ged had learnt how to control his emotion and knew the right way to go.
Resurrection and return with the elixir. Finally, Ged could conquer the shadow, and he has realized that the real name the shadow was his own Ged. He learnt a lot in his life during his journey and he had acquired great knowledge through his physical and emotional journey.





References;
Le Guin,U,K.(1991). A Wizard of Earthsea. New York: Maillan Publishing Company.
Mountfort. P. (2008).Filmic narrative. Part 2: Characterization and archetype. AUT.
Vogler, CH. (1998-1992).The Writer’s Journey 2nd Edition: Mythic structure for writers.London: Penguin.
http://www.bookrags.com/A_Wizard_of_Earthsealearnt. http://www.sfx.co.uk/resources/sfx/SFX160wizardofearthsea.pdf