72 pages • 2 hours read
Susanna ClarkeJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Reflections
The motif of reflections and mirrors in general underscores several important themes in the novel, including the Quest for Knowledge, Theory Versus Practice, and The Magical World Versus the Mundane World. When Jonathan Strange uses a basin of water to work his first spell, the reflection he sees marks his first step toward the pursuit of magical knowledge. When Mr. Norrell and Strange first meet, they become a pair after Strange takes a real book and causes it to switch places with its mirrored reflection. The two men even grow to become mirror opposites of each other, Strange with his reckless pursuit of practical magic and Norrell with his lack of practical knowledge and deep theoretical understanding.
Reflections also mark the physical boundary between the magical world and the mundane world, for when Norrell flees to Hurtfew to protect his library, he explains that any reflective surface is a potential opening through which Strange can attack him. The ubiquity of reflective surfaces shows that the presence of magic is inescapable in the ordinary world, and while Norrell sees its omnipresence as a threat, Strange sees it as a way of expanding his reach as a magician.
Books
Books are symbols of both knowledge and power in the novel. When Norrell collects all the books of magic and keeps them in the library at Hurtfew, he is asserting power over magic. Books are also symbols of theory as opposed to practice, for Strange’s practical magical abilities accelerate when he gains access to Norrell’s books.
To further emphasize the active role that books play in the many interpersonal dynamics of the novel, Clarke even goes so far as to create a character who is himself a book: Vinculus, whose power lies in his knowledge of the prophecy of the Raven King’s return. He is the one “book” that encourages Strange, Norrell, Childermass, and other magicians to question the idea that magic is something to be found only through books and experimentation. Vinculus’s very existence proves that above all else, magic exists everywhere, especially with the return of the Raven King.
Lady Pole’s Little Finger
Lady Pole’s little finger is a symbol of the increasingly porous boundary between the magical world and the mundane world. Her finger disappears from her left hand because Norrell uses magic to conjure a fairy to Lady Pole’s deathbed. Because he lacks skill in powerful fairy magic, Norrell errs, causing the events that help magic return to England. Other people note the lack of the missing finger, making it a mark of the uncanniness of Lady Pole, a person who lives in both the magical and the mundane worlds.
The little finger then becomes an object of power that people in the magical and mundane world pursue as they try to hold on to or enhance their power. Strange forces the Lord of Lost-hope to give him Lady Pole’s finger, making it a symbol of Strange’s ever-growing power as a practical magician. Lascelles takes the box with the finger from Drawlight and then kills him, hoping to use his knowledge of the finger to hold on to his place beside Norrell. When Lady Pole finally regains her finger, she leaves the magical world and becomes a formidable woman in the mundane world once again.
The Portrait of Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell
The portrait of the two magicians appears after they successfully use magic to advance the military and economic interests of England, making the portrait a symbol of the power of magic in the mundane world. What people see in the painting says a lot about the reputations of both men and people’s beliefs about magic. Most people praise Strange’s appearance in the painting because he is reasonably handsome and looks the part of a magician, showing that the appearance of power is important to exercising that power. Most people ignore Norrell or make unkind comments about him because they do not like the man. Jonathan Strange also looks at the painting and sees a mirror or doorway that no one else sees. The painting is a symbol of his obsessive quest for knowledge about the Raven King.
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By Susanna Clarke
