How Does King Of Shadows
Encourage Us To Consider Significant
Questions?
By Sam Thatcher
In the novel King of Shadows, Susan Cooper encourages readers to consider
significant
questions by cleverly weaving those questions into the text. Some of the
issues raised by Cooper are the importance of friendship, theatre and acting
as a refuge, life in Elizabethan England, orphanhood and the possibility of
time travel. In the critically celebrated novel King of Shadows, Susan Cooper
urges readers to consider significant questions by weaving them into the
novel.
The importance of friendship is an significant issue explored by Cooper in
King Of Shadows. Nat’s growing connection with William Shakespeare is
obvious from his thoughts “don’t go, please don’t go… I just knew that I liked
being with him more than anyone I knew”. This shows that the relationship
has given Nat a sense of belonging. Likewise, Nat describes the sensation
when he sees William Shakespeare as a sudden warmth. This “warmth”
represents the deep affection and safety Nat feels when he is with
Shakespeare. The importance of friendship, in order to be happy, is a key
idea expressed in King of Shadows.
Theatre and acting as a refuge is a significant matter investigated by Cooper
in King of Shadows. Nat’s suggestion of theatre being his shelter is clear from
his thoughts of “the little theatre back home… It had been our space, my
space, a kind of home”. This suggests that Nat’s theatre has a special
meaning to him; that he uses it as a way to escape reality. Likewise, Nat’s
connection to theatres and acting is expressed again when he thinks “I
wanted passionately to get back to the Globe”. This also suggests that Nat
intensely wants to be involved in theatre because of the sense of belonging
and safety he gets with it. In the novel King of Shadows, Cooper cleverly
positions certain ideas that urges the reader to consider theatres and acting
as a refuge.
Life in Elizabethan England is an important subject considered by Cooper in
King Of Shadows. Nat’s perspective of Elizabethan England is mentioned
numerous times in King of Shadows. An example of this is when Nat thinks
“And their London swept over me, caught me up, in a nightmare mix of sight
and sound and smell”. This suggests both Nat’s and Cooper’s interpretation of
what Elizabethan England was like. Another example of this is when Nat
thinks “The whole street smelled bad; so did the people sometimes, if a
particularly unwashed one jostled you too close”. Like the first piece of
evidence, this also indicates Cooper’s and Nat’s interpretation of Elizabethan
England. This evidence clearly states that life in Elizabethan England is an
important subject explored by Cooper in King of Shadows.
Orphanhood is another key topic examined by Cooper in King Of Shadows.
An example of Nat’s depressing loss of his parents is when he is talking to
Shakespeare and says “She died when I was five… she had cancer. She was
very pretty and she smelled of flowers, and she used to sing to me. But she
died, and that left my dad and me, just the two of us… One day I came home
from school early. And he was lying on the floor of the study, he'd killed
himself”. This clearly indicates that Nat is traumatised by the death of his
father. Another example of this is when Nat is talking to Gil Warmun, Rachel
Levin and Eric Sawyer “I said, ‘I don’t have any parents’… Eric asked… ‘Are
they dead?’… ‘Yeah’… And I was off, escaping, the way you always have to
escape sooner or later if you don’t want to be clucked over and sympathised
with… or, worse, to have to answer the next question and the next and the
next”. This suggests that Nat loathes having to confront the loss of his parents
and dislikes the sympathy people try to give to him or the questions they ask.
The evidence stated here clearly demonstrates that orphanhood is another
significant matter explored by Cooper in King Of Shadows.
In the novel King of Shadows, Cooper uses the possibility of time travel to
drive other issues that are raised in the text, but in doing this, she has made it
an important issue of itself. Nat traveling back in time is an obviously
significant issue and is brought up many times by Nat’s thoughts like “I guess
that was the moment when I first thought, with a hollow fear in my chest, that I
might have gone back in time”. This evidence clearly states that Nat has gone
back in time and is afraid of what might happen to him and what has
happened to him in the present. Due to going back in time Nat experiences
the loss of his world but also experiences the forging of an important
relationship with Shakespeare that helps him overcome the loss of his
parents. This suggests that Nat going back in time helps him cope with the
loss of his parents through not only the relationship with Shakespeare, but
also the experience of losing his world. This evidence clearly states that the
possibility of time travel is a significant issue raised in King Of Shadows.
Susan Cooper presses readers to contemplate significant questions by
intelligently entwining them into the critically acclaimed novel, King of
Shadows. Some of the numerous inquiries Cooper asks readers are the
importance of friendship, theatre and acting as a refuge, life in Elizabethan
England, orphanhood and the possibility of time travel. In this expertly
acclaimed novel, Susan Cooper prompts us to examine significant questions
in King of Shadows.