How does Queen Jadis change in the Wood? Give possible causes.

Chapter Five begins one of the key plot points: the awakening of Queen Jadis. As the antagonist, Queen Jadis becomes the major source of conflict throughout the rest of the novel. Queen Jadis is immediately characterized as powerful, arrogant, ruthless, and cruel: she is a classic fairy tale villain, who clearly symbolizes evil.

These chapters specifically help to develop the theme of magic, and its use for evil by Queen Jadis. Her magic is of a different breed than Uncle Andrew’s, because she has the power to destroy all life. While impressed by her magic, the children are also scared and intimidated. Thus, the book introduces the theme of good and evil. Queen Jadis delights in her use of magic to rule and destroy others; the children, by contrast, express shock at Queen Jadis' cruel treatment of the people of Charn. The Queen does not feel remorse for having destroyed all of Charn; rather, she feels it was completely necessary. Polly and Digory, who have a strong sense of right and wrong, immediately question her logic, asking why she has the right to kill all life, if she is to go on living herself. They recognize the queen’s immorality, and thus, her evil.

Another theme introduced in these chapters is that of Creation and Destruction. Here, Queen Jadis demonstrates creation's contrast: the destruction of Charn. The children note that in the hall of Charn’s ancestors the people begin as “kind and wise,” but then become “solemn,” then “strong, proud, and happy… but cruel,” then “cruel, but they no longer looked happy,” and the last of the faces, before the Queen, look, “despairing: as if the people they had belonged to had done dreadful things and also suffered dreadful things.” (55-56). Charn is another allusion to Atlantis (the first being in Chapter Two): a beautiful utopia that is destroyed through immorality and greed. Charn thus serves as both as a representation of the destructive power of evil, and as an allegory for the current affairs of the modern world. Likewise, the destruction of Charn also foreshadows the evil-doing that Queen Jadis will try and commit in Narnia.

As the children are trapped in Queen Jadis’ hands, their friendship is silently tested again. Polly wants to escape, but cannot because the hand nearest to her yellow ring is being held by the Queen; Digory could escape, but knows it is not right to leave without Polly. Despite their argument over the bell, Digory still acts out of loyalty and duty, and stays; as a boy who knows what is right, he knows he cannot leave her there.