The Night Circus Analysis

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“Everything is a symbol of something, it seems, until proven otherwise.” -Thomas C. Foster. Symbols are in place to express ideas and emotions through an indirect approach, any individual can view a symbol and interpret it in their own way. It is a more personal form of expression in literature. Although it may be hard to find a connection between the symbols in Erin Morgenstern's novel The Night Circus, there are still many of Freudians symbols that balance each other out. This is illustrated by color symbolism, imagery and the act of evil deeds shown throughout the novel.
Red is the universal symbol of love, it is the colour that appears in most people’s minds when thought of love. In The Night Circus, the colour red is a representation …show more content…

The bonfire symbolizes Marcos lifeforce more specifically. The text in the novel proved many details of the stages in life that Marco goes through. The different colours that the bonfire burns represent the emotions of Marco, relating a lot to colour symbolism as well. It illustrates levels of his life right to the very end. "The bonfire ignites in an eruption of yellow …show more content…

Magic symbolizes the entire aspect of the novel, the ideology of magic is that it is not real, it is a trick. Magic is a mere illusion that comes in one way and appears in another. This symbolizes the entire plot of the novel, the entire novel is somewhat a manipulation of people's minds, and it is an illusion that comes off as true but however is not possible, just like magic tricks. “I am tired of everyone keeping their secrets so well that they get other people killed. We are all involved in your game, and it seems we are not as easily repaired as teacups.” This quotation is an example of one the characters coming to realize that she and the other characters were somewhat apart of a game, in fact, they were all manipulated. All the circus people believed that the circus was Chandresh’s idea and that it all began as an idea to change the view of circuses. That, however, was not true, every single character was manipulated into thinking that they were doing tricks on civilians but in truth, were being manipulated by Hector and Mr. A.H to be pawns in their own challenge. Instead of tricking and manipulated the audience's minds, the symbol of magic was used as manipulation on the very circus people them