Week 7: Chapter 6 — The Tragedian and the Lady (Part 1)

1.The Ghost arrives leading a little puppet-like figure on a chain — 'the Tragedian.' Lewis shows us that the Ghost has, over time, allowed one part of himself (the self-pitying, emotionally manipulative part) to grow so large that it has become almost a separate entity. What does this image suggest about the cumulative effect of habitual emotional patterns?

2.The Solid Woman who meets him — Hilda (or in some editions Sarah Smith — the great lady of Heaven) — is full of joy and genuine love. She is not cold or indifferent; she deeply wishes him to stay. But she will not perform the expected emotional transaction: she will not feel guilty, she will not pity him in the way he wants. Why is refusing to enable manipulation actually an act of love?

3.The Ghost-Tragedian speaks in a language of exaggerated suffering: 'You have broken my heart,' 'I only lived for you,' 'You cannot imagine what I have suffered.' Lewis calls this kind of emotional performance 'the Tragedian's art.' Have you encountered this pattern in real life? What makes it so difficult to respond to wisely?