Magic in the Night Circus

For this week I read the The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I found the story to be fascinating; the unique situations added intensity to the plot and the overall manner in which the story progressed was interesting. The story seems to follow a chain of events. For example, a famous magician, Prospero, receives a girl named Celia from his late mother and later finds that Celia has potential to become a magician in his magic show due to the fact that she has magic powers. Prospero decided to challenge Mr. AH, his former mentor, who was visiting. Both Prospero and Mr AH would raise a disciple to later compete against each other to the death, in order to determine who the stronger mentor was.

In my opinion, I think that Prospero’s actions were irresponsible. His pride and urge to overcome his master placed his own daughter to a betted death match. Personally, his actions raised extreme moral issues because basically the two disciples faced a complicated dilemma, placed in a situation without a choice. The two disciples were educated and trained with different methods; Celia was home schooled and trained by her father while Marco was adopted by Mr AH from an orphanage and received training like that of an Institution from Mr. AH. Another moral issue was presented when Mr. AH simply adopted Marco to use as a tool to prove his mentorship ability.

I found it really fascinating how fate ended up leading both Marco and Celia to the Night Circus without being aware that they were each other’s fated opponent. During the performance they both spared with each other until they realized the true meaning behind their training and being at the circus. The storyline became increasingly complicated when Celia and Marco started having mutual feelings towards each other. This juxtaposes the intentions of Prospero and Mr AH. If the disciples were to fall in love with each other they would not be able to face and fight each other to death. Their lack of freedom to love and choose their fate poses extreme moral issues.

Marco undergoes a complex spiritual challenge towards the end when he had to choose between Celia’s love or his mentors expectation. However, his love for Celia was powerful enough to override the challenge. He stood against their fate and kissed Celia in front of everyone, which to most people would find it to be extremely embarrassing to actually do it out of a whim. Although the ending was a tragedy, Marco and Celia’s spirits remain together and their love continued.