Five Classics About Spiritual Warfare

Charlotte Bronte, 2016

Charlotte Brontë’s romantic novel Jane Eyre is often appreciated for its unique love story, but the heroine’s success in achieving self-control is an equally important aspect of the book. Orphaned as a baby and raised by a mean aunt who allows her children to intimidate her, Jane Eyre grows up feeling angry and unloved. Often punished unfairly, the child dreams of revenge and occasionally expresses this to her few friends. As a way to get rid of her, Jane’s aunt sends her to a legalistic charity school where she is also treated harshly. But two role models she meets there show her love and teach her to toil and develop the long-suffering spirit that allows her to forgive and find her place in the world. When Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, she discovers that the master hides his wife Bertha Mason in a locked room after she has grown mad. The pyromaniac Mason is often interpreted symbolically as Jane’s suppressed self, the person she might have become had she not learned to overcome adversity.

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1979

Stevenson’s gothic novella about a man divided against himself can be read as an allegory of a lost fight with the sinful nature. Jekyll, an outwardly respectable scientist who’s always managed to hide his perverse tendencies, produces a potion that allows him to temporarily transform into a lewd sociopath. This violent man he names Hyde accomplishes his dark desires by night while he keeps his normal occupation as Jekyll by day. Soon, Hyde gains power over his life as Jekyll starts transforming against his will and without his drug. This suspenseful story has been interpreted in many ways, but certainly stands as a warning against indulging in secret sins as it inevitably leads to self-destruction.

Herman Melville, 1989

Moby Dick, as the whale it is named after, is a giant novel that tackles many subjects, one of which is what happens when a leader has long lost his fight with his sinful nature. The hardened Ahab, once maimed by an enigmatic white whale named Moby Dick, is on a quest for vengeance. As his crew boards the Pequod expecting to hunt whales for oil, Captain Ahab announces that their real purpose is to find and kill Moby Dick. The crew is excited to take part in this, but Starbuck, Ahab’s first mate and the voice of reason throughout the novel, tries to convince Ahab to let go, knowing they could all die if his plan fails. And Moby Dick has destroyed many ships. Ahab is generally understood as a Promethean character whose prideful rage has escalated to mythical proportions. Ahab is really mad at God, and this is who the white whale he wants to kill symbolizes.