Re-reading this thread, I've thought of something. It was mentioned several times, especially in the first two pages, Aravis' motive in regards to drugging the slave (ie: that she should oversleep and be beaten for her negligence) might have had something to do with the "equal whipping" she received from Aslan. And I still think that's part of it. But here's the new thought I had: what if the scratching is not merely for the past but also the present? Something that was said a while ago on page two jumped out at me:
Ajnos wrote:In life, we often see people suffer as a result of their past behaviour. Sometimes, with reason (it is the consequence of past choices), but we still if God has punished them too much. But I think SYorickson and Swan hit on it when they pointed out that all discipline from God is good. He sees the bigger picture and knows exactly what each person needs to be drawn to him (or drawn nearer to him). In some cases a harsh lesson is required (as was apparently necessary for Aravis), but in other cases, simply a reprimand is enough (like in Edmund's case). (emphasis added)
We can all agree that Edmund betrayal of his family is, at least as far as we see with our earthly perspective, a far worse sin than Aravis'. And yet, he just stayed up all night talking with Aslan while Aravis was physically wounded. Why is that? (Again, from our earthly perspective.)
And then something Lily said also caught my attention:
Lily of Archenland wrote:My issue is whether, ...after a journey in which she has suffered much and begun to learn her lesson about lower-class people being able to be honorable comrades and human beings (Shasta), it's quite a proportionate punishment for her to be non-fatally torn open and bedridden in extreme pain.
This in combination with Ajnos' comment led me to this: What if the apparent disproportion in punishment between Edmund (the "worse" sinner with the lesser punishment) and Aravis (the "lesser" sinner with the worse punishment) was based not so much on the
past, but on the
present? (For the rest of the post, when I speak in the present tense, I mean "at the time of confrontation by Aslan".) Edmund was already repentant before the Narnians rescued him and brought him to camp. Aravis, though she's learned to respect someone below her station as her companion and would not have left him behind had she shown up at the tombs first, shows no indication of repenting of what she did to the slave. We could again bring up the arguments that she was raised to see servants as tools to be used (though that doesn't jive so well with her learning to respect Shasta, as far as her present state goes) and that the drugging may have been an essential step in her escape, and thus she didn't -- and still doesn't -- believe she was in the wrong to do it. But isn't that what the gift of repentance is about, that even though we can justify ourselves and be confronted by someone else about what we've done (in Aravis' case, Shasta stated that her attitude about the slave girl was rather hard), it's not until we have a change of heart that we can truly repent?
As for the severity of Aravis' punishment, sure, Aslan could have just talked to her, maybe even growled like he did at Lucy in PC for good measure. Maybe that would have affected a change -- and goodness knows that sometimes, that's all it takes -- or maybe the scratching was a necessary catalyst to Aravis' repentance. And/or maybe it was very simply what Aslan told her: that she needed to know what it felt like, that is, to grasp the full consequence of her actions (which fits into the book thematically: recall the "I am the lion" monologue and how Lord Bar's attempt to thwart the prophesy actually led to its fulfillment; Aravis' case is just a "negative" result, as far as we can see from an earthly perspective at this time, though it was brought up several times that the future effect can be conjectured to be positive).
On a semi-related tangent, in the event that my ramblings now brings up the question of how Eustace fits in (being a "lesser" sinner than Edmund but repentant before Aslan literally skins him alive (which is worse than just a scratching, even if he did get almost-immediate healing in the pool)), I don't think we need to look a whole lot farther than Eustace's own words: like peeling off a scab, that it hurt like billy-oh but what a
pleasure it was to feel that stuff come off (emphasis added). His punishment wasn't the "undressing" (though it was directly related and is thus
part of the punishment), but the dragoning itself. Besides the point of our own inability to wholly change ourselves, try as we might, and that we need to submit to God's root-cause cleansing, Eustace's undragoning also has the element of the temporary pain of cutting off the old nature from the new. It's a transformation, a dying to oneself, and thus different in both tone and purpose from the clawing of Aravis.