Many of us have become too familiar with the feeling of despair. We know it intimately, from its darkness to its exhausting downward pull. It steals not only our energy, but also our vision—we can’t see a way out.
This despair is particularly heavy when we’ve been fighting a force for a long time. All our efforts seem futile. We’re losing battle after battle. We begin to doubt our abilities and wonder if we have any power at all.
Today, I have a second installment of hope to share from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
The BBC miniseries opens with magician John Segundus (spectacularly played by Edward Hogg) attempting to perform some magic—“a spell to join together two articles which have been parted.” He fails, and disappointedly tosses the two pieces of pipe he was working with into his growing pile. We understand he’s been working on this project for a very long time.
Segundus is a dedicated magician. We learn from the novel that he’s spent the majority of his money studying and pursuing answers to his questions about magic. He tries to open a school for young magicians to study magic, but he’s opposed by the powerful Mr. Norrell, who wants to control access to magic. Segundus’s money begins to run out, and he doesn’t seem any closer to making magic work for any practical purpose.
Throughout the story, Segundus doesn’t exactly give up on magic—he can feel magic, and he continues to ask questions—but he stops attempting to perform magic himself. He stores the paper with the joining spell in an old box, letting it gather dust. He seems to move on, leaving behind his dreams of opening a magical school and instead serving alongside his friend, Mr. Honeyfoot (Brian Pettifer), caring for the presumed-mad Lady Pole.
Until one day, when Childermass (played by the brilliant Enzo Cilenti) comes storming into the house, bringing the thing that will free Lady Pole and the others trapped with her in the fairy’s enchantment. But this requires a joining spell, which Childermass has never performed.
Childermass has faith in his fellow magicians, however—much more than they have in themselves. He urges them to help him find a solution, saying “Come! We are all magicians here!” He reminds Segundus of his original mission, and Segundus goes to the box and pulls out his joining spell.
When Segundus hesitates, doubting his ability, Childermass looks him in the eye and says, “Do the magic.” Then Segundus does the magic. And it works.
Segundus’s story has so much to offer us where we are today. No matter how long we’ve been working for what we believe in, or even if we’ve mostly given up, we cannot forget that we still have power. And we can’t stop reminding one another of that truth, even when—especially when—all seems lost.
Try again. Do the magic.
Photo by BBC One
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