“Bid farewell to hopes and fears”
The Silver Chair“Bid farewell to hopes and fears” is the Prince’s counsel for facing a perilous adventure: he urges his companions to set aside fear of either outcome and act before hesitation costs them their honour and reason. The saying gives resolve an immediate practical meaning as they flee the underground castle.
The Saying in Context
The Prince speaks as he opens the stable door, after Eustace recognizes the unfamiliar lights and sounds outside as a signal and Puddleglum suspects it means trouble for them. The warning is not abstract: the group is preparing to get out while danger may be closing in. The Prince’s words turn their attention from guessing what the signal means to the choice they can make now.
Meaning and Stakes
In the Prince’s formulation, hope and fear are paired because either can hold a person captive to speculation about what comes next. He does not claim that death and deliverance are equivalent; he insists that waiting for certainty may make both too late to save a person’s honour and reason. The expression therefore makes timely action, rather than confidence in a favourable result, the measure of courage.
Action and Consequence
The Prince’s resolve is immediately embodied in his care for the horses, which he addresses by name as he opens the stable. The horses are frightened by the strange lights and noises, but Jill enters among them without fear; she and the Prince saddle and bridle them within minutes. Jill mounts Snowflake, Puddleglum rides behind her, and Eustace rides behind the Prince on Coalblack. Their departure through the main gateway, accompanied by the echo of hoofbeats, shows the counsel becoming action rather than remaining a speech.
Narrative Significance
The saying links honour and reason to decisiveness under pressure. Its force lies in the speed with which the scene tests it: the companions leave the stable and ride into the street, where water has reached the walls of the houses, a danger Puddleglum points out. The movement from the Prince’s warning to this visible peril gives the phrase its urgency: uncertainty has not ended, but delay would have left them less able to meet what is coming.
