Cowardice

Cowardice is the central psychological and thematic burden of the Cowardly Lion, a character who enters the story already convinced of his own fearfulness and whose entire journey is shaped by the desire to overcome it. The Lion's self-identification as a coward is immediate and unequivocal: when Dorothy slaps him for threatening Toto, he does not deny the charge but instead hangs his head and admits, "I know it. I've always known it." This confession establishes cowardice not as a temporary state but as a fixed identity he believes he was born with. He explains to Dorothy that it is "a mystery" and that he supposes he "was born that way," a formulation that makes his fear feel like an inescapable biological fate rather than a correctable failing. The Lion's cowardice is paradoxical because it coexists with his physical power: he is as big as a small horse, can roar so loudly that every living thing flees, and has never actually been defeated in combat. Yet his internal experience contradicts his external reputation. He tells the group that whenever he has met a man he has been "awfully scared," but that he simply roared and the man ran away. The same pattern holds with other animals: "If the elephants and the tigers and the bears had ever tried to fight me, I should have run myself — I'm such a coward; but just as soon as they hear me roar they all try to get away from me, and of course I let them go." This confession reveals that the Lion's cowardice is not a lack of ability but a lack of confidence: he has never actually been tested, and his fear of failure prevents him from discovering that he might succeed. The Lion's cowardice is also a source of genuine sorrow. He wipes a tear from his eye with the tip of his tail and tells the Scarecrow that it is "my great sorrow, and makes my life very unhappy." When the Tin Woodman suggests he might have heart disease, the Lion seizes on the idea hopefully, and when the Woodman points out that having a heart means one can have heart disease, the Lion muses, "if I had no heart I should not be a coward." This exchange shows that the Lion equates cowardice with an emotional vulnerability he wishes he could escape, and it aligns him with the other companions who each lack something they believe is essential to full personhood. When he learns that the Scarecrow is going to ask Oz for brains and the Tin Woodman for a heart, the Lion immediately asks, "Do you think Oz could give me courage?" The question is posed with the same earnest hope that the others bring to their own requests, and the Scarecrow's reply — "Just as easily as he could give me brains" — places courage on the same plane of magical acquisition as the other gifts. The Lion then decides to join the party, declaring, "my life is simply unbearable without a bit of courage." This statement frames cowardice as an existential condition that makes life unlivable, not merely an inconvenience. Throughout the journey, the Lion's cowardice is repeatedly tested, and each test reveals that he is capable of brave action despite his fear. When the party encounters the great ditch, the Lion is the only one who can jump it, and he does so after measuring the distance carefully and expressing his own terror: "I am terribly afraid of falling, myself," he says, "but I suppose there is nothing to do but try it." He then leaps successfully and carries each companion across one by one. When the Kalidahs attack, the Lion turns to face them despite his trembling, and he gives a roar so loud that even the fierce beasts stop short. When they continue to advance, he tells Dorothy, "We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws. But stand close behind me, and I will fight them as long as I am alive." This is the speech of a creature who believes he will die but chooses to fight anyway — the very definition of courage the Wizard will later articulate. In the poppy field, the Lion is the first to succumb to the deadly fragrance, and he falls asleep only a short distance from safety. He is rescued by the field mice, an experience that humbles him: "I have always thought myself very big and terrible; yet such little things as flowers came near to killing me, and such small animals as mice have saved my life." This reflection shows that the Lion's cowardice is not merely a personal failing but part of a larger pattern of misjudging his own place in the world. When the four travelers finally confront Oz, the Lion is the last to enter the Throne Room, and he finds not a Head or a Lady or a Beast but a Ball of Fire so intense that it singes his whiskers. He still manages to state his request: "I am a Cowardly Lion, afraid of everything. I came to you to beg that you give me courage, so that in reality I may become the King of Beasts, as men call me." Oz's response is the same as for the others: bring proof that the Wicked Witch is dead. The Lion leaves the room angry but resigned, and he is the one who proposes the only course of action: "There is only one thing we can do, and that is to go to the land of the Winkies, seek out the Wicked Witch, and destroy her." This is the first time the Lion takes the lead in planning, and it marks a shift from passive sufferer of cowardice to active agent. After the Witch is melted, the Lion is freed from his prison and participates in the rescue of the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow. When the party returns to Oz and discovers that the Wizard is a humbug, the Lion is the one who suggests frightening him: he gives "a large, loud roar, which was so fierce and dreadful that Toto jumped away from him in alarm and tipped over the screen that stood in a corner." This roar, born of frustration rather than genuine ferocity, accidentally reveals the truth. When Oz finally admits he cannot give courage, the Lion is crestfallen, but the Wizard then delivers the key insight: "You have plenty of courage, I am sure. All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty." The Lion is not satisfied with this explanation — "Perhaps I have, but I'm scared just the same" — and insists on receiving the sort of courage that "makes one forget he is afraid." Oz then gives him a green liquid from a square green bottle, which the Lion drinks. Afterward, he declares himself "full of courage" and goes joyfully back to his friends. The narrative does not treat this as a genuine transformation but as a placebo that works because the Lion believes it does. After Oz departs in the balloon, the Lion declares himself "content in knowing I am as brave as any beast that ever lived, if not braver." He then accompanies Dorothy to the South, and on the way he encounters a forest of animals who are terrorized by a giant spider. The Lion volunteers to fight the monster, and he does so by leaping onto its back while it sleeps and striking off its head with one blow of his paw. The beasts then bow to him and make him their King. The Lion promises to return and rule over them as soon as Dorothy is safely on her way to Kansas. This episode provides the external validation of courage that the Lion has sought throughout the story: he has faced a genuine threat, defeated it, and been acknowledged as the King of Beasts. When Glinda later asks what he will do after Dorothy leaves, the Lion replies that he will return to the forest and live happily as King. Glinda commands the Winged Monkeys to carry him there, and the Lion's arc is complete: he has moved from a creature who believed himself a coward by nature to one who has proven his courage through action and been recognized by the very beasts who once would have frightened him. The thematic significance of the Lion's cowardice is that it is never actually cured by magic; it is overcome through repeated acts of bravery that the Lion performs despite his fear. The Wizard's "courage" is a symbolic gesture, and the Lion's real transformation comes from the journey itself — from jumping the ditch, facing the Kalidahs, proposing the plan to destroy the Witch, and finally killing the spider. The Lion's story demonstrates that courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to act in spite of it, and that the label of cowardice can be a self-fulfilling prophecy that only experience can disprove.