Page 100 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019
P. 100

who has always said that she was as beautiful as a princess. Sophie lives with a father who
“couldn’t see she was special” (3). The only affection Sophie remembers is that of her mother, who
showed it to her before she died. The mother is the one who starts this ego side of Sophie, since she
has told her daughter that she was “too beautiful for this world” (3). Sophie’s ego is seen especially
in her daily beauty routine. In fact, Sophie rubs “fish eggs into her skin” for her “spots,” then
massages her skin with “pumpkin puree” and “goat’s milk” and ending with “mask of melon” for
her face (3–4). But all that she does is only making herself look pretty, not “becoming” pretty. As
Agatha underlines, for becoming Good, Sophie needs to work on “something inside,” something
like “compassion or charity or kindness” because these are the only things that matter, not being
good looking (254). Sophie’s ego is blinded by unreal things that Sophie has believed for years, and
since the ego is part of the conscious mind, the result is dangerous because she is not able to see her
true self.

        Moreover, Sophie has admirers in Galvadon, and in both the school of Evil and Good, that
make her ego even stronger. The first of them is Radley, the ragged guy who lives close to Agatha’s
cemetery. Sophie rejects Radley because she is “beautiful” while he is “ugly,” finding him revolting
(7). The poor guy is fascinated by Sophie’s good looks and even Agatha thinks that he would like to
be with her. But Sophie rejects him brutally. Another admirer, Hort, like Radley, is ugly and
revolting. Sophie is horrified and she tries desperately to not touch his body since he is always
showing his bare chest. Even this time, Sophie considers herself too good and beautiful to be in
contact with someone as ugly and dirty as Hort. The last of the admirers is Tedros, King Arthur’s
son. When Tedros asks her if it has been all a mistake and tells her that she does not belong to the
school of Evil, Sophie replies that she “had to play both sides in order to survive,” and that she did
that for love (279). But Sophie is lying. In fact, to win Tedros’s love, she asks Agatha for her help
in passing her tests. In this way, Sophie appears determined and capable of fighting against evil and
bad circumstances. Of course, Tedros does not know that Sophie is not responsible for anything of
the things she has done to win his trust. So Sophie’s ego, created by her unconscious mind, can be

                                                                                                                                                                             99
   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105