The Dark Side attracts those who desire freedom from the
responsibility of others, which is the only way to reach unbridled power.
However, those who succumb to the Dark Side ironically become slaves to some
kind of inescapable evil that they are subject to.
Throughout the first two movies, Han is constantly tempted by
his Dark Side. Rather than fully dedicate himself to the Rebel cause, he makes
it clear to all of his cohorts that he is motivated by payment and that his
presence is a temporary one. His debt to Jabba the Hutt embodies the idea that
even though he values his personal freedom, he is still trapped by an evil
force. Han begins to overcome these inclinations in The Empire Strikes Back and shows that although he tries to convey
how tough he is, he is truly composed of good intentions. As Ford put it, “‘…I saw
a different version of Han Solo in the script. We got to know him better’”
(Pfeiffer 105). He is released from his selfish charade through his devotion to
his friends. When he is about to leave the Rebels in the beginning of the
second film, he delays his departure after discovering that Luke disappeared
during his scouting trip on Hoth and goes out into the frozen night to rescue
him. He is further detained by Leia when he takes her on the Millennium Falcon
to escape the Empire as they destroy the Rebel base. Han finds stability in
Leia and their love helps him to conquer his past reservations about relying on
other people.
The most blatant struggle between good and evil is seen in
Luke’s battles with Vader and the Emperor, particularly in the end of Return of the Jedi. As the Emperor
forces Luke to watch on as his friends get pummeled by the Empire’s forces,
Luke momentarily loses his resistance to the Dark Side and strikes out at his
tormentors. However, Luke composes himself again when he has the opportunity to
finish off his father after realizing that they have each taken the other’s
hand. He recognizes that killing his father would fix nothing and thus proves
that he will not pass over to the Dark Side.
Although Darth Vader has clearly given himself over to the
Dark Side, Luke brings out the struggle inside of him. Luke forces Vader to see
that although he may rule the entire galaxy, he would still have no meaningful
relationships and would remain a slave to the Emperor’s bidding. Vader redeems
himself by saving his son from the Emperor at the cost of his own life, showing
that it is never too late for forgiveness.
Zoe Hall
ReplyDeleteI liked your analysis of Han. Han is a character who in the first two movies seems static in his recurring reluctance to join the Rebel forces and his seemingly one motivation to garner money to pay back the illustrious and gross Jabba the Hut. Your allusion that this motivation was his entrapment of an "evil force" makes sense as it seems that all of the heros or anti heros (if you call Darth Vader an anti hero) seem to be struggling with their own version of the dark force. Han's is a less obvious struggle because it is more internally resolved through (as you say) his love of Leia and his increasing realization that it is okay to rely on others and not be so . . . (i'm going to say it) solo.
The blatant struggle that you talked about between Darth Vader and Luke was also spot on. I think there is another way of looking at the conflict, by dichotomizing this struggle into: the element of Darth Vader’s internal conflict between power and family ties and Luke’s battle between his anger and his reason. I found Darth Vader’s strength to even be (in a sense) more commendable than Luke’s resistance to his anger because Vader had to delve within himself much more then Luke. Vader was already in a space of anger and pain and had to climb through that strife to realize what mattered more to him than his supposed ‘power.’