Prince Caspian Lessons and Prince Caspian Curriculum written by the Hobbit. This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.
Know Before you Watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Movie: Prince Caspian
Age Suggestion: 7+ (3rd grade and up)
Length: 2 and a half hours
Rating: PG
Release Date: May 2008
Where to Watch: As of August 2021, you can find the movie on Disney Plus and rent it from all the major platforms as well.
Themes: Family, bravery, faith
Warnings: Minor amounts of violence, betrayal, and manipulation. Small amounts of magic. Some action scenes might scare younger viewers.
What to Know Before You Read The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Book: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Author: C. S. Lewis
Pages: Will vary by the publisher but around 125 pages
Published: Originally published in 1951 but updated frequently
Age Suggestion, Themes, and Warning are the same for the book and movie.
Prince Caspian Summary:
C. S. Lewis is regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers, and his children’s series, the Chronicles of Narnia, is considered to be a classic and has sold over 100 million copies. Prince Caspian continues the story begun in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
As we discovered there, time moves differently in our world and in Narnia. Prince Caspian is set over a thousand years in Narnian time from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but only a year has passed in our time. A group of men known as Telmarines have conquered Narnia. They have stamped out all knowledge of talking animals and trees, and driven these, as well as dwarves, fauns, etc., into hiding.
Young Prince Caspian, learns about all of this – of “Old Narnia” – from his tutor. However, the current king, his uncle, soon decides to kill him, and Caspian flees for his life, running straight into “Old Narnia”. The four children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie) are sent back to Narnia to help set things back in order.
Prince Caspian was the second book written in the series, but the fourth chronologically (most modern sets mark it as book 4.) We prefer reading the books in the order they were written (this impacts the first few in particular), but they can be enjoyed either way. The three most modern movie adaptions follow the written order.
Differences Between the Prince Caspian Movie and the Book.
-Prince Caspian Movie VS Book-
*SPOILERS INCLUDED*
- How they start: In the book we start with the four children being sent back to Narnia. But in the movie we start with the backstory of Prince Caspian himself. Whereas the end of the book and movie are fairly similar.
- The order of events: The movie changes up the order of events so that the drama builds in the right points. But the movie includes, in our opinion, all of the major events of the book. Now there are several scenes from the book that are missing from the movie that we wish had been included but nothing that really changes the story overall.
- The romantic element: This is the element that caused the most stir. The movie implies a romance between Susan and Prince Caspian that the book does not.
- The battle scenes: The movie leaves out a few interactions in the book and includes an ill-fated attack on the king’s castle that was not in the book. It’s a cringe worthy moment that builds tension between Caspian and Peter (That tension is in the book)
- The path to Aslan’s How: When everyone sees Aslan is a little different in the two adaptions and impacts how they get to the fortress and what happens directly afterward. This is including who tries to bring the White Witch back. It also changes Lucy and Susan’s trip into the forest. This switch up seems to have been done for timing and dramatic effect. It doesn’t detract from the overall themes and stories, but is very different.
Prince Caspian Discussion Questions:
Questions for Younger Readers:
1) Which character did you relate to the most? Was this the same character you related to in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Why do you relate to them?
2) What does Reepicheep do after he loses his tail? How does Aslan react to this?
Middle to High School Questions
3) Lewis wrote about what he called “chronological snobbery”, the common belief that something (a book, an idea, etc.) is better just because it is new. This involves putting down things that are older. Where do you see this in Prince Caspian? Give specific examples of how this worked.
4) How did the Pevensie children react when they came back to Narnia? How do you think you would feel if you woke up and found out that a thousand years had suddenly gone by? Which one of their responses most resembles your thoughts?
5) The movie adds a battle scene that is not in the book – a disastrous attack on the Telmarine castle. Why do you think the filmmakers used a single battle rather than the multiple smaller encounters in the book? Which do you think was better at representing Caspian’s forces losing the overall war, and why?
The following question relates to the Christian symbolism in Prince Caspian
6) Aslan tells Caspian, “You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve…that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the head of the greatest emperor on earth.” What is Aslan saying about humanity?
Prince Caspian Curriculum
We have a full Prince Caspian Curriculum and Discussion Guide available for digital download. This download includes:
-Prince Caspian discussion questions
-2 multiple choice quizzes with answers
-Short answer quiz
-Essay and project prompts
-A Venn Diagram to compare the book and movie, story worksheets & MORE!
*Find our Prince Caspian curriculum at Teachers Pay Teachers here!
*You can also purchase the Narnia Bundle which currently has the first four books of the series!
*A great deal for a full discussion guide! & Thanks for checking out our Prince Caspian Lessons and Discussion Questions!
KEEP reading for the Prince Caspian Lessons!
Prince Caspian Lessons
1. Faith requires faithfulness.
As they are going to Aslan’s How to meet Prince Caspian, Aslan appears to Lucy, but only to Lucy. After failing to follow his instructions, he appears to her again and tells her that she must follow his instructions even if no one else does. That is the difficulty in the book – she caved into the others on day one because no one else saw Aslan and Aslan tells her that even if the others won’t go on the right path she must go that way. Seemingly easy, but unquestionably difficult. The need for faithfulness is a theme in many works of C.S. Lewis.
2. Just because something is old does not mean it is always outdated
Just because something is new it is not always better. We can see this in how the Telamrines treated the stories of “Old Narnia”. Lewis called this “chronological snobbery”. This is a particularly difficult lesson in today’s culture due to how quickly the new becomes old. It is crucial that we don’t carry those views of technology into every aspect of our lives.
3. Storytelling varies by medium for maximum effect.
The book uses a significant amount of flashbacks and a third-party re-telling; the movie is more immanent because it is a movie. This lesson can be learned in many movie adaptations, but it becomes more noticeable when the source material uses such in-depth storytelling, as seen in Prince Caspian.
4. God has a sense of humor
We see this clearly after Reepicheep loses his tail. This is an aspect of God that often gets overlooked or completely brushed over. It is more common to see a wrathful, or even angry God, rather than God who laughs and sings over us in the Psalms.
Thanks for reading our Prince Caspian Curriculum and Prince Caspian Discussion Questions. Before you go, check out these other posts
–The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Review and Curriculum
–The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Lessons and Curriculum
–Great Divorce Review, Small Group Questions, and Curriculum
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