Magical Teenage Drama in The Night Circus

     The primary conflict of The Night Circus lies in the conflict between the two primary antagonists, the magicians Prospero and Mr. A.H, who have conscripted their protégés, our protagonists, into a battle of life or death. The small problem with this is that the two have instead fallen in love. The central conflict of the novel, therefore is a teenage romance story, surrounded by magic, stabbings, murder, and suicide. The main characters are relatable to many youths, being prescribed a destiny they had no say in by opposed authority figures, and not being able to do anything about it. 

     The use of magic in the story doesn’t take center stage in this, rather, its primary focus seems to be to drive the conflict, thus keeping the novel primarily about the characters’ struggles and maintaining drama. In the end, every character in the novel feels like they’re in the right, even if their justifications seem flimsy from an outside perspective. In some ways, it almost feels like a high school drama set in a fantastical setting, with much of the same backstabbing and petty rivalries one would find in any environment populated by the overly young and foolish. 

     This focus on character with dressings of the wonderful helps the novel maintain that precious balance of awe with the grounded nature of teenage relationships that would speak to anyone reading it in that age group.