Attacking the Throne
In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda teaches Luke Skywalker, "Anger, fear, aggression, the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight... A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." In the first and third acts of Return of the Jedi, Luke confronts a powerful villain sitting on a throne, and in both cases, he briefly gives in to aggression, going against Yoda's Jedi teachings by using the Force to grab a weapon.
In the first act of Return of the Jedi, Luke comes before Jabba the Hutt, who is enthroned in his palace on Tatooine. Luke seeks to free Han Solo from Jabba's control, but Jabba refuses to give him up, goading Luke to use the Force and grab a blaster from a minion standing beside Jabba's throne. This aggressive tactic does not go well for Luke: he falls into the pit below Jabba's throne, where he must fight the monstrous Rancor while Jabba watches and laughs.
In the third act of Return of the Jedi, Luke comes before Emperor Palpatine, who is enthroned in his tower on the Death Star. Luke seeks to free his father, Darth Vader, from Palpatine's control, but Palpatine refuses to give him up, goading Luke to use the Force and grab his lightsaber from where it sits beside Palpatine on his throne. This aggressive tactic does not go well for Luke: he must fight Vader while Palpatine watches and laughs, and during the duel, he falls to the level below Palpatine's throne.
Both times Luke aggressively grabs a weapon and fails to follow Yoda's Jedi teaching, he plays into his enemy's hands and literally loses the high ground, falling to a lower level below the throne. Despite these lapses, though, Luke ultimately masters his aggression. After using the Force to grab his lightsaber in a moment of weakness, he throws it away and recommits himself to Yoda's teachings with the words, "I am a Jedi."
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Characters: Jabba the Hutt / Luke Skywalker / Palpatine
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Concepts: aggression / ascent and descent / Jedi / war and peace
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I never saw the parallelism between Luke confronting Jabba and the Emperor. Brilliant! Thank you!