Luke's Lightsaber
In each of the three acts of The Empire Strikes Back, something different happens with Luke Skywalker's lightsaber when he faces an enemy. The progression of the three scenes highlights Luke's complicated relationship with his weapon and the aggression it represents.
In the first act, Luke is briefly separated from his lightsaber when the Wampa takes him to its cave. Using the Force, Luke manages to pull the lightsaber back into his hand. He then uses his weapon to violently cut off the monster's arm and escape.
In the second act, Yoda challenges Luke's reliance on his weapons, telling him that aggression flows from the dark side of the Force. Accordingly, when Luke descends into a cave to confront the dark side, Yoda instructs him not to bring his lightsaber. However, Luke – perhaps remembering how he used his lightsaber to get out of the last cave – refuses to follow this direction. When he faces an apparition of Darth Vader in the cave, Luke violently uses his lightsaber to cut off its head, but this apparent victory is rendered hollow when Vader's helmet opens to reveal Luke's own face inside. Luke's decision to bring his lightsaber into the cave does not help him to overcome the dark side; instead, it reveals the aggression inside him and suggests a similarity between him and his dark enemy.
In the third act, Luke faces the real Vader and attacks him with his lightsaber, again relying on his weapon to try and aggressively defeat his enemy. However, the outcome of this encounter reverses Luke's encounter with the Wampa. Instead of pulling the lightsaber back into his hand, Luke loses the lightsaber – permanently this time – when Vader cuts off his forearm, the way he cut off the Wampa's arm. Without weapons, Luke has no choice but to forego aggression. The only way he can resist the dark side is by making the decision to leap to his potential death rather than become like Vader.
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Characters: Darth Vader / Luke Skywalker / Yoda
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Concepts: aggression / caves / war and peace
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