Exploring the Symbolism of the Heart in Howl's Moving castle

 

 

I finally watched Howl's Moving Castle, and I am fully obsessed. It was full of stunning, unique and memorable animation (as all Ghibli films have) and a heartfelt, intense story. There were many intense emotional moments in the film, both for the characters and for the viewer, but none seem as important as those revolving around Howl's heart.

Needless to say, this will be full of spoilers. The movie was fantastic, so I highly recommend watching it first before reading.

At the beginning of the story, Sophie talks to her sister about meeting who she believed was the rumored Howl. Her sister warns her of Howl, saying he will eat her heart. Yet Sophie seems unworried, saying that Howl only eats the hearts of beautiful girls, and she has never considered herself beautiful. From the very beginning, the idea of hearts and Howl are connected. They stay closely connected through the story, and they are often connected through Sophie and her actions (often reflecting her own self-image as well), specifically her interaction with Calcifer.

Once Sophie finds the castle after being cursed by the Witch of the Waste, her interactions with Calcifer end up often reflecting her interactions with Howl and whatever control she has on his heart and his affection. Calcifer appears to be a relatively straight forward fire demon, but Sophie learns near the end of the movie that he in fact has Howl's heart. Howl caught Calcifer as a falling star before he hit the ground and went out. While the exact terms of the agreement are never made completely clear, it seems that Howl swallowed Calcifer as a shooting star, giving Calcifer his heart and saving his life in return for the fire demon's service.

Though all of this information isn't revealed until near the end of the movie, Calcifer's actions and reactions are often clearly linked as a symbol embodying Howl's heart and his feelings for Sophie. Even before they technically meet, Calcifer's actions controlling the house demonstrates Howl's indecision for letting Sophie into his life and into his heart. As Sophie is chasing down the castle door, she yells at the house, "Make up your mind! Are you going to let me in or not!" Howl hasn't decided whether to let her in emotionally into his life, but the house ends up finally letting her in. Upon entering, one of the first things Sophie in the house is to place a few logs of wood onto the fire, which is burning low. This means that one of the first things she does, without even knowing it yet, is to feed Howl's heart, which desperately needs a change for risk of going out as he becomes a monster. She is also doing so to warm herself, for though the heart usually symbolizes Howl's growth and change, his heart and affection does fuel Sophie's own positive changes throughout the story as well. Later, once she has cleaned and tidied the house, she places wood next to the fire so that Calcifer can feed/fuel himself, inadvertently allowing Howl's heart to begin growing and warming itself thanks to her help.

Just as Sophie feeds Calcifer's fire, she is also helping and guiding Howl. When Howl meets Sophie, he is self-centered and incredibly vain (so much so that he called the demons of darkness because he had accidentally dyed his hair a color he hated). However, the more he is with Sophie, the more he appears to grow. He begins to face his problems instead of running from them as he did before, and he is strengthened with Sophie's help. He finds himself able to go to the palace and face Madame Suliman despite his fears, and despite some trepidation, he promises the Witch of the Waste that they will finally discuss their conflict. Just as Sophie feeds the literal fires of his heart, she also makes him braver and stronger when in his proximity by her caring, strength and zero tolerance for his drama. She doesn't do this just because of vague lovey dovey premises either; her own strength of will, bravery and determination inspire Howl and cause him to trust her more. That trust and inspiration appears to be one of the many things he starts to fall in love with.

Despite her control over Calcifer, Howl isn't initially completely inviting Sophie into his heart or personal business, despite her initial impressions on hims. Still, Sophie is also able to control Calcifer as no one else in the house but Howl can. Sophie begins to make bacon in the morning, controlling Calcifer's fire to the surprise of Markl, who exclaims "Calcifer's doing what she says!" Sophie appears to already have a hold on Howl's heart, able to control and change it even if it is not yet as fully given in. Howl is surprised at Calcifer's obedience to Sophie, telling her "not just anybody can do that." While seemingly impressed, he still demonstrates hesitation to relinquish control on his heart just yet when he takes the cooking pan from Sophie's hands and takes over cooking breakfast.

 

Later, Sophie again demonstrates a control on Howl's heart that previously only Howl himself had had. While Howl protects the hat shop from being bombed, Sophie desperately removes Calcifer from the hearth despite Calcifer's protests that only Howl can remove him. Sophie takes his heart, removing it from the house in order to save Howl. Though the house collapses, Sophie is able to use Calcifer again to rebuild the house, if a bit smaller and less impressive. She does so by giving Calcifer her braid, relinquishing a part of herself to Calcifer so he is able to complete his magic. By doing so, she is also giving herself over to Howl just as she has power over his heart. In this action, they begin even more linked than they had been before. It demonstrates a give and take, both sacrificing and improving and changing to help the other person.

However, not every interaction with Howl's heart and Calcifer is positive for Sophie, some of them demonstrating both Sophie and Howl's selfishness or personal flaws. While cleaning, she nearly put Calcifer out as she gets carried away cleaning. Howl breathes life back into his, fanning the fading flames on his heart and bringing Calcifer back from the brink. However, despite that being his heart, he is surprisingly unbothered by the fact that Calcifer nearly went out. He seems much more angry and perturbed when he finds out that she cleaned the bathtub than when he found Calcifer and his heart nearly extinguished. His vanity and heartlessness are clear in this comparison, but after Sophie cleans him up after his tantrum, he appears to have more of a change of heart, pun intended. He begins to become more brave and less self-centered as he faces Madame Suliman, even if indirectly. Sophie changes as well, though more subtly, as her desire to avoid her own problems and her own self-hatred and doubt begin to fade as she helps Howl through his problems. They both help each other grow, even if not initially aware of that. 

  

Despite some difficulties, Howl shows a great deal of trust in Sophie, and she takes great care of his heart. Howl lets Sophie in more and more, allowing more control and trust as he gifts Sophie a ring similar to his own, one that points the way towards Calcifer (and in turn his heart). He gives her a literal way to his heart, indicating further trust in her but also a desire to protect her as well. The ring leads her home, back to Howl's castle, and in the end, it ends up saving Howl by leading her to Howl's past where he first made the pact with Calcifer. Howl's trust and ability to let Sophie in allowed her to save him, which would have been impossible had he stayed completely closed off.

Aside from the interactions with Calcifer alone, the Witch of the Waste is a crucial element to Howl's heart and his emotions. The Witch of the Waste pursues Howl, sending a note through Sophie after she cursed her. The note reads, "You who swallowed a falling star, oh heartless man, your heart shall soon belong to me." This note alludes to Howl's contract with Calcifer, but it also sets the stage for the struggle of control over Howl's heart. While Sophie seems to have control and sway over Calcifer and Howl's heart from very early on, she never seeks to own it. She does her best to protect and help Howl whereas the Witch of the Waste only wishes to own Howl's heart and selfishly keep it to herself. She appears fascinated, almost obsessed with the fire ever since she enters the house though she does not yet know that it holds Howl's heart. When she discovers that Calcifer holds Howl's heart, she grabs it and clings to it tightly, lighting herself on fire and causing the house to collapse as she slowly smother's Calcifer, crippling his control over the house. The witch wants only to own Howl's heart, whereas Sophie wants to free it and return it to Howl, which she is thankfully able to do so, returning it to Howl in the end. With Howl controlling his own heart, he is able to willingly give his heart and love fully to Sophie to create a happy ending, and this time it is luckily a more metaphorical, emotional heart instead of the physical control over his heart as it had been before.

Though Sophie gains power over Howl's heart as he falls more in love, she would not have been so important or powerful if her own heart had not been so strong. Sophie is a strong and brave woman with no hesitation on speaking her mind. She is also surprisingly positive, as only minutes after being turned into a 90-year old woman, she's thinking about the benefits of being older. Her positivity allows her to carry herself through her trails and difficulties, letting her bear the curse with amazing resilience, and it lets her help others through their own difficulties. Her own heart and her intentions are almost always good, for despite speaking her mind and will protect herself, she does not work to hurt anyone physically or emotionally. Though Sophie has her own issues that she works through over the course of the movie, overall she is much more strong in heart than Howl.

One of Sophie's greatest strengths is her ability to forgive and continue to show care. This ends up being a literal saving grace, for if she had not forgiven the Witch of the Waste, many story events would have gone much worse, possibly ending in disaster. Sophie is understandably incredibly angry at the Witch of the Waste for cursing her, yet when the Witch of the Waste is stripped of her magic and reverted to her real age, Sophie takes pity on her. She brings her back to Howl's house, cares for her, and never really punishes her for cursing her. Her bitterness seems to have melted away, and while still frustrated with the curse, she doesn't take her anger out of this semi-reformed Witch of the Waste. In the end, Sophie's kindness and forgiveness of the Witch is what saves Howl's heart. If Sophie had stayed bitter and angry at the witch instead of being the bigger person and forgiving her, the Witch of the Waste likely would not have relinquished control of his heart onto her. Not only did the witch understand that the heart wasn't truly hers, but she saw that Sophie's heart was caring and would take care of Howl's heart.

Sophie's own self-sacrifices and desire to help Howl is what allows him to regain control of his heart. Though Sophie appears to have control over his heart with her control of Calcifer, really what she is doing is returning the power of his heart back to Howl. He regains his bravery and faces his problems. He loses some of his vanity and selfishness enough to truly want to protect her in return. He no longer is turning into a selfish, heartless monster but instead is gifted back the control of his own heart by someone who loves him. Madame Suliman warned that he would become a heartless monster, but with Sophie, he learned to channel his abilities in selfless, helpful ways again. In some ways too, Sophie's care allows the Witch of the Waste to have her own redemption and learn to let go of her greed, perhaps even regaining her own heart as Howl gets his back. In turn, Howl's ability to see Sophie for all that she is, aside from only looks or initial impressions, lets Sophie grow into her own confidence and embrace the strength she has always had. Together, they become stronger through the desire to protect and help one another.

Upon returning Howl's heart to him, Sophie says, "A heart is a heavy burden to bear." While it may be true that Howl has his literal heart back now, he has been learning to bear the weight of it the entire movie. He grows throughout the course of the movie, moving from selfishness and showing off to more true protection, learning to face and address his problems instead of avoiding them and acting for his own will. Sophie was a key factor, as without her he would have become more of a monster with no reason to revert, yet he himself had to bear the burden of a heart. And he found that for Sophie, that weight was one that he was willing to bear.