Aurora: “Don’t be afraid!”  Maleficent: “I am not afraid.”  Aurora: “Then come out!”  Maleficent: “Then you will be afraid.”[1]

“Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.  There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope.  There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.”  ~ Hosea 2:14, 15

Again, this post contains spoilers of Disney’s 2014 Maleficent.

Like in the animated film, the three good fairies raise Aurora as a peasant girl.  Although well-meaning, they’re a rather incompetent bunch.  They have no idea how to care for a baby, and the poor thing is constantly crying because of their neglect.

Even Maleficent cannot withstand the heart-wrenching cries of a babe in true distress.  Just as Zellandine and Talia awake to their child’s need, Maleficent heeds Aurora’s cry by sending Diaval with food and comfort.

This is the first awakening of Maleficent’s heart.  She doesn’t know it yet, but she has just begun the journey of regaining all she lost in her youth. 

There are several scenes of Maleficent protecting Aurora as she grows.  Maleficent makes a good show of trying to be “evil”…but most of her deeds are more mischievous than evil.  She hides her heart well behind her mask, just as the Grimms’ Briar Rose did…but not quite well enough. 

As Aurora grows up, she becomes more and more like Maleficent had been as a girl – curious, full of life, and eager to love.  Her curiosity leads her to the forest of thorns around the moors. 

She’s not the only one.  Soldiers from King Stefan’s castle are there, too.

I’m not sure if we are meant to be worried for Aurora’s safety when the men see her.  The men lose interest in her once they realize she’s not Maleficent…but still, my heart seized up when I first saw the them peering at sweet, innocent Aurora through the shadows.

Did Maleficent fear for her, too?  Is that why she takes Aurora behind the wall of thorns and into the moors – into her safe fortress?  For no survivor of violence would wish the same harm to come to another.

When Aurora and Maleficent meet face-to-face, you’d think Aurora would be a little frightened – at least of the horns!  But she’s not.  I’m convinced it is Maleficent who is afraid (even though she claims not to be).  What if Aurora sees her – truly sees her! – and is repulsed by her?  What if this beautiful, perfect creature detests her?   

But just as our beautiful, perfect Savior sees our true heart, and does not recoil but rather draws near, so Aurora is not afraid and draws near to Maleficent.  She had seen Maleficent’s true heart consistently as she grew; she knew who Maleficent was, better than Maleficent herself even.   

Just as Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty awoke instantly at the presence of her Savior, so Maleficent’s heart fully awakes as she beholds Aurora’s love for her.  Maleficent’s heart is further healed and restored as she views the moors through Aurora’s eyes in the subsequent months.  She learns to laugh once more, and she learns to open up.

She doesn’t know it yet, but she learns to love.

It’s just as the verse from Hosea says – Maleficent is led back to the gateway of hope, and regaining the joy she had in her youth…

 

Sources

[1] 2014 Disney’s Maleficent


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