If you have been tasked with an essay analysis on Howl’s Moving Castle, look no further for we are here to give you a complete breakdown of the animated film. Beginning with a summary of the plot to refresh your memory and help familiarise yourself with the characters, before we break down the themes!
In this article, you will also find tips on your Howl’s Moving Castle analysis and even a sample paragraph and TEE table!
Let’s get right into it!
Howl’s Moving Castle by Hayao Mizayaki Summary
Key Characters in Howl’s Moving Castle
Context
Themes Explored in Howl’s Moving Castle
Essay Analysis of Howl’s Moving Castle
Howl’s Moving Castle by Hayao Mizayaki Summary
Sophie Hatter is the eldest out of three sisters. On her way to meet one of her younger sisters, Sophie runs into a wizard named Howl who saves her from soldiers.
Upon returning home, Sophie meets the Witch of the Waste who transforms her into an old woman.
Disgraced and determined to break her curse, Sophie leaves home and ventures into the countryside.
Here she meets Turnip Head, who leads her to Howl’s Moving Castle which Sophie enters without an invitation. Thus she meets Howl’s apprentice, a boy named Markl and Calcifer, the fire demon who powers the castle.
Calcifer offers her a deal where he will break her curse if she breaks his link with Howl. When Howl arrives home, Sophie introduces herself as the castle’s new cleaning lady.
Against this backdrop, war is breaking out between Sophie’s country and a neighbouring kingdom who is searching for their missing prince.
The King summons Howl to fight in the war, but Howl sends Sophie asking her to pretend to be his mother and tell the king that he is too much of a coward to fight.
During this time, she runs into Sulliman, the King’s head sorceress and the Witch of the Waste.
The Witch of the Waste is punished by Sulliman, leaving her a harmless old woman and she warns Sophie that if Howl refuses to fight he will meet the same fate.
Howl arrives to save Sophie and Sulliman attempts to trap him by turning him into a monster. However, Sophie reminds him of who he is and Howl is able to escape death.
They escape along with Sulliman’s dog, Heen and the Witch of the Waste.
During this time, soldiers from both kingdom break into Howl’s home — however the soliders only find an empty space since the castle’s magic allows it to travel between four different places.
Sophie learns that Howl is bound to Howl and has been transforming into a creature to interfere with both sides of the war. However, with each transformation that he makes it is harder for him to turn back into a human.
Howl links the castle to Sophie’s home and places the castle itself in the countryside. However, the town is bombed and Sulliman’s men attacks Sophie’s home.
Sophie moves everyone out of the castle and removes Calcifer from the fireplace which causes the castle to collapse.
During this time, the Witch of the Waste realises that Calcifer is actually Howl’s heart and she grabs him. However, this causes her to catch on fire and Sophie douses her in water, causing Calcifer to become weak.
Sophie then wanders into a scene from the past where Howl catches a falling star, and gives him his heart.
Understanding their relationship now, Sophie begs the Witch for Calcifer and places it back into Howl, breaking their link. Sophie’s curse is also broken although her hair remains white.
When she kisses Turnip Head on the cheek, he returns to his human form and is the missing prince from the kingdom. He returns home to cease the war and Sulliman, who watches them through a crystal glass also halts the war.
Key Characters in Howl’s Moving Castle
Sophie Hatter
Our main protagonist, Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste at the beginning of the story transforming her into an old woman. Throughout the film, Sophie learns to believe in herself and grows more confident.
As an old woman, Sophie becomes more bold as no one cares what she does and this boldness is contrasted by the meekness of young Sophie we see at the beginning of the film.
Howl
A powerful wizard, Howl is vain and seems superficial.
However, he cares deeply for Sophie, Markl and Calcifer. His actions may seem frivolous and immature, but as the story unfolds the audience notices that he does try to make the right decisions even when it is hard for him.
Witch of the Waste
The Witch of the Waste turns Sophie into an old lady at the beginning of the story.
She is self-centred which has caused her to become lonely and isolated. Sulliman eventually takes her powers away from her, reducing her into nothing more than an old, harmless grandma.
Calcifer
Fire demon who powers the Castle, he also contains Howl’s heart.
Markl
Howl’s apprentice.
Sulliman
The King’s head sorceress.
Turnip Head
The missing prince Justin from the kingdom, whose disappearance caused the war to break out.
Context
Howl’s Moving Castle is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was based on the 1986 novel by Diana Wynne Jones. Adapted at the turn of the 21st century, Howl’s Moving Castle deals with the themes of war, technological advancement and mass destruction caused by rapid technological advancements.
2003 Invasion of Iraq
Miyazaki was opposed to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the film contains strong anti-war themes. Throughout the story, we see the cruelty of war and how it affects people, especially Howl who is caught between the kingdoms.
Additionally, we witness how cruel and cold people like Sulliman and the Witch of the Waste is in the face of human suffering or in the achievement of their personal goals.
Importantly, Howl’s Moving Castle does not have a singular protagonist or villain. Each character is complex and makes mistakes, the audience is able to see both the good side and the bad side to them.
The characters change, suffer the consequences of their actions and continue to live. While the anti-war sentiment is clear throughout the film, Miyazaki makes it clear that there is no one person to blame in war.
Themes Explored in Howl’s Moving Castle
Howl’s Moving Castle has several themes that are prevalent throughout the movie. Themes are especially helpful when you are crafting a thesis or trying to understand what a question is trying to ask of you.
If you ever find yourself stuck on how to write and analyse a text, go back to the themes and link your quotes and analysis to them!
Old Age
At the beginning of the film, young Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste which provides her with the appearance and the ailments of an old lady. As she becomes old, Sophie is emboldened to speak her mind as she feels that she no longer needs to conform as society will not have any expectation of her as an old lady.
Additionally, Sophie is also kind and nurturing, but these are presented in a powerful and heroic way throughout the film making her a strong female protagonist.
Appearances and Deception
From the beginning of the film, we are aware that appearances may not always match up to people. Sophie is cursed and looks like an old grandma, Howl’s castle moves locations in the town and the Witch of the Waste is later reduced into an old and harmless grandmother.
Not only does the film make us wary of appearances, it also reminds us not to judge others too quickly.
Home and Family
In Howl’s Moving Castle, each of the characters live in an environment that directly reflects their character.
Howl lives in a moving, messy castle which reflects how he constantly changes his ideas and does not know what he believes in. However, when Sophie who is kind and nurturing moves in, the Castle becomes cleaner and while it still travels it suggests that Sophie helps to ground Howl he no longer feels as chaotic as he used to.
Additionally, the idea of family (or found family) is predominant throughout the film. Howl’s family grows as the story progresses and although each character may have their differences they all live together and take care of each other.
Essay Analysis: How to Analyse Howl’s Moving Castle in 3 Steps
Step 1: Choose your Example
When picking an example ensure that you are able to identify a technique in the text. For this, we have chosen to go with the following quote:
“When you’re old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery. It’s so strange. I’ve never felt so peaceful before.”
Step 2: Identify your technique(s)
Ensure that the technique you choose for your quote supports your analysis or the help you to build your argument.
The quote we have chosen features irony and truncated sentences.
Check out our list of the top 50 important quotes for Howl’s Moving Castle here!
Step 3: Write the analysis
When writing the analysis, focus on the effect of the technique and how it supports your argument.
When we combine our quote and the technique above that we have identified, we can come up with something like this!
Sophie states “When you’re old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery. It’s so strange. I’ve never felt so peaceful before”, the irony in the quote demonstrates how Sophie feels more at ease appearing as a grandmother compared to a young Sophie who is filled with anxiety at society’s expectations of her. Furthermore, the truncated sentence provides a matter-of-fact tone which reflects Sophie’s self-confidence and assuredness in herself.
Step 4: Practise with sample essay questions
Even if you’ve written an incredible essay, if you don’t respond to the question or stimulus that you’re given in an exam, you could miss out on a Band 6.
Luckily for you, we’ve got plenty of practise questions on our resources page for you to use!
In Year 11? Here are 20 Practise Questions for the Common Module: Reading to Write to get you started!
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Tiffany Fong is currently completing a double degree in Media and Communications with Law at Macquarie University. She currently contributes to the university zine, Grapeshot where she enjoys writing feature articles, commentary on current affairs or whatever weird interest that has taken over her mind during that month. During her spare time, Tiffany enjoys reading, writing, taking care of her plants or cuddling with her two dogs.
