The Alchemist by: Paulo Coelho - Essay Example

At the heart of the theology of The Alchemist lies the visualization of Personal Legend as the most fundamental spiritual requirement of life. The story projects the belief that worldly success lies in following the Personal Legend. The crystal merchant, who did not follow his Personal Legend had to suffer and did not manage to gain any wealth or other bounties of the world. Alchemy, who happens to be a very important character of the story, needs to cajole the metal so that it may gain its Personal Legend and transform into gold.

Thus, one of the primary lessons of the novel is that one must sustain and cultivate the quest of one’s own dreams. The World’s Soul presented in The Alchemist spiritually removes all differences between humans and other elements of nature. Santiago’s quest to achieve his Personal Legend and Alchemist’s attempt to transform the metal into gold run parallel to each other. The novel projects the idea that everything in this world that ranges from a human being to an iron piece, does have a Personal Legend, that is essentially the ultimate wish, though it can only be achieved by entering the Soul of the World.

This repetitive process of purification leads an individual to the state of perfection in the long run. The wish to achieve the Personal Legend is so common among all things of nature that humans and metals start to share the sane spiritual existence. In the novel, Santiogo frequently talks to nature in the world’s common language. For example, his horse talks to Santiago and tells him that life exists in a barren desert. Likewise, Santiogo takes help from such elements of nature as sun, desert and wind to transform into wind.

The novel’s core spiritual lesson is what the alchemist conveys while leaving Santiago. He says that in this world, everything has a common spiritual essence, be that God or something as worthless as a sand grain. Throughout the journey that Santiago makes, fear shows up uninterruptedly. It happens to be the main obstacle for Santiago in his way of gaining the Personal Legend. Santiago has been cultivating various types of fears at different times in his life. As a child, he used to fear a gypsy woman who would interpret Santiago’s dream.

Santiago feared that he might lose wealth and belongings by joining the caravan in the desert. He feared death while fighting in the Al-Fayoum battle. He also feared that he might not manage to become wind upon the alchemist’s insistence. All of Santiago’s teachers, including Melchizedek and the alchemist described fear as a fake obstacle introduced by the universe in the life of the strugglers. Through the teachers of Santiago, the author tends to convey this lesson to the audience that fears should become quite meaningless for those who have faith in their dreams.

The author projects this belief by making people who conquer their fears appear as enlightened figures in the novel and others, who cultivate their fears as the novel’s weakest characters. One of the weakest characters in the novel is the crystal merchant whose life is ruled by his fears. His desire to become a pilgrim is overruled by his fear of losing everything if he makes the journey to Mecca. Thus, his fear keeps him from making the pilgrimage and he stays unhappy. It is a very important lesson of The Alchemist that one needs to conquer one’