What is the Lion's character like in 'The Wizard of Oz'?

Answer 1

According to author and Oz series originator Lyman Frank Baum [May 15, 1856-May 5, 1919], The Wizard of Oz is an American fairy tale for the enjoyment of children. But there are those who see within Baum's work representations and symbols that aren't acknowledged in his writings as among his overt intentions. One interpretation is the political representation of Baum's royal history of the beautiful, enchanted, magical lands and peoples of Oz. That interpretation is couched in the Populist terms of the 1890s, when Baum already may have been working out characters and plots in the decade before publishing the first of 14 books in his Oz series. According to the interpretation, the Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan [March 19, 1860-July 26, 1925], the Populist Party's presidential candidate in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Like the Lion, he was courageous in the defense of his beliefs, and most assuredly not at all cowardly. He fought for the rights of common people, and for free coinage of silver, to release from the deathly grip of the bankers and industrialists. For the symbol of Bryan's preferred, mixed gold and silver money standard is the pair of Silver Slippers, that have the secret power to allay the scary, rough, bumpy trek down the gold standard route of the Yellow Brick Road. In fact, the book ends with the Slippers being lost in the desert, in the transition from the magical world of Oz to the real world of Kansas. Likewise, in the transition from political economic theory to political economic realities, arguments for free coinage of silver ended in 1900, which was the year in which The Wizard of Oz was published.

Answer 2

That he is brave and prudent but does not know is what the Lion's character is like in "The Wizard of Oz."

Specifically, the Lion considers himself cowardly because he runs from a fight. But that can be called caution, prudence or wisdom since he actually is discriminating in picking his fights. Instead, he becomes cowardly when he acts the bully and picks an unfair fight, such as with Toto, Dorothy Gale's pet dog.

Answer 3

Cowardly and soft but oh soo cute, to Dorothy anyway

Answer 4

The lion represents: Politicians