The Night Circus

This section of the novel begins on the opening night of the Night Circus in 1886. The opening ceremonies are described, with a particular focus on the lighting of the bonfire: “at midnight, the bonfire is ceremoniously lit, having spent the earlier part of the evening standing empty” (119). During this event, twelve archers fire arrows at the sound of the twelve chimes of midnight. Each of the arrows causes a level of the bonfire to explode into a different color, so that the bonfire changes color twelve times. At the same time, the wife of the circus’s wild-life tamer gives birth to twins: Winston Alden Murray (who is born six minutes before midnight) and Penelope Aislin Murray (who is born seven minutes after midnight) both of whom have bright red hair. Chandresh, the owner of the circus, is upset that the twins are not identical, because he knows he cannot easily place fraternal twins in a show together. Shortly after their birth, the children are given the nicknames Poppet (for Penelope) and Widget (for Winston).

At the lighting of the bonfire, Marco, who has been living in London and working for Chandresh, appears and throws one of his notebooks into the flames with no explanation. Ashe does so, Celia, who is performing with the circus, feels a sudden chill that “courses through her body” (127) and she realizes that her unknown opponent has just made a move towards their impending duel. Meanwhile, Chandresh himself feels suddenly weak and on the verge of the collapse, only to have Marco catch him and lead him away.

The narrative jumps ahead to 1902 when Bailey, a young man who visited the circus on a regular basis many years before, sees the circus on the horizon for the second time in his life. He races to the circus so he can look for a redheaded girl he had once fallen in love with. He fears that the circus will not live up to the memories he holds of his last visit. 

The narrative returns to 1887. Celia asks Prospero about the identity of her opponent. Prospero refuses to tell her who he thinks her opponent might be. He tells her that she should not concern herself with her opponent’s identity but, instead, attempt only to do her best to prepare for the upcoming competition. However, Celia can’t understand how her magical performance can be measured and judged and explains her confusion to Prospero, who tells her that her opinions do not matter to him. Soon afterwards, Celia visits a new tent at the circus, the Ice Garden, and realizes intuitively that her magical opponent created it.

The narrative jumps ahead to 1890. Celia has been caring for Widget and Poppet, who she realizes have magical abilities. Widget is able to see into the past and Poppet is able to see into the future. Celia urges Poppet to let her know if she sees any images from the future that might be important to her, and begins to train the twins to perfect their magical abilities.Celia is approached by Tsukiko who invites her to a late night dinner at Chandresh’s home. While she feels apprehensive on her way there, she receives a warm welcome from the guests who share their ambitions for the development of the Night Circus. She finds herself charmed by Marco, who is working as Chandresh’s assistant.

A year later, Herr Thiessen is sent a business card with a location, time and date listed on it: “Twenty-nine September/Just outside Dresden, Saxony” (180).The information is related to the circus, which is about to begin performing. He travels to Dresden for opening night and enjoys the show. He begins attending the circus on a nightly basis and spends his afternoons meeting and sharing stories with his fellow circus-goers. Eventually, Herr Thiessen begins writing and publishing news stories about the circus, which serve to attract circus-goers from around the world to the Night Circus.

The novel moves ahead to 1893. Marcos visits Mr. Barris—an engineer who designed many of the circus tents—and explains that he is Celia’s destined opponent in the upcoming magical duel. Several weeks later, an ice garden is added to the circus. Celia, upon seeing the ice garden for the first time, falls in love with it and finds herself intrigued by its majesty. She realizes that her opponent must have designed it. She contacts Mr. Barris and requests his permission to make her own additions to the ice garden. Over time, Marco and Celia, who have not encountered each other as rivals, each make additions to the tent, in turn showing off their magical abilities to one another. While Prospero’s ghost warns Celia against interacting with her competitor, she and Marco nevertheless become intrigued and obsessed with their mutual project, with Marco building “chambers that lead into each other that Celia had created. Stairs that wind around her halls. Leaving spaces open for her to respond” (190). A year later, Barris comes to realize that no one who is involved with the circus has been aging (save for Poppet and Widget, who were born off the circus grounds), a realization that intrigues but does not surprise him. At the same time, Celia visits Isobel in order to have her tarot cards read. She finds that Isobel is missing one card from her deck and that she is able to see the details of her future magical duel in her cards, which frightens and confuses Isobel. After leaving Isobel’s apartment, Celia encounters Marco on the street and realizes, suddenly, that he is her rival, and “feels rather stupid for not once considering the possibility that this could be her opponent” (208).

The narrative moves ahead to 1902. Bailey returns to the Night Circus in order have his tarot read. Isobel tells Bailey that he will face many great challenges and that he will travel widely in the future. She also foresees an encounter with a man who does not cast a shadow and red liquid spilled on the ground. However, she tells Bailey that “you will be fine ... there may be decisions to make, and surprises in store. Life takes us to unexpected places sometimes. The future is never set in stone, remember that” (220).

After a performer in the circus is mysteriously killed, Tsukiko realizes that in all of the years the circus has been operating, not a single performer has been injured before, leading her to wonder if a magical spell had been keeping the circus and its performers safe, and whether that protective spellis beginning to fade. She confronts Isobel, who had earlier cast a “tiny spell” (243) to help hold the circus together, if she is somehow “tempering” (245) with the circus, but Isobel denies doing any such thing.

After his encounter with Isobel, Bailey stumbles into Poppet and Widget’s show. Poppet greets him warmly and seems to recognize him. She takes him out for a snack and explains that she already knows him because she can see into the future. They ride a roller-coaster called The Stargazer together, during which Poppet suffers a painful vision of the future that she is unable to fully explain. To help restore her, Bailer and Widget take her to the cloud maze, a tent full of clouds that take the shape of a labyrinth around its visitors; there Poppet recovers from the effects of her vision. At the end of the night, Poppet gives Bailey a card that allows him to visit the circus whenever he wishes. 

The narrative returns to 1896, with Marco and Celia attending a dinner party at the home of Chandresh together. During the party, Marco finds himself attracted to Celia and asks her to step out and have a drink with him. Pleased by the invitation, Celia accepts. Feeling that there is a deep connection between them, the two share their pasts with each other. Celia tells Marco about Prospero and Marco tells her about his experiences with the Man in Grey. Marco demonstrates his magical abilities by showing Celia that the handsome face he wears is an illusion that hides his actual, rather plain face. Having come to trust each other, the two discuss their realization that they are destined to be each other’s magical opponents. During their conversation, a number of significant facts are revealed, including the fact that Prospero is still alive,though invisible due to a teleportation experiment gone wrong, and that Marco uses the bonfire at the circus as a “touchstone” (288) that connects him to the circus even when he is away. The most important revelation, however, is that Celia and Marco share a strong, physical connection to each other, one that is so powerful that when the two touch each other, “the reaction in the air is immediate. A sudden change ripples through the room, crisp and bright. The chandelier begins to shake” (290).