Magical Wardrobes

I've been thinking about wardrobes a lot lately, not my own wardrobe of clothes, but those magical pieces of furniture that seem to feature prominently in fairy tales and English stories.  The most famous must be C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,"  but they seem to pop up in lots of stories, Harry Potter included.




Why are wardrobes so much more appealing than closets as story elements?  I've never had a wardrobe, but I do remember playing in my closet as a kid. Is it only historical? Older homes didn't have closets, so wardrobes were needed.  But, what is it about them that makes them such strong characters?

Maybe they allow a safe place for imagination to take hold.  They are dark and mysterious, they are hiding places, they are filled with an odd assortment of stuff--old shoes, fur coats, silk dresses.

                                                                        


In wardrobes you can retreat to the womb, wrap yourself in a safe, warm, dark place.  In a small enclosed space you can hide from fears.  Wardrobes always seem so much bigger in stories, whole legions of children fit inside of them, but I've never seen one that big in real life.

But why don't closets hold the same magic?  Stories seem to use closets as places for punishment, where an adult puts a child, not where a child goes willingly. Maybe closets are too modern to be magical, too mundane and ordinary.

There are days I wish I had a wardrobe....