Perelandra: Maleldil is the Center of the Universe, Blessed Be He!
Chapter 17 Analysis, Summary, & Key Quotes
Commentary
I got a little carried away in selecting quotes for this chapter. If you’ve read this book you will completely understand. In terms of my commentary here, there is so much to ponder in this chapter. However for the sake of brevity (and since this is a substack post and not a doctoral dissertation) I will only comment on a few points.
At last we come to the conclusion of this amazing book. Lewis shows us, imaginatively, what an unfallen world looks like after having rejected sin. The King and Queen are given “the keys” to reign over Perelandra and therefore elevated to Oyarsa status. The Golden Dome is opened so they may now raise their eyes to Deep Heaven and take in the glory and splendor of the Great Dance. Perelandra stands triumphantly (but not arrogantly) in contrast to the fallen planet of Thulcandra. We learn that the Oyarsas are preparing for the final siege of Thulcandra to vanquish the dark eldila; all but confirming Ransom’s speculations from way back in chapter 2.
The Queen, Tinidril (who is of course The Lady), beautifully proclaims her full understanding of the command not to sleep on the Fixed Land. She now realizes, and probably knew all along, that sleeping on the Fixed Land is simply a rejection of the wave that Maleldil sends her. It amounts to taking her hand from His and saying “not Your will but mine.” Her simplicity is profound. She understands that seeking her own will is the same as not trusting Maleldil, Blessed be He! Lewis later illustrates this idea through the character of George MacDonald in The Great Divorce.
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.”
The beautiful sequence of the Oyarsas and the King and Queen praising Maleldil is packed with meaning well beyond the scope of this post. At the heart of it all is the theme that Maleldil is the center of the Universe. Like a wheel hub everything emanates from Maleldil, Blessed Be He! This long section is somewhat in response to Ransom’s question about which world is really at the center. Lewis describes the “Blessed Be He” songs as like an orchestra: where Ransom hears all voices at once, in beautiful synchronous harmony, yet being able to hear each one distinct from the other. It’s sort of like listening to a song and trying to focus on just one instrument while trying not to hear the others. But it’s the context of everything together that makes it complete and beautiful.
In the closing lines, Lewis tells us that Ransom’s consciousness was “engulfed” as he travels through Deep Heaven on his way back to Thulcandra. This language pulls us back to chapter 3 when Ransom explains to Kirkpatrick - I mean MacPhee - concerning the Christian doctrine of bodily resurrection that the functions of the body would cease to exist. He clarifies the functions would not go away due to decay, but rather because they would be”engulfed.” I take that to mean given to Maleldil: perfected and glorified. As the Christ figure in this story, Ransom served as Maleldil’s hands and vanquished evil from the unfallen world of Perelandra. He endured a permanent and ghastly wound in the process. While his “hru” flows freely, his body is glorified as he emerges from the coffin. A new man. A holy man. An engulfed man.
From Out of the Silent Planet we know that the Oyarsa sent Ransom back to Thulcandra (under the protection of the eldila) on the condition that he would never attempt to return to Malacandra. Here at the end of Perelandra, no such restriction is placed on Ransom. One can’t help but wonder if Ransom will ever return to Perelandra. We might just have to move on to That Hideous Strength to find out…
Key Quotes
“It was hard even for Ransom to tell me of the king’s face. But we dare not withhold the truth. It was that face which no man can say he does not know. You might ask how it was possible to look upon it and not commit idolatry, not to mistake it for that of which it was the likeness.”
“For the resemblance was, in its own fashion, infinite, so that almost you could wonder and finding no sorrows in his brow and no wounds in his hands and feet. Yet there was no danger of mistaking, not one moment of confusion, no least sally of the will towards forbidden reverence. Where likeness was greatest, mistake was least possible.”
“Give names to all creatures, guide all natures to perfection. Strengthen the feebler, lighten the darker, love all. Hail and be glad, oh man and woman…Tor and Tinidril…dear to Maleldil. Blessed be He.”
“The reason for not yet living on the Fixed Land is now so plain. How could I wish to live there except that it was Fixed? And why should I desire the Fixed except to make sure - to be able on one day to command where I should be the next and what should happen to me? It was to reject the wave - to draw my hands out of Maleldil’s, to say to Him, ‘not this, but thus’ - to put in our own power what times should roll towards us…as if you gathered fruits together today for tomorrow’s eating instead of taking what came. That would have been cold love and feeble trust. And out of it how could we ever have climbed back into love and trust again?”
“The siege of your world shall be raised, the black spot cleared away, before the real beginning.”
“We shall fall upon your moon, wherein there is a secret evil, and which is as the shield of the Dark Lord of Thulcandra - scarred with many a blow. We shall break her. Her light shall be put out. Her fragments shall fall into your world and the seas and the smoke shall arise so that the dwellers in Thulcandra will no longer see the light of Arbol.”
“I do not call it the beginning. It is but the wiping out of a false start in order that the world may then begin.”
“Where Maleldil is, there is the center. He is in every place. Not some of Him in one place and some in another, but in each place the whole Maleldil, even in the smallness beyond thought. There is no way out of the center save into the Bent Will which casts itself into Nowhere. Blessed be He!”
“He thought he saw the Great Dance. It seemed to be woven out of the intertwining undulation of many cords or bands of light, leaping over and under one another and mutually embraced in arabesques and flower-like subtleties.”
“I did not feel it pass. I believe the waves of time will often change for us henceforward. We are coming to have it in our own choice whether we shall be above them and see many waves together or whether we shall reach them one by one as we used to.”
“So this is hru. I have never seen such a fluid before. And this is the substance wherewith Maleldil remade the worlds before any world was made.”
“It is like a fruit with a very thick shell. The joy of our meeting when we meet again in the Great Dance is the sweet of it. But the rind is thick - more years thick than I can count.”
“Farewell, Friend and Savior, farewell. Farewell till we three pass out of the dimensions of time. Speak of us always to Maleldil as we speak always of you. The splendor, the love, and the strength be upon you.”
Summary
The King and Queen arrive on the scene. The Oyarsa of Perelandra confers the planet to the care of the King (Tor) and Queen (Tinidril, The Green Lady) and names them the Oyarsas of the planet. In his first proclamation as king, Tor asks Perelandra to remain on the planet and acknowledges Ransom’s sacrifices in saving the planet. Tinidril explains to ransom how she now understands Maleldil’s command to not sleep on the fixed land.
King Tor then explains how Maleldil gave him knowledge of Weston’s attempts to corrupt The Lady. Maleldil gave Tor permission to intervene but he chose not to; choosing instead to throw himself into the wave of Maleldil’s will. Tor says that Maleldil also showed him the fall of Thulcandra.
Tor then issues two more proclamations. First he names the sea forest Lur. Then he says he and the queen will judge and hearten his people from the throne of the hill of life. For his second command, the king announces they will build a temple on the Fixed Land. Last he announces he and the queen will make the beasts nobler (reminds me of The Magician’s Nephew), have children, and tear the sky dome open to see Deep Heaven. Further, the king and queen shall be like eldila but not bodily.
A long conversation ensues after Ransom asks if this is the end. Tor explains this is only the beginning and that the siege of Thulcandra (battle against the dark eldila) will usher in a new beginning. Tor says that Thulcandra was a false start and a failure to begin. Returning to his previous temptation to think of Thulcandra as insignificant in the eyes of Maleldil, Ransom asks whether the enemy is well-answered if nothing has a plan or meaning. He asks which planet is the center of the universe. He also ponders whether everything is an illusion (here he is still affected by Weston’s thoughts about the rind). Last ransom asks what is the morning and what is the beginning.
What follows is a dream-like sequence where the two oyarsas and the king and queen identify Maleldil as the center of the universe. Each sequence ends with the proclamation, “Blessed Be He”. They all speak simultaneously but ransom can hear each voice individually. Lewis gives us the example of an orchestra to illustrate Ransom’s experience. He hears all voices at once and it is beautiful and harmonious. Yet he can also hear each voice individually. It is a complete and total transcendental experience for Ransom.
Ransom eventually wakes up and the king and queen tell him they’ve been standing here for over a year. Only the three of them remain. Tor then notices the cut on Ransom’s heel and offers to wash Ransom’s feet. He is amazed to see “hru” (Old Solar for blood) and remarks this is the substance which Maleldil remade the worlds. Tinidril is concerned Ransom will die. Since Ransom has breathed the air and drunk the waters of Perelandra, Tor believes it will be much harder for Ransom to die.
The Oyarsas appear again (as light) and the king and queen help Ransom into the coffin. Then they cover him with red flowers, say their farewells, and close the coffin. Ransom departs Perelandra.