Perelandra: Meeting The Green Lady
Summary, Quotes, and Themes (ch. 4-6)
“What is peace?” asks the beautiful and enigmatic Green Lady. If we pause for a second and consider how we would answer that very question, it makes my head spin. How can one explain peace to someone who has no concept of war, conflict, or evil? This simple question tells us so much about her and yet introduces as many other questions. Ransom quickly realizes that she both epitomizes and is purity and innocence. She lives in the present moment; accepting each wave that Maleldil sends to her. Doing His will is a joy beyond all joys and she could not imagine doing anything but His Will. To her, the greatest joy is the present joy; the fruit she is eating at the moment. With this in mind, she joyfully accepts Maleldil’s command that she may not sleep overnight on the Fixed Land.
It becomes very clear to Ransom that she is a goddess, the queen, the mother of Perelandra. She is so majestic that Ransom struggles to look her in the face when speaking with her. While she is clearly unfallen and untainted by sin, Ransom realizes that he must tread carefully when interacting with her. His very presence is in some ways a danger to her innocence. Unintentionally, he puts the idea of free will into her mind. At this point she had never considered pursuing anything other than what Maleldil places before her. While free will is a beautiful gift from Maleldil, Ransom is well-aware of the danger of the temptation to exercise one’s own free will especially if it differs from Maleldil’s will.
Here are the summary and notes that my reading group used in our recent session. Again, feel free to use for your own discussions if you are reading this book. Reminder, I am really just scratching the surface in terms of themes and symbols so please let me know what you think! I’d love to hear from you.
Image Credit: https://www.cslewis.com/perelandra-re-awakening-the-spiritual-imagination/
Perelandra Chapter 4
Chapter 1 Quotes
“If a naked man and a wise dragon were indeed the sole inhabitants of this floating paradise, then this was also fitting, for at that moment he had a sensation of not following an adventure but of enacting a myth."
"A man, or at least a man like Ransom, felt he ought to say grace over [the berries]; and so he presently did. The gourds would have required rather an oratorio or a mystical meditation."
"For one second the alien eyes looked face to face with him. For one second the alien eyes looked at his full of love and welcome. Then the whole face changed: a shock as of disappointment passed over it. Ransom realized, not without a disappointment of his own, that he had been mistaken for someone else."
Chapter 4 Summary
Ransom awakes and finds a docile red dragon beside him. Ransom wonders if it is rational. He walks into the forest and finds a tree with translucent globes filled with clear liquid. As he touches one, it explodes and covers him in refreshing water. As a result, he sees colors more vividly and clearly. While he deisres another "shower" he restrains himself. He finds green berries which are delicious though not as pleasureable as the gourds and again he feels an urging not to eat more than needed. The dragon flies towards another neighboring island where it joins a group of other beasts. Ransom sees a human figure among the beasts. The creature is a green woman who appears disappointed when she sees Ransom. Then she erupts in peals of laughter. Ransom announces that he comes in peace to which the green woman replies "what is peace?". As it gets dark, Ransom swims to her island and falls asleep upon reaching it.
Chapter 4 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols
Rationality
Myth
Restraint
Water
Disappointment (wanting and expecting something else)
Laughter
Animals
Pleasure
Seeing
Perelandra Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Quotes
“This looking backward and forward along the line and seeing how a day has one appearance as it comes to you, and another when you are in it, and a third when it has gone past. Like the waves."
"I see that you come from a wise world...if this is wise. I have never done it before - stepping out of life into the Alongside and looking at oneself living as if one were not alive."
"You do not mean they are worse because they come early and do not come again? They are their own part of the history and not another. We are on this side of the wave and they are on the far side. All is new."
"Do not wonder, O Piebald Man, that your world should have been chosen for time's corner. You live looking out always on Heaven itself, and as if this were not enough Maleldil takes you all thither in the end. You are favored beyond all worlds."
"What you have made me see is as plain as the sky...one goes into the forest to pick food and already the thought of one fruit rather than another has grown up in one's mind. Then, it may be, one finds a different fruit and not the fruit one thought of. One joy was expected and another is given."
Chapter 5 Summary
Ransom awakes feeling full of adventure. The Green Lady approaches - she is completely naked - and tells Ransom she was "young" yesterday. She calls him "Piebald". A long conversation ensues.
She seems to focus on the present (using the coming and going of the waves as metaphor)
She has knowledge of other worlds (i.e. Malacandra and Thulcandra) even though she cannot see these worlds through the dome of Perelandra
She knows Maleldil took human form and came to Thulcandra but she does not know all the reasons for His coming (Ransom here reasons she in unfallen)
She speaks to the purpose of all creatures - from the old worlds and how they may have fulfilled their purpose (this upsets Ransom as he thinks of the hrossa)
Ransom realizes she is like a goddess as she welcomes him to Perelandra (she is Queen and Mother). She refers to the King - that is who she was looking for when she met Ransom. He asks to go with her to find the king. The King and the Lady are the only two of their species on Perelandra. Ransom remarks that Earth's mother and queen are dead. The Lady then inquires about death - seeming to have no knowledge about it. She asks if Ransom came to teach her about death. Here Ransom realizes he must tread carefully in explaining things, so that he does not inadvertently corrupt her innocence.
Another conversation ensues when Ransom asks about her disappointment when she found him (she had been looking for the King):
She was expecting to find the King but found Ransom (which was also joyful to her)
Ransom does not understand how she could have joy if she did not find who she was originally looking for
She explains that Ransom has taught her how she can turn from the expected good and find the new good (she says it is wonder and glory)
She then ponders that maybe she was previously being carried by Maleldil's will but now she finds herself walking beside it on her own and this gives her some sense of having learned something new
But Ransom realizes he may have introduced a kind of temptation; that being to follow her own will instead of Maleldil's. He gently warns her that it could be hard to turn away from the good she wants to the good that Maleldil sends her instead.
Finally the conversation turns back to her being happy even though she did not find the King. Ransom still does not understand how this can be. He frowns at her which startles her - she comments about the hills and valleys on his forehead. He lies and says it is nothing and immediately feels remorse and guilt. The conversation ends.
Chapter 5 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols
The Wave
Myth
Wanting / expecting something vs getting / finding something else
Will
Fruit, taste
Royalty
Innocence, purity
Looking, searching, seeing
Young vs old
Looking at vs looking along
Perelandra Chapter 6
Chapter 6 Quotes
“Where will this end? I have grown so old in these last few hours that all my life before me seems only like the stem of a tree, and now I am like the branches shooting out in every direction...First to have learned that I walk from good to good with my own feet...that was stretch enough. But now it seems that good is not the same in all worlds; that Maleldil has forbidden in one what he allows in another."
"Who thought of its being hard? The beasts would not think it hard if I told them to walk on their heads. It would become their delight to walk on their heads. I am His beast and all his biddings are joys."
"In your own world also they ruled once: but not since our Beloved became a Man. In your world they linger still. But in our world, which is the first of worlds to wake after the great change, they have no power. There is nothing now between us and Him."
"Every joy is beyond all others. The fruit we are eating is always the best fruit of all."
Chapter 6 Summary
As Ransom ponders his purpose on Perelandra, he sees a large island which appears to be "fixed". The Lady appears and says they will go to the Fixed Land to look for the King. Ransom learns that the Lady may visit the Fixed Land but Maleldil has forbidden her from sleeping on the Fixed Land at night. She is horrified and perplexed that all lands on Thulcandra are fixed but she soon sees that there are different goods in different worlds as well as different commands from Maleldil. Ransom incorrectly assumes this command is hard on her and she responds that it is a delight to do as Maledil commands. Then they see an object fall from the sky into the sea.
From here they summon some fish which they ride on to the Fixed Land. They climb to the top of a mountain (the Lady has incredible speed and strength). The Lady is curious when Ransom scrapes his knee and is bleeding. She wants to experience the same thing for herself but Maleldil commands her not to. At the top, they see a round metallic object floating in the sea. Immediately recognizing that it must be Professor Weston, Ransom starts to understand his purpose, but he is overcome with doubt. Ransom learns there are no eldila on Perelandra, so he feels even less optimistic. She does not know what eldila are but quickly learns about them from Maleldil. She understands that eldila serve joyfully but Ransom quips that there are some eldila who would not serve; clinging to an old good and not accepting the new good. He is of course referring to the Bent One of Thulcandra. They then see a small boat approaching the Fixed Land. Night is quickly approaching so the Lady starts running for shore to get off the Fixed Land. Ransom follows her to prevent her from meeting Weston. Ransom warns her she must not meet the man because he intends harm but the Lady says she will make him older. As they race and finally reach the shore, they collide and tumble down just as Weston is coming ashore.
Chapter 6 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols
The Fixed Land
Doubt
Old vs new
Joyfully accepting the will of Maleldil
Purpose
Waves
Different commands in different worlds
Eldila
Joy
Amazing!