Perelandra: The Lady's Final Temptation, Ransom's Gethsemane Moment, and the 'Thrilla in Manila' Round 1

Summary, Quotes, and Themes (ch. 10 - 12)

The tension reaches fever pitch as Ransom finally realizes that mere words alone will not defeat the Un-man. Back in chapter 2 when Ransom and Lewis discussed the “phases” of the war, Ransom alluded that there may be other means in addition to spiritual means to defeat the Bent One. As Ransom finds out in these later chapters, he is being called to fight a cosmic battle against Evil itself using his bare knuckles.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the blue corner we have the challenger, weighing-in at 165 pounds (dripping wet), a philologist from Cambridge who is not wearing trunks, Dr. Elwin Ransom. In the red corner, we have the Master of Disaster, the face of evil itself, the undisputed heavyweight champion of Thulcandra, the Bent One, the Un-man!

Before getting into the ring, Ransom continues to be frustrated at his inabilities to refute the Un-man’s demonic logic as the latter resumes his attacks on The Lady. The Un-man, in clever and diabolical subtlety, appeals to good old vanity in a last-ditch effort to get The Lady to stumble. However, he tips his hand a bit too much in giving The Lady a mirror. As she sees herself, her face first and then her body fully clothed in the feather robe, she is terrified and recoils in horror. She sees the Un-man’s purpose in trying to get her to step outside of herself and see herself: to focus on herself. It is all rooted in pride of course. In addition to vanity, I think the Un-man is also tempting her into a twisted version of modesty. Her purity and nudity are some of what make her beautiful. In covering herself with the feather robe, she is essentially covering up her beauty as Maleldil made her. This strikes me as the opposite of how Satan tries to tempt the fallen women of Thulcandra: the fewer clothes a woman wears, the more beautiful she is, or so Satan tells us.

The Lady is not the only one facing attacks here. Ransom experiences his own dark night of the soul and what I call his Gethsemane moment of doubt and unbelief. In a beautiful and moving conversation between his “voluble self”, his true self, and Maleldil, Ransom realizes he is the answer, he is the chosen one, he is the miracle appointed by Maleldil to deliver Perelandra from the hands of the Un-man. Ransom comes to fully embrace his role and Maleldil’s will for him. He fully accepts serving as Maleldil’s hand and doing his work. Whether he lives or dies, Ransom cares not.

On the morning of the battle, Ransom wakes up and bathes. He eats and drinks. He does normal things; things of habit. He no longer fears. Up to this point in the novel, Ransom had a mostly passive role. He sat by impotent and frustrated as the Un-Man mercilessly and relentlessly attacked The Lady. Now Ransom - no longer the half white half burned comical Piebald man - takes action: he goes looking for his enemy. He does not sit and wait - he goes on the hunt. The text tells us he observes that his body, Maleldil’s instrument, was “tuned up to concert pitch.” I take that to mean he was a bit more chiseled than when he arrived on Perelandra.

As the fight begins, the Un-man utters perhaps one of the most disgusting and blasphemous statements in a final attempt to get Ransom to cower. God will not help you or save you, he tells Ransom. Even Christ, Himself, while on the cross could not convince God to help Him. The Un-man mocks Christ on the Cross when He called out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani”. The text says that the Un-man was remembering rather than quoting Christ’s words. For a moment he must have arrogantly thought Christ was defeated. Of course his victory celebration was premature. Even though this is just a fictional story, it moved me to tears of anger. How dare he! Christ will not be mocked! It ticked off Ransom too. From here, Ransom steps into the ring; confident in doing Maleldil’s work and accepting the outcome even if it is his own dead body.

Image Credit: Perelandra Scholars Program | Portland State University (pdx.edu)

Perelandra Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Quotes

“Can you not see that he is making you say words that mean nothing? What is the good of saying you would do this for the King's sake when you know it is what the King would hate most? Are you Maleldil that you should determine what is good for the King?"

"The ghastly inappropriateness had, all in one moment, stolen something from the colors of the landscape and the scent of the flowers."

"My face - out there - looking at me. Am I growing older or is it something else? I feel...I feel...my heart is beating too hard. I am not warm. What is it?"

"A man can love himself, and be together with himself. That is what it means to be a man or a woman - to walk alongside oneself as if one were a second person and to delight in one's own beauty. Mirrors were made to teach this art."

Chapter 10 Summary

Ransom awakes to the Un-man conversing with The Lady. He overhears him extolling the strong, rebellious women of Thulcandra who, while persecuted and reviled, end up saving the weak men of Thulcandra. Ransom becomes concerned that the Un-Man's attacks are beginning to wear her down. Throughout this chapter, Weston appears more and more demonic and evil. However, occasionally the real Weston calls out for help as he is under painful torment by demons. Ransom begins to pity Weston. Later, Weston doubles-down on his efforts to get her to rise up like the women of Thulcandra who are chained down by marriage and children. Ransom erupts in anger but The Lady only becomes more confused. He realizes that while her will is uncorrupted, the Un-man has poisoned her mind.

Ransom collapses in exhaustion and wakes up in a panic because he cannot find the other two. When he finds them, they are both adorned in robes of feathers and leaves. She asks Ransom if she is more beautiful to which he emphatically says no. Weston gives her a small mirror so she can see for herself how beautiful she is. This terrifies her as she sees her own face for the first time looking back at her. Recoiling in horror, the Un-man tells her she is experiencing fear. The Un-man tells her she must embrace fear to save her race and to love oneself is to walk alongside oneself. After observing herself in the mirror with and without the robe, she eventually throws the robe off in complete rejection of it. She stands tall, noble, and triumphant. Ransom is relieved that she has rejected the temptation of vanity.

Chapter 10 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols

• The mirror

• Fear

• The lies of feminism

• Vanity

• Modesty

• Beauty

• Myth, tragedy

• Seeing oneself, walking alongside oneself

• Childish destructive behavior

• Hatred vs pity

• Ghost / spirit (Abolition of Man)

Perelandra Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Quotes

“The answer which came to him, quick as a fencer's or tennis player's riposte, out of the silence and the darkness, almost took his breath away...He himself was the miracle."

"That sense - so very welcome yet never welcomed without the overcoming of a certain resistance - that sense of the Presence which he had once or twice experienced on Perelandra, returned to him. The darkness was packed quite full. It seemed to press upon his trunk so that he could hardly use his lungs: it seemed to close in on his skull like a crown of intolerable weight so that for a space he could hardly think."

"His journey to Perelandra was not a moral exercise nor a sham fight. If the issue lay in Maleldil's hands, Ransom and The Lady were those hands. The fate of a world really depended on how they behaved in the next few hours."

"A stone may determine the course of a river. He was that stone at this horrible moment which had become the center of the whole universe."

"Did Maleldil suggest that our own world might have been saved if the elephant had accidentally trodden on the serpent a moment before Eve was about to yield?"

"The voluble self petered out in the end. Almost the darkness said to Ransom, 'You know you are wasting time.'"

"It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom...My name is also Ransom."

Chapter 11 Summary

Ransom awakes alone and decides the temptations must end. He laments that Maleldil has been absent and that the situation requires a miracle because The Lady is getting worn down by the Un-man. Ransom suddenly realizes Maleldil is overwhelmingly present at this moment. Ransom enters into a conversation with his "voluble self" where he oscillates between temptations of fear, doubt, and unbelief over and over. He wonders who Maleldil will send as the representative to save The Lady and Perelandra. Maleldil's answer overwhelms him: he is the miracle. He reaches into his soul for faith and belief. He recalls that World War II is raging on Thulcandra so he comes to a place of peace about what he must do. But then doubt creeps back in as he wonders whether physical combat with the Un-man is what Maleldil wants him to do. He then questions to apparent simplicity of physical combat and if that is all that was needed in the Garden of Eden. Ransom resigns himself to doing his best and that Maleldil will save Perelandra through him as He saved Thulcandra through Christ.

He continues being tempted to doubt and gets twisted up about the details of what will happen to Weston if he actually kills his body. Ransom ponders asking for forgiveness in anticipation of his failure. Maleldil's voice resounds in the darkness and says, "it is not for nothing that you are named Ransom...My name also is Ransom." Ransom now understands his name is also the same as his calling to be a ransom. He finally comes to accept fully his role in the salvation of Perelandra. He is no longer a slave to fear and doubt. Maleldil casts a deep sleep over the Un-man and The Lady. He then commands Ransom to sleep.

Chapter 11 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols

• Fear, doubt, unbelief

• Realizing answer to prayer

• Self-sacrifice

• Acceptance of God's will; letting go

• Letting God work through us

• Sleep

• Paying a ransom

• Spiritual vs physical combat

• Making a decision; taking action

• Weight

• God’s presence

• Names

• Myth (Sleeping Beauty?)

Perelandra Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Quotes

“He felt pretty certain that he would never again wield an un-maimed body until a greater morning came for the whole universe, and he was glad that the instrument had been thus tuned up to concert pitch before he had to surrender it."

"When I wake up after thy image, I shall be satisfied."

"All said and done. It's been worth it. I have had a time. I have lived in Paradise."

"And you think, little one, that you can fight with me? You think He will help you, perhaps? I've known Him longer than you...They all think He's going to help them...mouldering in concentration camps, writhing under saws, jibbering in mad houses, or nailed on to crosses. Could He help Himself?...Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani."

"What was before him appeared no longer a creature of corrupted will. It was corruption itself to which will was attached only as an instrument."

Chapter 12 Summary

Ransom wakes up and bathes himself in the sea and drinks. He notices his skin is the color of ivory; his body no longer half burned and half white. He takes a bubble tree shower and eats fruit growing on the floating island. He walks past The Lady who is still asleep and says goodbye to her. He is in complete surrender to what he must do and joyfully accepts it. He then begins searching for the Un-man. The entire planet seems to be asleep. He soon finds Weston who is busy mutilating a bird. Ransom walks up to him and punches the Un-man in the face. The Un-man tries to frighten Ransom by asking "do you know who I am?" He then mocks Christ's words on the cross in an attempt to torment Ranson. Then the battle begins.

The violent battle lasts for quite a while with each receiving ghastly wounds. Ransom's confidence grows as he realizes that the Un-man's strength is limited to that of Weston's body. Ransom also realizes that he is fighting corruption, itself; not Weston. Ransom then understands the purpose of hatred. The Un-man eventually gets loose from Ransom and plunges into the sea where he mounts a fish. In a moment of despair at the thought of losing sight of him, Ransom also mounts a fish and pursues the Un-man through the sea. A flock of birds follow the Un-man, and Ransom observes that all of Perelandra is waking up. The chapter ends with Ransom following the Un-man further and further out to sea.

Chapter 12 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols

• Mockery

• Determination

• Hatred

• Joy

• Looking for the enemy vs hiding from the enemy

• Waking up

• Physical violence

• Pursuing the enemy

• Commitment to the mission

• Rituals

• Cleanliness and readiness

• Mandrill (ape-like creature, Shift, trousered apes, The Last Battle, The Abolition of Man)