Perelandra: Chapter 4

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

---

Late again! My fault, this time. Sorry.

Ransom has been sent on a space voyage to Perelandra, Venus in our language, by Oyarsa, the spiritual being that rules Malacandra, or Mars. He was propelled through space by supernatural means in a translucent casket. When he landed on Venus, the casket dissolved and he was left afloat in the ocean that apparently covered Perelandra, where the climate is warm and perpetually overcast with golden clouds. Soon he discovered the several large floating mats of vegetation that act as land on Perelandra. Climbing onto one, he found some food, consisting of some delicious golden gourds, and then he slept.

When Ransom awakens, he continues exploring. He finds a grove of the golden fruit, and for the first time discovers animal life: a red dragon-like creature, which appears friendly but not intelligent. Some large flowers whose stalks accumulate bubbles of water serve as an impromptu perfumed shower. He also finds some large berries for food that taste very good and satisfy his hunger, but as with the golden fruit the previous day, he feels an impulse not to overindulge.

As Ransom explores, the dragon (which has been making a nuisance of itself in the meantime) zooms past him and flies to another island floating about half a mile away. He sees that the air and the oceans are teeming with life, and it’s all heading in that direction. In particular, he sees a pod of dolphin-like fish, and on the back of one, a human figure. He gets the being’s attention, and he sees that the figure is a green-skinned woman—who, evidently, was expecting someone else.

When they are close enough to speak, he gets her in Old Solar, the language of Malacandra. To his surprise, the green lady, now surrounded by a throng of beasts, points and laughs. Ransom shortly discovers that he is heavily sunburned on one side and still pale on the other, thanks to his trip through space in the translucent casket. This is the source of her amusement. When her laughter has calmed down, he announces that he is from another world and comes in peace. The green lady has no idea what that means, asking, “What is ‘peace’?” Ransom swims for her island and pulls himself ashore.

Finally,the action is beginning. We meet another principal character, the Green Lady, who appears, Disney-esque fashion, surrounded by friendly animals. She does not understand his simple greeting or the meaning of “peace”; is she naïve or completely innocent? It’s evident she was expecting someone, but not Ransom. Is there a Green Man yet to be revealed?

At the beginning of the chapter, when Ransom sees the grove of golden fruit with the dragon, he thinks the scene resembles the Garden of the Hesperides. In Greek mythology, the Hesperides were the daughters of Atlas and Hesperis, daughter of Hesperus. From the latter comes the literary name of the planet Venus in its evening aspect (as opposed to Lucifer, the name of Venus as the morning star).

The Hesperides tended a garden of golden apples. The Apple of Discord, in the myth of Helen of Troy, was one of these. The Garden was guarded by a dragon, which in classical art is portrayed as serpentine—perhaps to call the snake in the Garden of Eden to mind?—whereas the Perelandrian dragon is described as rather obese and the size of a St. Bernard. For the article graphic, I’ve chosen to depict him as the classical serpent. (I’ve also clothed Ransom in shorts—I don’t think the AI will let me depict him naked, even if I wanted that on my blog.)

There’s a similar scene in the Narnia novel, The Magician’s Nephew, when Digory Kirke reaches the walled garden containg the silver apples that will heal his mother’s illness. There, the garden is overlooked by a bird whom Digory feels it would be unwise to cross by taking a second apple for himself. Just as Digory’s Uncle Andrew in Narnia resembles Weston in Out of the Silent Planet scheming to exploit Malacandra’s resources, this may be another instance of Lewis recycling imagery from the Space Trilogy for the Chronicles of Narnia.

Chapter 4 is, again, not an action-packed chapter, at least until the end. Lewis/Ransom is still exploring the Perelandrian environment, setting the stage for the story yet to come. Things will pick up soon, for sure. See you next time.