Perelandra: Chapter 6

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

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Ransom has been sent on a voyage to Perelandra, or Venus, by the Oyarsa of Mars. There, he discovered that Venus is an ocean planet with giant floating mats of vegetation that serve as land. There, he also met a green-skinned woman, and through conversing with her in Old Solar, the lingua franca of the solar system outside of Earth, discovered that she is destined to be the mother of all Perelandrians: the Venusian Eve, as it were.

The archipelago of floating islands have joined into a temporary continent. Still exploring, Ransom comes to the edge of the "land" and, across the sea, spots what appears to be proper land: an actual island with a giant stone column or mountain. The Lady calls it the Fixed Land, and informs Ransom that while she may visit it, Maleldil has forbidden her or the King to sleep there. She is confused, and somewhat horrified, when Ransom informs her that all the land on Earth is fixed, and they have no such rule there.

As they contemplate this, they spot something falling into the ocean from the sky.

He and the Lady travel to the Fixed Land, riding the backs of silver, porpoise-like fish. When they reach the island, they explore it, Ransom happy to be on Earth-like terrain again, though the flora and fauna are alien.

When they climb some of the rocks to look out over the sea, Ransom spots the object that fell from Deep Heaven. It is a spherical vessel, which he recognizes as the same as the one in which Professor Weston had taken him to Malacandra. A figure leaves the sphere in a small boat and approaches the shore. Warning the Green Lady to stay away from him, Ransom goes to the beach to confront him. It is Weston, who recognizes him and demands to know why he is there.

Up to now, we haven't had an antagonist in this novel, but one has arrived in the person of Weston. He was the physicist who, with the help of Ransom's old school friend Devine, abducted him to Mars, supposedly to offer as a human sacrifice to the Martians. Weston's own intent was to exploit Malacandra's resources, particularly its plentiful gold. But he also believed in a kind of scientistic progressivism in which it was humanity's duty to expand to the stars, echoing such contemporary scientific materialists as H. G. Wells, J. B. S. Haldane, and Olaf Stapledon, whose views on human expansionism Lewis found repulsive.

Weston's plans for Mars were thwarted by Ransom with the help of the spiritual eldila that inhabit Malacandra, who tampered with Weston's sphere so that it disappeared once they returned to Earth. Clearly, Weston has built another. His outfit, shorts and a pith helmet, is very much the picture of a stereotypical English explorer. Is his outfit a hint to his colonial intent? Having failed to claim Mars for humanity, is he trying again on Venus?

The Green Lady, the Perelandrian native, is naked and unashamed because she is in a state of innocence. Ransom is a guest on this planet, naked by order of Oyarsa, but as the inhabitant of a fallen world, ashamed by his appearance. Weston alone is both clothed and unashamed: the man who has fallen from Deep Heaven and entered this edenic world on his own initiative, for purposes yet unknown. (Does Weston remind you of anyone? Hope you guess his name.)

Ransom is again upset by the distress he has caused the Green Lady: this time, when he mentions that all the land on earth is fixed and there can be no law against sleeping there. In her innocence, she cannot conceive of something being wrong in one place but not another, until Maleldil assures her it is so.

This is not simplistic moral relativism. Obviously, the Perelandrian law against sleeping on the Fixed Land is analogous to the prohibition against eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:16-17). That prohibition had a purpose: it was covenantal, part of the relational agreement between God and Adam. Obedience to the rule signified trust in God's goodness and wisdom; when the serpent tempted Eve, he did so by questioning God's goodness and undermining her trust. (Coincidentally, this was the topic of the sermon at church this morning.)

On Perelandra, the analogous rule is against sleeping on the Fixed Land. Is this why Ransom is here—to protect Perelandra from its own Fall by stopping its serpent (Weston?) from tempting its Eve?

Ransom thinks the mountain on the Fixed Land resembles the Giant's Causeway, a geologic formation in Northern Ireland consisting of thousands of basaltic columns. This suggests that the Fixed Land is of volcanic origin, which seems consistent with what we know today of Venus. I'm not sure how to square this kind of violent upheaval with a planet that's supposed to be unfallen. (Then again, it is just geology…)

What is Weston's intent on traveling to Venus? Will Ransom finally discover his mission? Chapter 7 comes next week.