Perelandra Themes

In Perelandra, the second of C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy series, philologist Elwin Ransom is sent to the planet of Perelandra, or Venus, for unknown reasons. While there, Ransom delights in the wonder of this unexplored, uncorrupted planet. His attitude toward Perelandra—and indeed toward reality as a whole—contrasts with that of Professor Weston, the novel’s antagonist, who arrives on Perelandra after Ransom does. As the novel unfolds, Weston reveals his desire to…

In Perelandra, Ransom finds himself the unwitting redeemer of a world at risk of satanic corruption. During his quest, Ransom must reconcile his very real fears with his earnest desire to please God; he also learns that Perelandra’s inhabitants, like the Green Lady, obey God fearlessly because their wills are already so perfectly aligned with God’s. As he learns to embody a similar obedience, Ransom discovers that, as one’s will harmonizes with…

Ransom eventually learns that he’s been sent to Perelandra in order to thwart the satanically corrupted Weston—or, as Ransom calls him, the “Un-man”—from tempting the planet’s King and Queen into sin. In other words, Perelandra has not yet experienced a Fall like that depicted in the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis. In the Bible, the serpent tempts Eve into wanting to attain the knowledge of good and evil and thus become more like God…