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Chapter 14
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in That Hideous Strength, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Obedience, Exclusivity, and Humility
Modernization vs. Tradition
Divine Conflict
Deception and Confusion
Gender and Marriage
Summary
Analysis
Ransom and Merlin await the gathering of the Oyéresu. When the first Oyarsa arrives (Viritrilbia, also known as Mercury or Thoth), the other members of the Company elsewhere in the Manor are filled with joy and appreciation for life. Jane watches Denniston and Camilla and sees their love as a bright, divine energy. Perelandra (Venus) arrives, followed by Malacandra (Mars) and Lurga (Saturn). Each arrival grants the residents of the Manor a revelation about life and a sense of profound change. Finally, the Glund-Oyarsa (Jupiter or Jove) arrives, the king of Oyéresu who humans often mistake for a god. The Oyéresu grant Merlin their power.
This book is the only one in the Space Trilogy that takes place on Earth, and the conclusion to the series’ divine conflict plays out on a relatively small, human scale. Ransom’s summoning of the Oyéresu to St. Anne’s is a reminder of the otherworldly forces at play in the Company of Logres’s fight against the N.I.C.E. At the same time, Jane witnessing the love between Denniston and Camilla as a tangible and powerful force highlights that love between people is just as important to enacting Maleldil’s will as the involvement of supernatural beings like the Oyéresu.
Themes
Merlin goes to Belbury, where Frost and Wither take him for a Basque priest and allow him to speak to the “tramp.” Mark watches as Merlin communicates with the tramp in an unearthly language, and Frost and Wither yield to Merlin’s command, since he is the only one who can understand the man they believe to be Merlin. Merlin sends Frost and Wither on an errand, and they privately worry that the priest is tricking them somehow. Nevertheless, they obey Merlin’s order that he and the “tramp” be given a tour of the headquarters. Wither accompanies them, while Frost tests Mark’s loyalty to the N.I.C.E. by demanding that he trample on a crucifix. Mark is not a Christian, but the demand unnerves him, and he refuses. Meanwhile, Wither introduces Merlin and the “tramp” to Horace Jules, the figurehead Director of the N.I.C.E.
Merlin turns the N.I.C.E.’s trickery and deception back on them as he pretends to be a translator for the tramp. Merlin’s willingness to use his enemies’ tactics against them emphasizes that he is not bound by the same moral code as Ransom; Merlin is both pagan and Christian, and he is the son of some sort of devil. In contrast to this anti-heroic method, Mark continues to become more moral and a more conventional hero in response to Frost’s attempts to corrupt him. Even though Mark is not Christian, he proves that his soul is not beyond saving by refusing to destroy a symbol of Christianity.
Themes
