That Hideous Strength

by

C. S. Lewis

Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King Character Analysis

Ransom is the protagonist of the first two books of the Space Trilogy and the leader of the followers of Logres. His interactions will eldils on Mars and Venus have made him a devoted servant of God, and he leads the like-minded individuals of the Society along God’s plan for them. His heel was wounded on Venus, and it will not heal as long as he remains on Earth. The injury alludes to Genesis 3:15, a Bible passage that foretells that the serpent (Satan) will strike the heel of the Messiah. Meanwhile, Ransom’s alias, “Mr. Fisher-King,” is a reference to the Arthurian Fisher King, who protects the Holy Grail as well as his own lands but is weakened by a wound in his leg. These allusions to both Biblical and Arthurian traditions mirror the book’s argument that honor and righteousness come from embracing a combination of those two mythologies. Ransom is intimately connected to the divine and can call upon the Oyéresu to help him carry out God’s will. In addition to leading the fight against the N.I.C.E. and the Macrobes, he serves as a moral guide for Jane.

Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King Quotes in That Hideous Strength

The That Hideous Strength quotes below are all either spoken by Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King or refer to Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Obedience, Exclusivity, and Humility Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

The resentment which had been rising and ebbing, but rising each time a little more than it ebbed, for several minutes, had now overflowed. All this talk of promises and obedience to an unknown Mr. Fisher-King had already repelled her. But the idea of this same person sending her back to get Mark’s permission––as if she were a child asking leave to go to a party––was the climax. For a moment she looked on Mr. Denniston with real dislike. She saw him, and Mark, and the Fisher-King man […] simply as Men––complacent, patriarchal figures making arrangements for women as if women were children or bartering them like cattle. […] She was very angry.

Related Characters: Jane Studdock , Mark Studdock, Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King , Arthur Denniston
Page Number: 115
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“[Y]ou do not fail in obedience through lack of love, but have lost love because you never attempted obedience.”

[…] “I thought love meant equality,” she said […]. “I thought it was in their souls that people were equal.”

“You were mistaken,” said he gravely; “that is the last place where they are equal. Equality before the law, equality of incomes––that is very well. Equality guards life; it doesn’t make it. It is medicine, not food. […] Those who are enjoying something, or suffering something together, are companions. Those who enjoy or suffer one another, are not. […] It is not your fault. […] No one has ever told you that obedience––humility––is an erotic necessity.”

Related Characters: Jane Studdock (speaker), Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King (speaker), Mark Studdock
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Do you place yourself in the obedience,” said the Director, “in obedience to Maleldil?”

"Sir,” said Jane, “I know nothing of Maleldil. But I place myself in obedience to you.”

“It is enough for the present,” said the Director. “This is the courtesy of Deep Heaven: that when you mean well, He always takes you to have meant better than you knew. It will not be enough for always. He is very jealous. He will have you for no one but Himself in the end. But for tonight, it is enough.”

Related Characters: Jane Studdock (speaker), Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King (speaker)
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

She did not doubt that the eldils existed; nor did she doubt the existence of this stronger and more obscure being whom they obeyed…whom the Director obeyed, and through him the whole household […]. If it had ever occurred to her to question whether all these things might be the reality behind what she had been taught at school as “religion,” she had put the thought aside. The things belonged, for her, to different worlds. On the one hand, terror of dreams, rapture of obedience, […] and the great struggle against an imminent danger; on the other, the smell of pews, horrible lithographs of the Saviour […]. But this time, if it was really to be death, the thought would not be put aside. […] Maleldil might be, quite simply and crudely, God. There might be a life after death: a Heaven: a Hell.

Related Characters: Jane Studdock , Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King , Merlinus Ambrosius (Merlin)
Page Number: 231
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“I think MacPhee is introducing into animal life a distinction that doesn’t exist there, and then trying to determine on which side of that distinction the feelings of Pinch and Bultitude fall. You’ve got to become human before the physical cravings are distinguishable from affections––just as you have to become spiritual before affections are distinguishable from charity. What is going on in the cat and the bear isn’t one or other of these two things: it is a single undifferentiated thing in which you can find the germ of what we call friendship and of what we call physical need. But it isn’t either at that level. It is one of Barfield’s ‘ancient unities.’”

Related Characters: Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King (speaker), Mrs. Margaret Dimble, Andrew MacPhee, Mr. Bultitude
Page Number: 258
Explanation and Analysis:
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That Hideous Strength PDF

Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King Quotes in That Hideous Strength

The That Hideous Strength quotes below are all either spoken by Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King or refer to Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Obedience, Exclusivity, and Humility Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

The resentment which had been rising and ebbing, but rising each time a little more than it ebbed, for several minutes, had now overflowed. All this talk of promises and obedience to an unknown Mr. Fisher-King had already repelled her. But the idea of this same person sending her back to get Mark’s permission––as if she were a child asking leave to go to a party––was the climax. For a moment she looked on Mr. Denniston with real dislike. She saw him, and Mark, and the Fisher-King man […] simply as Men––complacent, patriarchal figures making arrangements for women as if women were children or bartering them like cattle. […] She was very angry.

Related Characters: Jane Studdock , Mark Studdock, Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King , Arthur Denniston
Page Number: 115
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“[Y]ou do not fail in obedience through lack of love, but have lost love because you never attempted obedience.”

[…] “I thought love meant equality,” she said […]. “I thought it was in their souls that people were equal.”

“You were mistaken,” said he gravely; “that is the last place where they are equal. Equality before the law, equality of incomes––that is very well. Equality guards life; it doesn’t make it. It is medicine, not food. […] Those who are enjoying something, or suffering something together, are companions. Those who enjoy or suffer one another, are not. […] It is not your fault. […] No one has ever told you that obedience––humility––is an erotic necessity.”

Related Characters: Jane Studdock (speaker), Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King (speaker), Mark Studdock
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Do you place yourself in the obedience,” said the Director, “in obedience to Maleldil?”

"Sir,” said Jane, “I know nothing of Maleldil. But I place myself in obedience to you.”

“It is enough for the present,” said the Director. “This is the courtesy of Deep Heaven: that when you mean well, He always takes you to have meant better than you knew. It will not be enough for always. He is very jealous. He will have you for no one but Himself in the end. But for tonight, it is enough.”

Related Characters: Jane Studdock (speaker), Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King (speaker)
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

She did not doubt that the eldils existed; nor did she doubt the existence of this stronger and more obscure being whom they obeyed…whom the Director obeyed, and through him the whole household […]. If it had ever occurred to her to question whether all these things might be the reality behind what she had been taught at school as “religion,” she had put the thought aside. The things belonged, for her, to different worlds. On the one hand, terror of dreams, rapture of obedience, […] and the great struggle against an imminent danger; on the other, the smell of pews, horrible lithographs of the Saviour […]. But this time, if it was really to be death, the thought would not be put aside. […] Maleldil might be, quite simply and crudely, God. There might be a life after death: a Heaven: a Hell.

Related Characters: Jane Studdock , Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King , Merlinus Ambrosius (Merlin)
Page Number: 231
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“I think MacPhee is introducing into animal life a distinction that doesn’t exist there, and then trying to determine on which side of that distinction the feelings of Pinch and Bultitude fall. You’ve got to become human before the physical cravings are distinguishable from affections––just as you have to become spiritual before affections are distinguishable from charity. What is going on in the cat and the bear isn’t one or other of these two things: it is a single undifferentiated thing in which you can find the germ of what we call friendship and of what we call physical need. But it isn’t either at that level. It is one of Barfield’s ‘ancient unities.’”

Related Characters: Elwin Ransom/Mr. Fisher-King (speaker), Mrs. Margaret Dimble, Andrew MacPhee, Mr. Bultitude
Page Number: 258
Explanation and Analysis: