That Hideous Strength

by

C. S. Lewis

Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine Character Analysis

Richard Devine, who has been awarded the title of Lord Feverstone, is a member of the N.I.C.E. and one of the two men who kidnapped Elwin Ransom to Mars in Out of the Silent Planet. Feverstone is a greedy, self-centered man who easily manipulates Mark Studdock into joining the N.I.C.E. by playing on Mark’s wish to be included in an exclusive group. He hinders Mark’s development by preventing Mark from leaving the N.I.C.E. through threats and further manipulation. When the N.I.C.E. is granted emergency powers over Edgestow, the N.I.C.E. appoint Feverstone as emergency governor so they can make him a scapegoat if necessary. Feverstone survives Merlin’s destruction of the N.I.C.E. at Belbury, but he dies when the town of Edgestow is swallowed by the earth.

Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine Quotes in That Hideous Strength

The That Hideous Strength quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine or refer to Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine. 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 1 Quotes

Before [Curry] sat down, nearly everyone in the room desired strongly to make the outer world understand that Bragdon Wood was the private property of Bracton College and that the outer world had better mind its own business. […] Then came a new voice from quite a different part of the Soler. Lord Feverstone had risen. […] A good many Fellows––Studdock was not one of them––imagined they were watching a revolt on Feverstone’s part against Curry and his gang and became intensely interested. […] gradually, one by one, the “outsiders” and “obstructionists,” the men not included in the Progressive Element, began coming into the debate.

Related Characters: Mark Studdock, Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine, Curry
Related Symbols: Bragdon Wood
Page Number: 22-23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

It was a moment of extraordinary liberation for Mark. All sorts of things about Curry and Busby which he had not previously noticed, or else, noticing, had slurred over in his reverence for the Progressive Element, came back to his mind. He wondered how he could have been so blind to the funny side of them.

“It really is rather devastating,” said Feverstone […] “that the people one has to use for getting things done should talk such drivel the moment you ask them about the things themselves. […] our two poor friends, though they can be persuaded to take the right train, or even to drive it, haven’t a ghost of a notion where it’s going to, or why.”

Related Characters: Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine (speaker), Mark Studdock, Curry
Page Number: 37-38
Explanation and Analysis:

“There’s far too much life of every kind about, animal and vegetable. We haven’t really cleared the place yet. First we couldn’t; and then we had aesthetic and humanitarian scruples […]. The third problem is man himself. Man has got to take charge of man. That means, remember, that some men have got to take charge of the rest––which is another reason for cashing in on it as soon as one can. You and I want to be the people who do the taking charge, not the ones who are taken charge of. […] sterilisation of the unfit, liquidation of backward races (we don’t want any dead weights), selective breeding. Then real education […]. A new type of man: and it’s people like you who’ve got to begin to make him.”

Related Characters: Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine (speaker), Mark Studdock
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:

There were no houses on her left––only a row of beech trees and unfenced ploughland falling steeply away, and beyond that the timbered midland plain spreading as far as she could see and blue in the distance. […]

Meanwhile Lord Feverstone’s car had long since arrived at Belbury––a florid Edwardian mansion which had been built for a millionaire who admired Versailles. At the sides it seemed to have sprouted into a widespread outgrowth of newer and lower buildings in cement, which housed the Blood Transfusion Office.

Related Characters: Jane Studdock , Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:
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That Hideous Strength PDF

Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine Quotes in That Hideous Strength

The That Hideous Strength quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine or refer to Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine. 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 1 Quotes

Before [Curry] sat down, nearly everyone in the room desired strongly to make the outer world understand that Bragdon Wood was the private property of Bracton College and that the outer world had better mind its own business. […] Then came a new voice from quite a different part of the Soler. Lord Feverstone had risen. […] A good many Fellows––Studdock was not one of them––imagined they were watching a revolt on Feverstone’s part against Curry and his gang and became intensely interested. […] gradually, one by one, the “outsiders” and “obstructionists,” the men not included in the Progressive Element, began coming into the debate.

Related Characters: Mark Studdock, Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine, Curry
Related Symbols: Bragdon Wood
Page Number: 22-23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

It was a moment of extraordinary liberation for Mark. All sorts of things about Curry and Busby which he had not previously noticed, or else, noticing, had slurred over in his reverence for the Progressive Element, came back to his mind. He wondered how he could have been so blind to the funny side of them.

“It really is rather devastating,” said Feverstone […] “that the people one has to use for getting things done should talk such drivel the moment you ask them about the things themselves. […] our two poor friends, though they can be persuaded to take the right train, or even to drive it, haven’t a ghost of a notion where it’s going to, or why.”

Related Characters: Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine (speaker), Mark Studdock, Curry
Page Number: 37-38
Explanation and Analysis:

“There’s far too much life of every kind about, animal and vegetable. We haven’t really cleared the place yet. First we couldn’t; and then we had aesthetic and humanitarian scruples […]. The third problem is man himself. Man has got to take charge of man. That means, remember, that some men have got to take charge of the rest––which is another reason for cashing in on it as soon as one can. You and I want to be the people who do the taking charge, not the ones who are taken charge of. […] sterilisation of the unfit, liquidation of backward races (we don’t want any dead weights), selective breeding. Then real education […]. A new type of man: and it’s people like you who’ve got to begin to make him.”

Related Characters: Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine (speaker), Mark Studdock
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:

There were no houses on her left––only a row of beech trees and unfenced ploughland falling steeply away, and beyond that the timbered midland plain spreading as far as she could see and blue in the distance. […]

Meanwhile Lord Feverstone’s car had long since arrived at Belbury––a florid Edwardian mansion which had been built for a millionaire who admired Versailles. At the sides it seemed to have sprouted into a widespread outgrowth of newer and lower buildings in cement, which housed the Blood Transfusion Office.

Related Characters: Jane Studdock , Lord Feverstone/Richard Devine
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis: