Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

with a shudder” (Perelandra, 74). Dr. Weston, an agent of the devil who has been transported to the planet
to lead her into evil, “initiates the ordeal by encouraging her to think about the Fixed Land, this emphasizing
the contrast between what is and what might be . . . he works upon fantasy, or imagination, first. Next
comes the appeal to her desire for wisdom. Finally Weston urges her to exercise a kind of tragic courage.
The commandment, he tells her, is a test, one which she can meet only by disobeying, by daring to be other
than what she was created” (Urang, 71). The Green Lady is able to overcome this temptation because
Ransom is willing to sacrifice himself to remove Weston from the picture, but primarily due to the fact that
she knows that God‟s son died on earth. “… in your world Maleldil first took Himself this form, the form
of our race and mind” (Perelandra, 62). She points out to Ransom that despite Earth‟s condition as the most
wicked of worlds, it is also the most blessed. “Do not wonder, O Piebald Man, that your world should
have been chosen for time‟s corner. You live looking out always on heaven itself, and as if this were not
enough Maleldil takes you all thither in the end. You are favoured beyond all worlds” (Perelandra, 67).
Lewis‟s thinly veiled myths go beyond mere allegory and reach to direct parallel. “. . . Out of the
Silent Planet presents an image of the unfallen created order and Perelandra the temptation but with Paradise
“retained” (Urang, 37). His message and motives are undeniably evident: “Although the names used are
Maleldil and Oyarsa, C.S. Lewis is clearly presenting a cosmology and an understanding of God and man
analogous to those of traditional Christian belief” (Urang, 14). It is precisely Lewis‟s kind of religion that
brings him to present such a blatant pro-Christian message: he wasn‟t just writing fiction, he was writing his
theology in practicing a faith that promotes constant „witnessing‟ of their beliefs. Lewis‟s dogmatic,
unconcealed religion is shot through every thread of his transparent story. He doesn‟t even leave the
question of „true myth‟ to the readership, instead pointing them directly toward a connection between
cultural mythologies: “„And what an extraordinary coincidence,‟ thought Ransom, „that their mythology,
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