Good And Evil In Perelandra Essay

In Perelandra, the second book of C.S. Lewis’ The Space Trilogy, there are many parallels drawn between the character of the Un-Man and evil in our world, especially when recalling the third chapter of Genesis, describing Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man. The Un-Man in Perelandra is the Devil manifesting himself in the character of Weston’s body, just as the Devil manifested himself in the Serpent in the story of Adam and Eve. In Genesis Chapter three, the Devil manifests himself in the form of a Serpent. Similarly, in Perelandra, the Devil possesses Weston’s body and uses his physical body as a means to disguise himself in order to attempt to bring evil and chaos into the perfect and unfallen world of Perelandra. Perelanda, like the Garden of Eden, is magnificent and wholly beautiful. There is …show more content…
The Un-Man would have been the cause of this fall, just like the Devil in the form of the Serpent in Genesis led to the Fall of Humankind. In Genesis, the Serpent is punished by God for tempting Eve with the forbidden fruit. God rebukes the Serpent and sentences it to no longer have arms or legs and have to crawl on the dirt for the rest of its existence. This punishment is similar to what happens to Weston’s possessed body. During the physical encounter between Ransom and the Un-Man, Ransom eventually overtakes Weston and Weston is killed when Ransom throws Weston’s possessed body into a fiery cave. The downfall of these two demon-possessed creatures symbolizes that while evil is present, it can be, and always will be, overpowered by the stronger presence of good. Another parallel between Genesis and Perelandra is the theme of temptation relating to sin. Temptation is a root of sin, and the primary causes of the Fall, because they gave into it. Both Adam, Eve and the Green Lady are means by which evil is able to penetrate into their perfect worlds, and the demon-possessed characters in both stories use temptation as the