Reverend Brian McGreevy continues his series, Not as Unwise but as Wise: Reflections from C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength on Living Christianly in a Post-Christian World. This is available as a podcast on iTunes.
Episode 25: Not as Unwise but as Wise: Reflections from C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 16, “BANQUET AT BELBURY”
adapted from Rudy Rentzel
The scheduled dinner party commences at Belbury, with Jules, the figurehead Director, as the keynote speaker, with the tramp (whom they believe to be Merlin) sitting at the high table and the interpreter priest (the real Merlin) standing behind him. Jules begins speaking, but Withers soon notices that everything Jules says seems utterly nonsensical. All those in attendance, who usually pay just enough attention to know when to laugh or applaud when customary, were all staring agog at Jules. Wither decides to intervene, but though he thinks he is speaking sensible words to calm everyone, only gibberish comes out. Everyone stares and then panic begins to set in as they realize no one can understand anyone else – all speech is garbled.
Merlin has been using the power Viritrilbia (Mercury, the master of language) gave him to confuse their speech, similar to the confusion at the Tower of Babel. Next, Merlin sneaks out of the banquet room and releases the animals the N.I.C.E. has held captive for their experiments. These animals find their way to the banquet room where they cause more panic, mayhem, and even death; the elephant who breaks in through the front door causes sheer terror. In the confusion, Fairy Hardcastle, the head of the N.I.C.E. police, shoots Jules (the figurehead Director) fatally. She keeps shooting again and again, furthering the wild terror. Soon Miss Hardcastle herself turns up dead.
Mark blacks out during the commotion. Merlin awakens him with a splash of cold water in his face, and Mark sees the room filled with a hideous confusion of mangled people awash in food, filth, and spoiled luxury. Merlin delivers a note To Mark saying that his wife awaits him at St. Anne’s and to come quickly. Merlin strikes Mark on the back, which sends Mark running supernaturally fast. Meanwhile, Wither escapes the melee in the dining room. He understands all is lost, seeing that the powers of Deep Heaven had reached the Earth (Tellus), despite the assurances of the dark Masters that they could not. He, Straik, and Filostrato gather to worship the Head through which the dark Masters speak. The Head demands a further sacrifice, so they kill Filostrato. The Head then demands a further sacrifice, so Wither kills Straik. Mr. Bultitude (the bear) appears in the Head’s room, having been released by Merlin, and kills Wither. Feverstone decides to escape Belbury by car. However, he finds his car follows an old Roman road between Belbury and Edgestow apart from his control. Upon entering the Head’s room and seeing his close companions mutilated, Frost pours out petrol and lights it, killing himself, realizing at the last moment everything he believed in was wrong. Belbury and the N.I.C.E. are utterly defeated by the end of the evening.
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 17, “VENUS AT ST. ANNE’S”
adapted from Rudy Rentzel
Mark gets a ride from a truck driver near St. Anne’s, but takes his time because he feels nervous. He is going to see Jane in her proper world, rather than his failed world–admitted out of kindness to Jane but otherwise viewed suspiciously. The ladies at St. Anne’s meanwhile wander through a Wardrobe upstairs full of robes of state, and help each other select elegant, sumptuous dresses for each other – then something shook.
Lord Feverstone tries to get back to Edgestow through the swarms of people leaving, and is ultimately swallowed up by the earth as the town is destroyed. Curry has difficulty with his train, which stopped moving, and learns that all of Bracton College has been destroyed. He looks forward to being the founder of a new Bracton College, and all the prestige that would bring him.
Meanwhile, back at St. Anne’s, Dimble explains to the group that Logres (Old England) has always struggled against Britain, and seeks to prod it out of its stupor. He goes on to explain how the last in a long unbroken Pendragons passed the office on to Ransom, who will soon pass it on to someone else before leaving for Avalon (where Arthur still lives by legend). Ransom then declares that Venus herself is over St. Anne’s. Mr. Bultitude (the bear) had returned with Mrs. Bultitude, and after the Director lays hands on them, they blunder out together into the warmth and wetness of the fragrant midsummer night. Other animals pair off in a similar manner. Ransom lays his hands on the Dimbles, and they go off arm in arm. He sends Ivy off to be with her husband Tom, who has been released from jail. Finally he sends Janeoff to be with Mark, who is waiting for her at the lodge. At the lodge, Mark is reflecting on all his failings as a husband, and expects Jane to send him away. Suddenly, he notices someone like a woman–divinely tall, inhumanly beautiful, opening a door for him. He enters and finds a place of sweet smells, bright fires, food and wine, and a rich bed. Jane goes into the liquid light and supernatural warmth of the garden and across the wet lawn to the lodge. She worries whether Mark will still want her after all that has happened, but sees the bedroom window open and enters the chamber door.
KEY PASSAGES FROM CHAPTER 16, “BANQUET AT BELBURY”
“For the first few minutes, anyone glancing down the long tables would have seen what we always see on such occasions. There were the placid faces of elderly bons viveurs whom food and wine had placed in a contentment which no amount of speeches could violate. There were the patient faces of responsible but serious diners, who had long since learned how to pursue their own thoughts, while attending to the speech just enough to respond wherever a laugh or a low rumble of serious assent was obligatory. There was the usual fidgety expression on the faces of young men unappreciative of port and hungry for tobacco. There was bright over-elaborate attention on the powdered faces of women who knew their duty to society. But if you have gone on looking down the tables you would presently have seen a change. You would have seen face after face look up and turn in the direction of the speaker. You would have seen first curiosity, then fixed attention, then incredulity. Finally you would have noticed that the room was utterly silent, without a cough or a creak, that every eye was fixed on Jules, and soon every mouth opened in something between fascination and horror. To different members of the audience the change came differently. To Frost it began at the moment when he heard Jules end a sentence with the words, “as gross an anachronism as to trust to Calvary for salvation in modern war.” Cavalry, thought Frost almost aloud. Why couldn’t the fool mind what he was saying? The blunder irritated him extremely. Perhaps — but hullo! what was this? Had his hearing gone wrong? For Jules seemed to be saying that the future density of mankind depended on the implosion of the horses of Nature. “He’s drunk,” thought Frost. Then, crystal clear in articulation, beyond all possibility of mistake, came, “The madrigore of verjuice must be talthibianised.
“Wither had not forgotten for a moment that there were reporters present. That in itself did not matter much. If anything unsuitable appeared in tomorrow’s paper, it would be child’s play for him to say that the reporters were drunk or mad and break them. On the other hand he might let the story pass. Jules was in many respects a nuisance, and this might be as good an opportunity as any other for ending his career. But this was not the immediate question. Wither was wondering whether he should wait till Jules sat down or whether he should rise and interrupt him with a few judicious words. He did not want a scene. It would be better if Jules sat down of his own accord. At the same time, there was by now an atmosphere in that crowded room which warned Wither not to delay too long. Glancing down at the secondhand of his watch he decided to wait two minutes more. Almost as he did so he knew that he had misjudged it. An intolerable falsetto laugh rang out from the bottom of the table and would not stop. Some fool of a woman had got hysterics. Immediately Wither touched Jules on the arm, signed to him with a nod, and rose. “Eh? Blotcher bulldoo?” muttered Jules. But Wither, laying his hand on the little man’s shoulder, quietly but with all his weight, forced him down into a sitting position. Then Wither cleared his throat. He knew how to do that so that every eye in the room turned immediately to look at him. The woman stopped screaming. People who had been sitting dead still in strained positions moved and relaxed. Wither looked down the room for a second or two in silence, feeling his grip on the audience. He saw that he already had them in hand. There would be no more hysterics. Then he began to speak. They ought to have all looked more and more comfortable as he proceeded; and there ought soon to have been murmurs of grave regret for the tragedy which they had just witnessed. That was what Wither expected. What he actually saw bewildered him. The same too attentive silence which had prevailed during Jules’ speech had returned. Bright unblinking eyes and open mouths greeted him in every direction. The woman began to laugh again — or no, this time it was two women. Cosser, after one frightened glance, jumped up, overturning his chair, and bolted from the room. The Deputy Director could not understand this, for to him his own voice seemed to be uttering the speech he had resolved to make. But the audience heard him saying, “Tidies and fugleman sheel foor that weall — er —most steeply rebut the defensible, though, I trust, lavatory, Aspasia which gleams to have selected our redeemed inspector this deceiving. It would — ah — be shark, very shark, from anyone’s debenture…”—confusion of language, ultimate fruit of corruption of language and doublespeak
“Miss Hardcastle had known before she got the message that she was three parts drunk. She had expected and intended to be so: she knew that later on in the evening she would go down to the cells and do things. There was a new prisoner there — a little fluffy girl of the kind the Fairy enjoyed — with whom she could pass an agreeable hour. The tumult of gibberish did not alarm her: she found it exciting. Apparently, Frost wanted her to take some action… She walked …to the door, locked it, put the key in her pocket, and then turned to survey the company. She noticed for the first time that neither the supposed Merlin nor the Basque priest were anywhere to be seen. Wither and Jules, both on their feet, were struggling with each other. She set out towards them. So many people had now risen that it took her a long time to reach them. All semblance of a dinner party had disappeared: it was more like the scene at a London terminus on a bank holiday. Everyone was trying to restore order, but everyone was unintelligible, and everyone, in the effort to be understood, was talking louder and louder. She shouted several times herself. She even fought a good deal before she reached her goal. There came an ear-splitting noise and after that, at last, a few seconds of dead silence. Mark noticed first that Jules had been killed: only secondly. that Miss Hardcastle had shot him. After that it was difficult to be sure what happened. The stampede and the shouting may have concealed a dozen reasonable plans for disarming the murderess, but it was impossible to concert them. Nothing came of them but kicking, struggling, leaping on tables and under tables, pressing on and pulling back, screams, breaking of glass. She fired again and again… Suddenly, the confusion of cries ran all together into one thin long drawn noise of terror. Everyone had become more frightened. Something had darted very quickly across the floor between the two long tables and disappeared under one of them. Perhaps half the people present had not seen what it was — had only caught a gleam of black and tawny. Those who had seen it clearly could not tell the others: they could only point and scream meaningless syllables. But Mark had recognised it It was a tiger.—devaluing of life, consequences of embracing Evil
“It was Merlin who brought release to both. He had left the dining room as soon as the curse of Babel was well fixed upon the enemies. No one had seen him go. Wither had once heard his voice calling loud and intolerably glad above the riot of nonsense, “Qui Verbum Dei contempserunt, eis auferetur etiam verbum hominis.” (They that have despised the word of God, from them shall the word of man also be taken away.)—recurrence of Babel, consequences of rejection of Logos
“Wither was not among those killed in the dining room. He naturally knew all the possible ways out of the room, and even before the coming of the tiger he had slipped away. He understood what was happening if not perfectly, yet better than anyone else. He saw that the Basque interpreter had done the whole thing. And, by that, he knew also that powers more than human had come down to destroy Belbury; only one in the saddle of whose soul rode Mercury himself could thus have unmade language. And this again told him something worse. It meant that his own dark Masters had been completely out in their calculations. They had talked of a barrier which made it impossible that powers from Deep Heaven should reach the surface of the Earth; had assured him that nothing from outside could pass the Moon’s orbit. All their polity was based on the belief that Tellus was blockaded, beyond the reach of such assistance and left to their mercy and his. Therefore he knew that everything was lost.”—Evil and powers of darkness inferior to God’s power
“The indicative mood now corresponded to no thought that his mind could entertain. He had willed with his whole heart that there should be no reality and no truth, and now even the imminence of his own ruin could not wake him. The last scene of Dr. Faustus where the man raves and implores on the edge of Hell is, perhaps, stage fire. The last moments before damnation are not often so dramatic. Often the man knows with perfect clarity that some still possible action of his own will could yet save him. But he cannot make this knowledge real to himself. Some tiny habitual sensuality, some resentment too trivial to waste on a blue-bottle, the indulgence of some fatal lethargy, seems to him at that moment more important than the choice between total joy and total destruction.”—inevitable fruit of wrong choices, “God gave them over”
“In the end, the three men stood naked before the Head — gaunt, big-boned Straik; Filostrato, a wobbling mountain of fat; Wither, an obscene senility. Then the high ridge of terror from which Filostrato was never again to descend, was reached; for what he thought impossible began to happen. No one had read the dials, adjusted the pressures, or turned on the air and the artificial saliva. Yet words came out of the dry gaping mouth of the dead man’s head. “Adore!” it said. Filostrato felt his companions forcing his body forwards, then up again, then forwards and downwards a second time. He was compelled to bob up and down in rhythmic obeisance, the others meanwhile doing the same…Almost the last thing he heard was Wither beginning to chant. Then Straik joined in. Then, horribly, he found he was singing himself: Ouroborindra! Ouroborindra! Ouroborindra ba-ba-hee! But not for long. “Another,” said the voice, “give me another head.” Filostrato knew at once why they were forcing him to a certain place in the wall. He had devised it all himself. In the wall that separated the Head’s room from the antechamber there was a little shutter. When drawn back it revealed a window in the wall, and a sash to that window which could fall quickly and heavily. But the sash was a knife. The little guillotine had not been meant to be used like this. They were going to murder him uselessly, unscientifically. If he were doing it to one of them all would have been different; everything would have been prepared weeks beforehand — the temperature of both rooms exactly right, the blade sterilised, the attachments all ready to be made almost before the head was severed. He had even calculated what changes the terror of the victim would probably make in his blood pressure; the artificial blood-stream would be arranged accordingly, so as to take over its work with the least possible breach of continuity. His last thought was that he had underestimated the terror.”—all-consuming nature of Evil, wages of sin is Death
CHAPTER 17, “VENUS AT ST. ANNE’S”
“For he now thought that with all his life-long eagerness to reach an inner circle he had chosen the wrong circle. Jane was where she belonged. He was going to be admitted only out of kindness, because Jane had been fool enough to marry him. He did not resent it, but he felt shy. He saw himself as this new circle must see him — as one more little vulgarian, just like the Steeles and the Cossers, dull, inconspicuous, frightened, calculating, cold. He wondered vaguely why he was like that. How did other people — people like Denniston or Dimble — find it so easy to saunter through the world with all their muscles relaxed and a careless eye roving the horizon, bubbling over with fancy and humour, sensitive to beauty, not continually on their guard and not needing to be? What was the secret of that fine, easy laughter which he could not by any efforts imitate? Everything about them was different. They could not even fling themselves into chairs without suggesting by the very posture of their limbs a certain lordliness, a leonine indolence. There was elbow-room in their lives, as there had never been in his. They were Hearts: he was only a Spade.”—emptiness of Secularism
“’Tisn’t that,” she said. “Where’ll the Director himself be?” “But you can’t want him to stay, Ivy,” said Camilla, “not in continual pain. And his work will be done — if all goes well at Edgestow.” “He has longed to go back to Perelandra,” said Mother Dimble. “He’s — sort of homesick. Always, always… I could see it in his eyes.”—longing for Heaven
“You have done what was required of you,” said the Director. “You have obeyed and waited. It will often happen like that. As one of the modern authors has told us, the altar must often be built in one place in order that the fire from heaven may descend somewhere else…”If one is thinking simply of goodness in the abstract, one soon reaches the fatal idea of something standardised — some common kind of life to which all nations ought to progress. Of course, there are universal rules to which all goodness must conform. But that’s only the grammar of virtue. It’s not there that the sap is. He doesn’t make two blades of grass the same: how much less two Saints, two nations, two angels. The whole work of healing Tellus depends on nursing that little spark, on incarnating that ghost, which is still alive in every real people, and different in each.”—power of obedience and faithful waiting, power of living into God’s unique design for each person
“On the contrary,” said Ransom, “decent, in the old sense, decens, fitting, is just what it is. Venus herself is over St. Anne’s.” “She comes more near the Earth than she was wont,” quoted Dimble, “to make men mad.” “She is nearer than any astronomer knows,” said Ransom. “The work at Edgestow is done, the other gods have withdrawn. She waits still and when she returns to her sphere I will ride with her.”—the rightness of love between male and female
“They are the liberated prisoners from Belbury,” said the Director. “She comes more near the Earth than she was wont to — to make Earth sane. Perelandra is all about us and Man is no longer isolated. We are now as we ought to be — between the angels who are our elder brothers and the beasts who are our jesters, servants and playfellows.”—Goodness of restoration of created order
“Must I go now?” “If you leave the decision with me, it is now that I would send you.” “Then I will go, Sir. But — but — am I a bear or a hedgehog?” “More. But not less. Go in obedience and you will find love. You will have no more dreams. Have children instead. Urendi Maleldil.”—blessing of living into God’s design
THEMES THAT APPEAR IN CHAPTERS 16 AND 17
–confusion of language, ultimate fruit of corruption of language and doublespeak
–confusion of language
–devaluing of life, consequences of embracing Evil
–disrespect for God’s Creation, torture
—recurrence of Babel, consequences of rejection of Logos
—Evil and powers of darkness inferior to God’s power
–inevitable fruit of wrong choices: “God gave them over”
–all-consuming nature of Evil, wages of sin is Death
–eternal consequences of choosing Evil over God, Death culture
–emptiness of Secularism
–longing for Heaven
–power of obedience and faithful waiting, power of living into God’s unique design for each person
–the rightness of love between male and female
–Goodness of restoration of created order
–blessing of living into God’s design
Practices of Hope and of Wisdom
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.—Phil. 4:8-9
1. Value language as a gift, using it rightly and choosing to speak only Truth. For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Lk. 6:43-45)
2. Cultivate a reverence for the sacredness of life and for God’s creation Ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; the fish of the sea will declare to you.Who amid all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. (Job12)
3. Be alert to the power of Evil to seduce and arm yourself against it. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (I Pet. 5:8) Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.(2 Tim. 2:22)
4. Practice faithful obedience in times of waiting. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Ps. 27:14)
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Rom. 8:25) The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way. (Ps. 37:23)
5. Lean into God’s design for your life and refuse to be controlled by secular gods. But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (I Cor. 15:10) For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Phil. 2:13)
Whatsoever Things Are True
The Lord is near. Be ye gentle to all. Be not anxious.
In all things with thanksgiving give your prayers to God.
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just:
Think on these things; do these things.
Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely:
Think on these things; do these things.
Whatsoever things are of good report;
Where there is virtue, where there is praise, where there is truth:
Think on these things; do these things.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and the God of peace shall be with you.
–Ben A. Hagood, Jr. (2022)
