Perelandra

Weston speaks to the woman in Old Solar, but she cannot understand his meaning. She asks Ransom if Weston will be joining them. Ransom says Weston will not and tries to escape with her. Weston pulls out a revolver and threatens Ransom. Weston allows the woman to leave and then accuses Ransom of trying to seduce her. He denies this and demands that Weston do whatever evil he came to do quickly. Weston puts his pistol away and tries to show that the Malacandra incident was a misunderstanding. The two of them pull Weston’s boat in and unpack. Once they set up camp, Weston explains that he only wants to explore space in order to help humanity. He argues thatsince their meeting on Malacandra, he has gained a sense of spiritual purpose, considering himself the greatest scientist of all, created for the purpose of furthering God’s wants. They argue about the purpose of Spirit and duality of good and evil. Weston claims he learned Old Solar by guidance from this Spirit toward his central purpose. He claims that the “evil” actions he takes are necessary to accomplish righteous purposes. When Ransom thinks he’s finally found a connecting point between himself and Weston, Weston lashes out and claims that he, himself, is the entire universe. Weston then has a spasm and seems to break from a spell before collapsing and bleeding from the mouth. Ransom takes his revolver and throws it into the sea. He moves around the Fixed Land as it gets dark and returns, unable to find Weston. He lies down to sleep, finding it extremely uncomfortable and wishing that he’d never found it.