Section 2 The Medieval Mind, Narnia, and the Ransom Trilogy Flashcards
Post-modernism with de Saussure
the “tyranny of language” (deconstruction); including Scriptural language
Ogden and Richards
words don’t correspond to reality (a disconnect between words and things
Marxism
all words are products of your social environment
Lewis (on value of words)
words correspond to reality, the hero is a philologist, even the Marxist view is a product of its jaundiced view of reality
The Fall
disconnect between God and mankind, mankind and nature, matter and spirit (and so also words and things)
Lewis on medievalism
the medieval person saw a unity between matter and spirit; reason and imagination can close that gap
Medievalism was opposed to the rationalism and scientism of Lewis’s day
It is no longer acceptable to refer to the Middle Ages as “the dark ages.”
The Sources of Medievalism
The King Arthur stories, Chaucer, Beowulf, The Romance of the Rose, Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica , Dante’s Divine Comedy
The Attraction of Medievalism
Its artistic and aesthetic splendor
The personalized society
The sense of order and hierarchy (e.g., Aquinas)
The bond between church, monarchs, and aristocracy (e.g., Dante)
A chivalric society tied to land and nature (e.g., King Arthur)
JH: A language that reflects reality
Lewis’ Medievalism
“Renaissance”
The Allegory of Love (1936)—medieval love poetry
The Discarded Image (1964)—the medieval mind
Narnia (and the Ransom Trilogy) recovers some of that.
What is medieval in Lewis’s fiction?
Language, dress, polity, geography & transportation, weaponry, cosmology, customs, creatures, astronomy, and clothing
What is Medieval in Narnia
Language, Clothing, Polity, Geography, Cosmology, Astrology, Cartography, Buildings, Transportation, Weaponry, Creatures, Deities, Customs, Education
Three Pitfalls in Medieval Studies
Unique: They did not pursue originality.
Monolithic: Ballad and romance (i.e. King Arthur) were minor points.
Inferior: Their ideals (courtesy, heroism, chivalry, kingship, etc.) have suffered decline with the passing of the Middle Ages. Chronological snobbery is the cause.
Medieval Order of Space
Earth at the center, motionless
Surrounded by seven hollow, concentric globes
Lowest globe was the moon (next slide)
Then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the sphere of the Fixed Stars
Then the Primum Mobile
Then the Empyrean, or true Heaven
For example, Dante’s Divine Comedy
Nine classes of angels
Seraphim closest to God
Cherubim look God-ward
Thrones contemplate the Divine essence; unconcerned with the created universe; associated with heat, burning
Dominations face God with backs to earth
Virtues responsible for general order of Nature
Powers potentially active
Principalities deal with destiny of nations
Archangels deal with individuals
Angels deal with individuals
What is the advantage of having C. S. Lewis as one of the characters in the narrative of Perelandra?
no answer
What biblical issues are addressed in chapter 2?
no answer
How is faith illustrated in the book?
no answer
How are the floating islands a parable of reality in Perelandra?
no answer
What do you think is the symbolism of the coffin?
no answer
How is beauty portrayed in Perelandra?
no answer
What does Ransom mean when he says, “Oh, don’t you see . . . that there’s a difference between a trans-sensuous life and a non-sensuous life?” (p. 163)
no answer
Why is Ransom hesitant to have more fruit, if it tastes so good?
no answer
Why does Lewis say of the yellow globe fruits that Ransom could never say “whether it was sharp or sweet, savoury or voluptuous, creamy or piercing”? (p. 36 in the original book)
no answer
What is meant by the Green Lady’s comment, “…in your world Maleldil first took Himself this form, the form of your race and mine”?
Jesus was born a man.
What is said of free will in chapter 5?
no answer
What is the impact of “young” and “old” in the Green Lady’s speech?
The Lady uses the ideas of “young” and “old” in terms of proper knowledge. She is younger than Ransom when it comes to breadth of perspective and knowledge of multiple viewpoints. However, the Unman (demon-possessed Weston) has a vast amount of knowledge but is younger because it is all misapplied. This is not a temporal relation but one in terms of “Spirit”.
How is the temptation of Digory like the temptation of the Green Lady in Perelandra?
Firstly it is the original temptation of that particular world. The temptation is offered by one given over already to evil.
What parallels exist between the creation of Narnia and the creation account in Genesis?
That the very word (song) of God was the power of creation.
What does the garden on the high hill remind you of
Eden
How does Digory learn the importance of honesty and confession of sin?
The Lion is before him, and while he tries to lie the Lion catches him on it, compelling him to be honest and confess what he had done.
How does Digory learn obedience? How does he grow morally? How is the witch the opposite of Digory? How does Digory’s choice result in greater blessing than a selfish choice would have brought?
Because he obeyed Aslan, his efforts blessed Narnia and his world. He learned to deal with temptation. The witch however gave into temptation with great zeal. Aslan tells Digory that if he had given into temptation, the apple would have brought him nothing but sadness and destruction.
What is the role of the housemaid?
To care for Digory’s mother.
What role does curiosity play?
It starts the story (curiosity about each other, about the crawlspace, about the pools, about the bell), and it causes our sin by tempting Digory in Charn.
What role does the cage in Narnia in which Uncle Andrew is housed play?
The trap of sin and the rejection of the Holy Spirit.
How does a small thing cause a great thing?
The witch ate an apple which bans her from the garden for a long time. The planting of the apple in Narnia protects the country from the witch for 100 years.
How is a greater good created out of evil?
Because in time the witch will kill Aslan, only to be defeated.
Who was Mrs. Lefay?
Mrs. Lefay was the godmother of Andrew Ketterley who was known to be of fairy descent. Though she passed away long before travel began between Earth and Narnia, she did play a vital role in starting it off.
How does Uncle Andrew offer a double standard
A rule for the mighty and “elite”, and rules for the common people.
What is “the deplorable word”?
The magic word by which the world of Charn was destroyed.
What book/poem was the basis of Perelandra?
John Milton’s Paradise Lost furnished the basic plot.
Lewis’s main theme in Perelandra
The question is …how can a totally free person, without unfair manipulation by God, spontaneously carry out what God most desires, and find herself a destiny which God fully intends”
Themes
Faith, Beauty, Pleasure, Temptation, Transcendence.
The Gospel: “It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom.”
The Gospel: “I will tell you what …”
If Ransom is Christ, what is his birth, baptism, temptation, death, resurrection, and ascension?
