That Hideous Strength (1945) is a science-fiction novel by writer C.S. HarperOne also posts updates about new products and promotions. Admirers of the story find there a literary cornucopia: a realistic study of a struggling marriage; a shrewd satire on college politics; a neo-Arthurian romance; or even an apocalyptic fantasy. That Hideous Strength - Ch 15 - The Descent of the Gods Lewis titles this chapter "The Descent of the Gods," but as you read it, it's clear he's not promoting multiple gods (polytheism), but instead referring to the chief angels of each planet, which the ancient world considered gods (which Lewis clearly rejects). Copyright © 1999 - 2020 GradeSaver LLC. Why does Hingest decide to get out of NICE? intended to have Bragdon Wood all along. - an actual disembodied head, belonging to Alcasan, the recently executed scientist Jane dreamed of. Mark travels with Lord Feverstone to the headquarters of the N.I.C.E. 's acquisition of land. He initially talks casually with Curry, the sub-warden of Bracton, feeling the thrill of inclusion, before meeting Lord Feverstone (who is, in fact, Dick Devine, who had a significant role in Out of the Silent Planet) and sympathizing with him, suddenly finding Curry petty and tacky. Ransom deduces that the N.I.C.E. Lewis describes That Hideous Strength in its preface as “a tall story about deviltry,” a topic he seemed to have on his mind a lot during the dark days of World War Two. Mark finally turns his back on the N.I.C.E. A young sociologist at Bracton College in Edgestow, Mark is an insecure, worldly man with a strong desire to be part of an inner circle. An editor The N.I.C.E.’s obsession with power and control is obvious from their attempts to resurrect Merlin the wizard and convert him to their organization, as well as their successful military takeover of the town of Edgestow. Meanwhile, Mark is on the way to his new fellowship at Bracton College (at the University of Edgestow). Hingest tells Mark that he is leaving because he no longer wants to be a part of N.I.C.E. is attempting to dig up Merlin (a subject on which he is familiar, being King Arthur's heir). We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. After some pleasantries and conversation, Mrs. Dimble advises Jane to go see her friend Miss Ironwood, who lives in a manor at St. Anne's. The book’s detractors complain that it is overfull, an uneven mixture of disparate elements, with two many villains and too much violence. He feels unworthy of the wife he has been neglecting for the sake of his career, and wonders if she’ll even take him back. So when Mark and Jane are reunited in a kind of honeymoon cottage, we feel assured that their marriage will be renewed. This future is the one Ransom and his St. Anne’s cohort are fighting against. Goodness will eventually triumph in the world, but it will require a substantial effort to counteract the efforts of the Black Archon. You can help us out by revising, improving and updating Jane finally meets Dr. Elwin Ransom (known as the Director) at the manor at St. Anne's, who has become something of a founder of an order in the prevention of chaos, as well as a ruler of the nation of Logres and the heir of King Arthur. Jane begins with feelings of lethargy and lack of commitment, either to her marriage or to her scholarship; Mark begins with a reckless commitment, a headlong plunge to fulfill his ambitions by the shortest route possible. Then she learns, begrudgingly, that she has contributed to her failing marriage as much as her husband. Written by people who wish to remain anonymous. Read the Study Guide for That Hideous Strength…. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. In his homily “The Inner Ring,” Lewis warned about people who become scoundrels by degrees, making increasingly serious compromises of their integrity and values in order to make their way into an exclusive inner circle. Feverstone offers him a position with N.I.C.E., a new, ambiguously purposed scientific institution that is planning to set up on a piece of land in Edgestow. In that set of essays, Lewis argues modern educational practice is shaping children (and therefore adults) to disbelieve in any kind of objectivity, locating value judgements merely in the subjective and relegating truth to a myth. Mark sees Filostrato (the large Italian scientist with whose company he replaced that of Feverstone) again, who introduces him to the Head of the N.I.C.E. From this point on, the novel's pace and tension increase dramatically. GradeSaver, 23 June 2019 Web. for Hingest's murder. This novel deals with the issue of science versus ethics, among others. First he befriends schemers and opportunists; then he meets the carnal, the gluttonous, the greedy, the wrathful, and the violent. ], Mark Studdock finds his moral bearings just in time, and he escapes from the hellish Institute before it faces its final judgment. Mark finds out specificities about his job: he will be writing pro-N.I.C.E. Anonymous "That Hideous Strength Study Guide: Analysis". Ransom has somehow also become the heir of King Arthur from English legend, and he consequently has command over Merlin, who joins their forces in the fight against evil after having evaded the grip of the N.I.C.E. What is Merlin's objective in Chapter 14? He therefore becomes the Director of the resistance on Earth, fighting to reclaim the planet from the Bent One (Satan, otherwise known as the Black Archon), who seems to have possessed the disembodied head of the French scientist Alcasan, who is quite literally the head of the N.I.C.E. Ransom’s group at St. Anne’s seems to represent the duty of the Christian in today’s modern world, in Lewis’s view. That Hideous Strength (1945), the third book of Lewis’s Space Trilogy, is a fictional development of the ideas which Lewis introduces in Abolition of Man, especially regarding the effects on everyday people of a world in which science and technological progress are unhindered by belief in objective values. The novel opens with Jane Studdock , wife of Mark, who has just had a strange dream about an old imprisoned man being decapitated, as well as the digging up of a long-sleeping but not-quite-dead man. That Hideous Strength begins realistically enough. Your email address will not be published. That Hideous Strength differs from the previous two novels in many other respects as well, notably that the entire novel takes place on Earth. Merlin's main objective in Chapter Fourteen is to understand why he's been awakened, and how to solve the problem of the evil eldils and the N.I.C.E.