The novel was heavily influenced by the writing of Lewis's friend Charles Williams and is markedly dystopian in style.

Plot summary

This final novel in the Space Trilogy is set in post-war England in a small university town, in which The National Institute for Coordinated Experiments, the N.I.C.E., led by fallen eldila, attempts to alter the true nature of mankind through an exploitation of its members' pride and greed. The goal, if mankind continues down its current path, is the conquering of the last remaining piece of nature – human nature – making true man a lost memory. Dr. Ransom represents the watchful Christian, willing to do God's bidding in order to foil the N.I.C.E. And the reawakened Merlin, as a conduit of angelic power, shows that only through the divine can the battle against the forces of darkness end in victory.

The story centers around the young university don Mark Studdock, a college fellow at a fictional university, and his wife Jane. The don is targeted for recruitment into the "inner circle" of researchers who associate directly with a vague diabolic intelligence in the N.I.C.E. He pridefully assumes that his recruitment is an invitation into the powerful elite that he has always desired, and deserved. The N.I.C.E.'s true reason for recruiting him is to gain control of his wife, who is plagued by disturbing, clairvoyant dreams which she at first is unable to interpret. Yet Jane is eventually driven (partly by the Institute's failed attempt to arrest her) to join a small community who oppose the N.I.C.E.

The community at St Anne's is nominally led by Ransom, who still suffers from the wound he received from Weston in his climactic fight on Venus. Here he appears as the "Pendragon", the modern inheritor of the role of King Arthur. His Masters' plan is to use a mortal as a conduit for the divine power necessary to stop the Institute. So, Ransom must recruit an older and more ambiguous agent, who has previously dealt with supernatural powers: the reawakened wizard Merlin, whom N.I.C.E. originally also sought with an intention and expectation to make malevolent use of his magic. The St Anne's community is all that holds the hope of Logres, the true England.

Ransom's encounter with Merlin is a reversal of roles from "Perelandra". In the earlier book, a Divine Voice spoke to Ransom and ordered him to engage in battle with the Satanic Weston. A reluctant Ransom at first balked and tried numerous counter-arguments, but they were all thrust aside by the Voice and finally Ransom accepted his mission. In this book, it is Ransom himself who orders the reluctant Merlin to do battle with the Satanic N.I.C.E., and who thrusts aside all of Merlin's counter-arguments until the wizard consents to take up the mission.

Characters in "That Hideous Strength"

• Mark Gainsby Studdock — Protagonist; sociologist, and ambitious to the point of obsession with reaching the "inner circle" of the social environment to which he has been grant preliminary admittance.
• Jane Tudor Studdock — Protagonist; wife of Mark, and clairvoyant dream-seer.

The N.I.C.E. (National Institute for Coordinated Experiments)

• Francois Alcasan — "The Head", a French scientist executed for murder early in the book. His head is recovered by the N.I.C.E. and appears to be kept alive by the technology of man. In reality the Head has become a communication mechanism for the "Macrobes", the fallen eldila.
• John Wither — Long-winded bureaucrat and "Deputy Director" of the N.I.C.E. He is the true leader of the N.I.C.E., and a servant of the Macrobes. Long-term association with the Macrobes has "withered" his mind, and his speech and thinking are characterized by vagueness and euphemism. He does not engage in a normal sleep cycle, but maintains a continual dreamy wakefulness that affords him the ability to maintain a shadowy, supernatural presence throughout the Institute.
• Professor Frost — A psychologist and assistant to Wither, he is the only other N.I.C.E member who knows the true nature of the Head, and of the Macrobes. He views emotions and values as mere chemical phenomena, to be ignored as a distraction from scientific inquiry. He is coldhearted and unemotional and he has an exact, precise manner of speech and thinking.
• Miss/Major Hardcastle (a.k.a "The Fairy") — The sadistic head of the N.I.C.E. Institutional Police and its female auxiliary, the "Waips". Torture is her favorite interrogation method, and she takes special pleasure in abusing female prisoners.
• Dr. Filostrato — An Italian physiologist, who has seemingly preserved Alcasan's head. However, he does not understand the Head's nature, believing it to be truly Alcasan. His ultimate goal is to free humanity from the constraints of organic life.
• Lord Feverstone (Dick Devine) — The politician and recently ennobled businessman who lures Mark into the N.I.C.E. Feverstone was one of the two men who kidnapped Ransom in Out of the Silent Planet. A classic sociopath, he is motivated in all circumstances by the perceived benefit to himself. Although he is aware of the Macrobes, he has no interest in them.
• Reverend Straik — "The Mad Parson". He believes that any sort of power is a manifestation of God's will. This belief, along with other garbled beliefs, makes him a suitable candidate for introduction to the Macrobes. "He was a good man once", but became deranged by the death of his daughter.
• Horace Jules — A novelist and scientific journalist who has been appointed the nominal Director of the N.I.C.E. His minimal understanding of science allows him to be unaware of the true nature of the Institute. He has a strong anti-clerical bias, and objects to Wither appointing "parsons" (such as Straik) to the Institute.

St. Anne's

• Dr. Elwin Ransom — sometimes called "The Pendragon" or "Mr. Fisher-King". He alone communicates with the good eldila. Back from Perelandra, Ransom is a kingly figure among his small band of followers, and is usually referred to as the Director. However, Ransom notes he did not call the organization together; a higher Power did that.
• Grace Ironwood — The seemingly stern psychologist and doctor who helps Jane interpret her dreams.
• Dr. Cecil Dimble — Another don, an old friend of Ransom and close advisor on matters of Arthurian scholarship and pre-Norman Britain.
• "Mother" Dimble — Mrs. Dimble; She and Mr Dimble have no children, much to their sadness, but have compensated by their kindness to students. Very maternal.
• Ivy Maggs — Formerly a part-time domestic servant for Jane Studdock; now driven out of the town by the N.I.C.E. and living at St. Anne's. Jane is puzzled at first by her status as an equal at the house. Ivy's husband, incidentally, is in prison for petty theft.
• Merlinus Ambrosius — The wizard Merlin, awoken and returned to serve the Pendragon and save England. Receives the powers of the eldila. He has been in a deep sleep since the time of King Arthur, and both sides initially believe he will join the N.I.C.E. It is a shock when he appears at St Anne's.
• Mr. MacPhee — A scientist, skeptic, and rationalist, and close friend of Dr. Ransom. He is mentioned parenthetically in Perelandra. MacPhee, like Ransom, was an officer in the First World War. Wants to fight the N.I.C.E. with human powers. An argumentative character who claims to have no opinions, merely stating facts and illustrating implications. His position in the establishment is to be skeptical, testing every hypothesis and Jane's dreams; however, the awoken Merlin believes MacPhee to be Ransom's "fool" (i.e. jester), because MacPhee is "obstructive and rather rude...yet never gets sat on". (The character may have been based on William T. Kirkpatrick, former headmaster of Lurgan College and an admired tutor of the young Lewis.)
• Mr. Bultitude — Last of the seven bears of Logres, he escaped from a zoo and was tamed by Ransom, who has regained man's pre-fallen authority over the beasts.
• Arthur and Camilla Denniston - Arthur is an academic at Edgestow and an old University friend of Mark Studdock's, before Studdock began to be obsessed with reaching the "inner circle" at Bracton College. His wife, Camilla, is described as very tall, and she is the first person Jane meets when visiting St. Annes for the first time.

Orwell's review

However, the atheist Orwell argued that Lewis's book "would have been a stronger without the supernatural elements". Particularly, Orwell objected to the ending in which N.I.C.E. is overthrown by Divine intervention: "[Lewis] is entitled to his beliefs, but they weaken his story, not only because they offend the average reader’s sense of probability but because in effect they decide the issue in advance. When one is told that God and the Devil are in conflict, one always knows which side is going to win. The whole drama of the struggle against evil lies in the fact that one does not have supernatural aid."

References