Perelandra
Ransom is transported in a casket-like vessel which is seemingly made of ice and contains only himself, unclothed, as Oyarsa tells him clothes are unnecessary on Venus.Ransom finds that in the spiritually-pure context, the beautiful naked queen arouses no sexual desire or temptation in him, even though the King himself is not present at the time; he is somewhere else on the planet.Now under demonic control, the possessed Weston finds the Queen and tries to tempt her into defying Maleldil's law by spending a night on the Fixed Land.Ransom realizes why the Oyarsa has brought him to Perelandra: to counter the tempter by persuading the Queen to obey Maleldil's prohibition, and to prevent the Perelandran counterpart to the Fall of humanity on Earth.Their struggle continues in water and in a rocky underground tunnel, alternating between verbal argument and physical combat, until Ransom finally throws Weston's possessed body into a pool of fiery lava, terminating the demon's presence on the planet altogether.The story climaxes with Ransom's vision of "The Great Dance": the exchange of higher and lower, as when an advisor gives power to a royal child.