Jennifer's maid, Prudence, accuses Shelgrave of torturing Jennifer:
"'Torture?' Shelgrave lifted his hands. 'What art thou babbling of? This is my ward. Never would I spill a driblet of the blood she shares with my wedded wife. For her correction, the saving of her soul, I commanded she be kept awake, that she might meditate on her sin until she repented; no more than that, as thou thyself art witness.'" (p. 111)
"'Oh,' said Wither. 'there is nothing I should more deeply deplore. Scientific examination (I cannot allow the word Torture in this context) in cases where the patient doesn't know the answer is always a fatal mistake. As men of humanity we should neither of us...and then, if you go on, the patient naturally does not recover...and if you stop, even an experienced operator is haunted by the fear that perhaps he did know after all. It is in every way unsatisfactory.'"
-CS Lewis, That Hideous Strength IN Lewis, The Cosmic Trilogy (London, 1990), pp. 349-753 AT CHAPTER 11, pp. 598-599.
Spare a thought for the "operators" whose scientifically examined "patients" "naturally do not recover" and who might have known after all. I remember that, during the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the bizarre notion of the torturer as victim was put forward by a former torturer.
Shelgrave needs to spend time in a society where he has no power over anyone else's body or mind.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
More exactly, Shelgrave should live in a society where he would face trial and punishment for abusing another person's mind and/or body.
Ad astra! Sean
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