with Weston's explanation in Chapter 7 that he had neglected the study of biology "until I reached the fifties". Possible Influences Weston may be a caricature of Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902) an English South African businessman and imperialist politician. Like Rhodes, Weston, while supremely capable, is racist, amoral, and rapacious, and hates God and religion. In a passing comment in That Hideous Strength, it is said that Great Britain has produced both heroes and villains, that for every King Arthur, there is a traitor Mordred, for every Sydney (the medieval poet), there is a Cecil Rhodes. In "Perelandra", Weston mentions his liking of the book of which Rhodes said "it made me who I am”: Winwood Reade's The Martyrdom of Man, which expounded the ideology of secular humanism. There is a glancing allusion to George Bernard Shaw: Weston's speech on Malacandra, like Back to Methuselah, ends with the words "It is enough for me that there is a Beyond", and Weston shares Shaw's (and Henri Bergson's) belief in the Life Force. Another possible influence is the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the goal of whose philosophy was the advent of the "super-man". He may also be based on J. B. S. Haldane. Weston is said by Bob Rickard to be similar to the fallen wizard Saruman from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, although he precedes The Lord of the Rings. The choice of the name "Weston" might be more than accidental, considering that in his speech in Out of the Silent Planet he presents himself very much as the proponent of "Western Civilization" in its most expansionist and aggressive mode. (The names of the main villains in That Hideous Strength, "Wither" and "Frost", are clearly meant to reflect their characters.) Professor Weston can also stand for the scientific elitism that despises all other types of knowledge. References Fictional physicists Literary characters introduced in 1938 Male literary villains The Space Trilogy characters