Eros
The Greek god of sensual love (as opposed to Cupid, his Roman counterpart) is the author’s symbol for romantic love. This is the third type of love of which Lewis speaks, but Eros is merely the symbol for the more tasteful aspects of being “in love.”
Venus
As for the specific sexual component of romantic, Lewis chooses to separate that aspect into a completely different symbolic incarnation. Venus—also oddly, Lewis chooses the Roman version here—is the goddess of love, desire and beauty. For Lewis, Venus is the symbolic the carnality of romantic love.
Mrs. Fidget
Mrs. Fidget is Lewis’ symbol for that sort of affectionate love which disguises selfishness as charity. Mrs. Fidget considers herself as living for her family by doing all sorts of domestic tasks for them. The ironic reveal here is that she is terrible at all her jobs—and ruins the enjoyment of their evenings as well by staying until they get home under the pretense of “welcoming them”—and makes it impossible for anyone to be honest with her.
Dr. Quartz
Dr. Quartz is symbolic of another type of perversion of affection. He is representative of the type of friendship that is extended conditionally: as long as his former students remain appropriately deferential and submissive to his acknowledged superiority and infallibility, they are welcome. At the first instance of rebellion in the form of independent thought, they are immediately banished and the friendship terminated without explanation.
The Garden
The garden is the symbol of the final type of love: charitable love. Inherent in the symbolism is the fact that a garden cannot “fence and weed itself, nor prune its own fruit trees, nor roll and cut its own lawns.” In order to attain its glory, the garden is dependent upon the charitable love of someone to attend to it.
