Essay: The Screwtape Letters

If one had been a frequent reader of The Guardian newspaper in England during the late 1930s, a most curious spectacle would have occurred on those black and white pages. A man by the name of C.S. Lewis had sent a series of letters, thirty-one in total, to the newspaper, which were then published weekly. These letters, however, were quite unconventional. To the dismay of the Christians of the time, they were addressed from a demon by the peculiar name of Screwtape. The subject of the letter, his nephew Wormwood. The letters, now officially culminated and published as The Screwtape Letters, are substantially irreligious advice whereby Screwtape is aiding Wormwood in securing the damnation of a human being, termed ‘the Patient’, and thus saving him from God, termed ironically, ‘the Enemy’. Within the letters, C.S. Lewis constantly claims that, contrary to the public’s understanding of God, God is indeed hedonistic while the devil is an ascetic. Furthermore, in an effort to combat the modernist ideas of the day, principally that religion is simply a delusion, he compares God to reason and the devil to the lack thereof. This struggle between Screwtape and God illustrates the important reality that there is a constant conflict between good and evil. Lewis affirms the dichotomy of good and evil by the characterization of Screwtape as miserly and the presence of God as indomitable, the contrasting of God’s hedonism with Hell’s asceticism, and the metaphor of God as reason and the devil as irrationality.
In the modern era, demonic entities have connoted malice, anger, and pure hatred for God and man. They are seen as powerful beings, horrifying and dangerous to mankind. This is seen by various examples within the modern and pre-modern time periods. In Faust, a 16th century German folklore tale, Faust makes a pact with the demon Mephistopheles, who grants him knowledge of hidden things, along with supernatural powers. Later on, in the Paradise Lost of the 17th century, Satan is depicted as powerful, rebellious, and cunning. Thus, in culture, demons are projected as beings of grandiose power, with the ability to grant to mankind their darkest desires. In essence, the demons are seen as overwhelming. Lewis, through his characterization of Screwtape in conjunction with that of God, rejects these ideas. As Larry Harwood, a literary critic who explored the ascetic nature of Screwtape, remarked, “Fallen angels must be seen as fallen, that is, wounded, weak, vulnerable, and therefore not overwhelming.” For Lewis, as a lay theologian, had a deep understanding of the ontological nature of God, who is omnipotence. To him, it did not make sense to write letters from a being of power, the demon, concerning a being of even greater power, God. In order to construct a true dichotomy between good and evil, Lewis understood that this dichotomy had to consist of a struggle between omnipotence and impotence, rather than omnipotence and competence.
This dichotomy is most succinctly seen by Screwtape’s characterization as bureaucratic. Screwtape continually writes to Wormwood, not only as his ‘uncle’, but as an administrator within a system of demonic spirits willing to steal human beings away from ‘the Enemy’. This bureaucratism consists in Screwtape being conservative, always collected, and always seeking the gradual approach of damnation. Furthermore, it gives the effect of Screwtape appearing pathetic. This is seen both by his actions and his advice. Kevin Williamson writes, “Screwtape is something of a conservative, preferring the sure and steady to the dramatic and daring.” He continues by observing how the letters are merely readings about an administrator handling his mail, a spectacle of quiet underwhelming.
This underwhelming is perfectly accented by his patheticism. He cannot stand the presence of the human beings, nor can he fathom the greatness of God. He is constantly seen in a struggle of complex between his self-sense of superiority over the human beings, and his outrage at their apparent superiority. For example, in one of the letters, the Patient begins dating a woman who is of a religious nature. She is described as being simple, pious, and one who sticks to her own business. He writes in a fit, “She makes me vomit. She stinks and scalds through the very pages of the dossier. It drives me mad, the way the world has worsened.” (117) Lewis shows us the very spiritual, ontological, and perhaps emotional authority human beings have over their demonic counterparts.
Interestingly enough, this is subtly supported by the very fact that Screwtape and Wormwood refer to the man being tempted as ‘the Patient’. At a first glance, one might think this is an attempt by the colleague demons. However, all things within a text are done intentionally by the author. Lewis understood, as seen in the Book of Genesis when Adam is given dominion over the creatures of the earth, that in Judeo-Christian culture, to name something is to gain a certain power over it. This is even seen today in the concept that a priest of the Church may not exorcise a demon without first knowing its name. Therefore, it is evident, by the very fact that the demons may not name the Patient, that they are to be seen as pathetic and the object of our pity. Lewis solidifies this idea through Screwtape falling into a fit of rage. He reveals that the demons are not even in control of their very own natures. Screwtape dictates, “In the heat of composition I find that I have inadvertently allowed myself to assume the form of a large centipede.” (120) These demons have not even autonomy in their grasp, which Lewis contrasts with the supreme governance of ‘the Enemy’.
Upon reading the text, one word arises to describe God, who has so endearingly been termed ‘the Enemy’; that is, indomitable. Immediately, Lewis draws upon the two-thousand year old Christian tradition in order to characterize God. He typically does this parallely with the Church. The concept which Lewis draws upon most is God as the ‘Cloud of Unknowing’, a mystical phrase coined by a Carthusian Monk in order to describe God as one who is unseen, yet sees all. God, as existence itself, may been seen as the invisible eyeball of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Because of this, there is almost a controversial or bombastic element to God’s presence within the text. The very first letter, albeit they are not meant to be considered chronologically, introduces God indirectly, as a ‘mover and shaker’. Screwtape warns Wormwood of allowing the Patient to come into contact with the Church, explaining, “I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy.” (5) Just as the letters began with such a bold statement, they end with one. As the Patient dies and, to the dismay of Screwtape, enters the Kingdom of Heaven, Screwtape describes the man’s experience, “He saw not only Them: he saw Him. This animal, this thing begotten in a bed, could look on Him. What is blinding, suffocating fire to you, is now cool light to him, is clarity itself, and wears the form of a Man.” (174) The ‘them’ he refers to are the Saints, the people of ‘Church Triumphant’ who have passed over into the Kingdom of Heaven. They were once in the very same position as the Patient, being tempted by some demonic entity as they navigated the chaotic waters of the world. As shown, the presence of God, seen in his Church, is quite intimidating to the demons. This, however, is not the only way in which God is contrasted with the demons.
Throughout the text, Screwtape expresses a certain befuddlement concerning God and his plan for the world, including the humans and any spiritual beings. God freely expresses his desire for the world, stating in the Book of Isaiah that he created humans for glory. Screwtape states that he suspects some sort of ulterior motive beyond this desire for humanity. He explains to Wormwood, “All His talk about Love must be disguise for something else—He must have some real motive for creating them and taking so much trouble about them.” (100) This quote reveals that the demons see God as someone who deceives and lacks true intention. This suspicion is two-dimensioned. First, it suggests that the demonic entities cannot understand ‘love’, or the basic thought processes of God which we consider to be benevolent. Second, it suggests that in the eyes of the diabolical, God has ulterior, and perhaps malicious, motive. This is seen in the very classification of God as and the devil. Peter Schakel writes, “the juxtaposition of “the Enemy” with “Our Father Below” makes the ironic reversal fully evident.” The perspective reveals just how unknowing the demons truly are. This is further solidified by the coining of the human as ‘the Patient’. It is then suggested that there is a role between the man and the devil as that of between a patient and a physician. According to Screwtape’s point of view, the human must be ‘cured’ of an ailment, what one might clearly consider to be ‘godliness’. This ailment might also be considered mankind’s physical nature. For as Screwtape suggests, man is amphibian– both spirit and animal. They have one foot rooted in time and space, and the other in eternity. Benita Huffman Muth agrees, stating how this aspect of mankind allows them to exist in ways that anything else can.
The second manner in which Lewis constructs this dichotomy between good and evil is by the contrasting of God’s hedonism with the devil’s asceticism. According to the surface, God appears to be ascetic. The modern culture presents images of harsh mortifications; of monks scourging themselves with disciplines, of nuns fasting until only skin and bones remain, of vows of silence and a rejection of pleasure. Perhaps medieval anecdotes, such as Saint Catherine of Siena licking the wound of a leper, comes to mind. However, Lewis professes these mortifications to be merely surface-level in the grand scheme of God. Screwtape states matter-of-factly, referring to God, “He’s a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a facade. Or only like foam on the seashore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure.” (118)
The concept of God as a hedonist, while it may have the appearance of heterodoxy, is indeed rooted in both Western and Eastern Christianity’s traditions. Both lungs of the Church, within their traditions of Mysticism, that is, the attainment of union with God, have a common goal. To the east, this is termed ‘Theosis’. To the west, this is termed ‘Deification’. Theosis, or deification, is the attainment of ‘oneness’ with God before or after death. It is considered to be the ultimate good of mankind, and a state of perpetual joy and communion of love. This is the very reason why Screwtape considers God to be a hedonist at heart. Hedonist, in its strictest definition, is the pursuit of pleasure. Pleasure is to the body, as happiness is to the mind, as joy is to the soul. Joy is the greatest of these, and is rooted in both the present and eternity, “For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them.” (75) God desires the good of all souls, and thus the three goods of the mind, body, and soul. Therefore, just as Lewis suggests mortification is a ‘facade’, it is rather a necessary evil in order to purify the mind or soul to achieve a greater degree of joy.
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