The Screwtape Letters illustrates a number of different relationships and dynamics between a finite amount of characters. One of the principle relationships worthy of study in this novel is that between God and man. The demons, Screwtape and Wormwood, have their own unique relationships with man and with themselves, the latter of which is demonic.
Screwtape Letters
The aspect about God's relationship to man that Screwtape finds so unfathomable is the beneficence God has for man. God actually has aspirations for man that are the complete opposite of those of the adversary (or the devil, forces of evil, etc.). God has endowed man with the capacity for being god-like, which allows man to accomplish things on his own due to God's grace. The adversary's aspirations for man are decidedly negative, and are actually best summed up in the following quotation in which Screwtape writes his nephew Wormwood that "We want cattle who can finally become food" (Lewis 30). In this simple metaphor, Screwtape is expressing the notion that the adversary ultimately wants to shape mankind into a form so that it can be easily manipulated and devouredby the forces of evil.
God's relationship with mankind is the complete opposite, a fact which is difficult for Screwtape to believe. God has bestowed upon man free will -- a fact which Screwtape, Wormwood and others of their kind attempt to exploit for their own purposes. Yet what God ultimately wants man to do with that free will is both love him and exercise his god-like capacity to be as close to him, and as near-perfect to God, as man can possibly be. The following quotation, in which Screwtape writes his letter about God's unmatched love for man (which the adversary can never match) sums up this idea. "One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom is…an appalling truth. He…wants to fill the universe with…replicas of Himself -- creatures whose lives, on its miniature scale, will be…like his own" (Lewis).
The key difference between man's relationship with God and his relationship with evil is that man is ultimately inspired to achieve God-like heights due to the divinity's love for him. Thus, man wants to be like God because of his own free will.
The primary motif that Screwtape uses to encourage the patient's faith to go wayward is based around the concept of distraction. Left alone, the patient -- and virtually any Christian-- may placidly pursue his or her faith at will. However, temptation largely comes in the form of distractions, which is what Screwtape exhorts his nephew to utilize in myriad forms in order to make the patient lose his fledgling faith.
The forms of distractions that Screwtape advocates are myriad, yet are all based around the concept of keeping the patient concerned with superficiality and not the true value/meaning of Christianity. That value, for the most part, is God's unconditional love not only for the patient but for all who choose to assert their will and love God. In that respect, then, the patient is highly indicative of everyman, since he is a mere representation of a person caught between the affection of the divinity and that of the adversary, devil or evil itself. The specific distractions Screwtape tells his nephew to use include an intellectual curiosity, things ascertained and appealing to the senses, and certain contemporary issues such as World War II. He tells Wormwood that it is best for the young man to be an extremist -- and to be extreme at anything, in whichever direction -- because in doing so there is a lack of temperance which alienates oen from God and makes one susceptible to the machinations of distractions.
These temptations fail for a variety of reasons. One is due to the power of the love of God, which sustains the young Christian through virtually all of his travails and triumphs, as well. Yet there are certain events that take place that fortify his faith. One of these is his relationship with a Christian woman, as opposed to the lewd one Screwtape is hoping he falls for. Also, his early death helps to bring the patient closer to God as well.
Screwtape's relationship with Wormwood is actually emblematic of the devil's relationship with mankind. Screwtape is nice to Wormwood and friendly to him so long as Wormwood serves his purpose in corrupting man or the patient as the young man whom Wormwood is assigned to in C.S. Lewis' the Screwtape Letters. Once Screwtape's interest in Wormwood is complete -- which is signified in the novel by Wormwood's failure to corrupt the patient and the patient's impending arrival in heaven -- Screwtape has no more use for him and treats him accordingly by talking to him despairingly and preparaing to harm him.
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