Screwtape Character Analysis

Screwtape's main reason for telling Wormwood about humanity's experience of "troughs and peaks" (IV) is almost one of a scolding nature. While we never see Wormwood 's letters to his uncle, it can be inferred that he is inexperienced, immature, and somewhat clueless on how to be a good demon. In one of his letters to his uncle, Wormwood states that he "has great hopes that the patient's religious phase is dying away" (VIII). This statement is one of many signs of Wormwood's immaturity that we see in the Letters. Apparently, our human condition is very complex to demons, too complex for young demons like Wormwood to understand fully. His uncle Screwtape, humanized by Lewis as some type of old man who gives a younger generation the rundown on

the way things are done, is explaining to his nephew that humans (Christian and non-Christian) all go through "ups and downs"(). Screwtape detests humans calling us "amphibians"(VIII) and "revolting"(VIII), but his language has another meaning. By calling us amphibians, Screwtape refers to our dualistic nature, one that "belongs to the eternal world and time"(VIII). Wormwood doesn't understand this, thus he believes that his work has caused "the dryness and dullness that his patient is going through"(VIII). This false sense of security that Wormwood gained is the reason why Screwtape must counsel his nephew. Letter 8 is literally a wake-up call for Wormwood, so that he does not conclude "the trough of dullness which the patient is going through at the present will give him his soul" (IX). God eventually gives us free will; "sooner or later He withdraws all those supports and incentives" (VIII). Once we enter a "trough" in life, it is Satan's (and his lieutenants) job to exploit and twist God's redemption for us; or the light at the end of the tunnel.