ipl-logo

Failure In C. S. Lewis 'The Screwtape Letters'

767 Words4 Pages

“The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn”
-Luther

This quote is the backbone of C.S. Lewis' epistolary novel The Screwtape Letters, which chronicles the letters of Screwtape, an experienced demon, to his demon nephew Wormwood, on how to best tempt a human toward unhappiness and moral failure. The story is written from a Christian perspective, but the topics addressed are largely drawn from real aspects of human nature, thus their validity is not demeaned by this presentation; rather The Screwtape Letters provides an accurate testimony on the subject from a universal point of view. Covering a broad spectrum of topics, The Screwtape Letters employs upside down, infernal logic as Screwtape's young nephew Wormwood fails or succeeds in corrupting certain areas of his “patient's” life after Screwtape advises him on how to push an advantage or withdraw from a failed area. Though Wormwood receives a myriad of lessons on the exploitable weaknesses of human nature, he ultimately …show more content…

The very first suggestion he makes is that Wormwood prevent his patient from trying to disbelieve in the “Enemy” (God) through logical argumentation, stating that “it moves the whole struggle on to the Enemy's own ground” (Lewis, 2). Screwtape continues by asserting that the patient should justify believing in a philosophy not because it it true, but rather because it is “strong, or stark, or courageous” (Lewis, 2). While the first piece of advice is ironically debatable by non-Christians, the second one is more evident in our society today. Many people make their own feelings and desires paramount, and choose a philosophy that makes them comfortable, molding truth around themselves. Even being strong, stark, or courageous is no longer important, only being

Show More
Related
1499 Words | 6 Pages

Reagan Carter Period 4 Devil in the White City Reading Log The "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson is a nonfiction novel that reveals the chaos of Chicago. The novel mostly takes place in Chicago around 1890-1893 while towards the end of the novel it takes place in 1895 Philadelphia. Larson recreated two men that would live in Chicago. The two men will have different plots and will each provide a meaning in one another.

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

he actually

Read More
1177 Words | 5 Pages

C.S. Lewis, a Christian writer from England, penned a manuscript in 1942 called The Screwtape Letters that examined the temptations presented to man by Satan. “Lewis's Screwtape Letters was certainly one of his most popular works, and by his own admission it was a work that he found easy to write” (Harwood 24). By being a Christian himself, Lewis could sympathize and identify with fellow Christians undergoing the onslaught of spiritual attacks. Christians struggle daily with the temptations of Satan similar to those that Screwtape directs his nephew, Wormwood, to employ towards the Patient. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis uses the character, Patient, to symbolize everyman and his struggles with overcoming temptations by showing how Screwtape attempts to conjure a plan for Wormwood to lure the Patient to the Devil’s camp with Satan’s insipid temptations of vanity,

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

Prayer is a prevalent aspect in the Screwtape Letters. In Letter Four, Wormwood struggles to attack the prayer life on his patient. His uncle, Screwtape, advises him that it is best if the patient does not pray at all. By being a recent Christian convert, Screwtape suggests that it would be better if Wormwood could take advantage of the patient’s forgetfulness. “Whenever they are attending to the Enemy Himself, we are defeated, but there are ways of preventing them from doing so.”

Read More
1065 Words | 5 Pages

Finally, he

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

Then it is easy to see that the majority of people need to understand what sin is and how to be prepared to manage it. This book by CS Lewis, equips someone with the tools they need to recognize Satan's deceptions for these three following reasons: Wormwood used the man's feelings towards his mother to harden his heart against her, Wormwood tries to tempt the Christian with the sin of pride, and finally Wormwood attempts to cause the man to fall in his purity Firstly, Wormwood used the

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

“We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no power or will in us to stop it” (18). Equality 7-2521 is born into a society in which individuality is a crime.

Read More
1186 Words | 5 Pages

While Satan, “Our Father Below,” is a self-loving, deceitful father. When everyone agrees that Lewis’s style of writing is instructive. Some say Lewis wrote the book for people to understand and feel sympathy for Satan and his followers “demons”. Lewis’s style of writing makes one better equip to reorganize Satan’s subtle deceptions in three ways: it helps people recognize distractions in our thoughts, it helps people recognize distractions

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

Told in the famous C.S. Lewis The Screwtape letter, a well-known demon informs his nephew, Wormwood, of a struggle that the Christians face still today. A well lesson to all Christians, Screwtape advises Wormwood to go and let the patient talk like a parrot without discipline when in prayer. As explained by Screwtape, “When the patient is an adult recently reconverted to the Enemy’s party, like your man, this is best done by encouraging him to remember, or to think he remembers, the parrot-like nature of his prayers in childhood.”

Read More
421 Words | 2 Pages

I found that the book The Screwtape Letters seems to relate with most of my life. This is mainly because this book is all about the demons trying to “tempt” us and turn us away from God or as they know him “The Enemy.” It is interesting to ponder on how each different thought of mine could be possibly influenced by something else. For example, Screwtape writes,”The sense of disappointment can, with very little skill on our part, be turned into a sense of injury. ”(Lewis, pg.

Read More
1034 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the years, many people have discussed the topic of sin. However, one man took it upon himself to write many tales about sin and what it entails, as well as the perception of others in regard to it. This man, Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote several short stories, each withluci their own insight into his view of sin. In his stories The Minister’s Black Veil and Ethan Brand, Hawthorne paints a picture of sin in a way that he believed reflected reality and the true nature of mankind. To do this, Hawthorne does not need any shocking villains or dashing heroes, but merely the actions and words of regular people.

Read More
339 Words | 2 Pages

During the preface of the novel, the author discusses with the reader about the aspects of the story ahead. He does this through explaining the theme of good and evil; how both are applied in religious ways. The purpose for this introduction was for the reader to become intrigued and for further understanding of the story. In the first letter, Screwtape writes to his nephew Wormwood about his morals and obligations of being a godly figure. I interpreted the phrases used in the letter through the context the author used.

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for turning to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By blaming on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power through the Puritans restoring to involve him whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age; although the natural deciding factor of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil himself holds ultimate power. Despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan society, serving as the ultimate threat.

Read More
169 Words | 1 Pages

The protagonist from “The Turn of the Screw”, is perceived to be despearate as she tries to achieve her dream but her personal pride leads her to an unstable condition. The author depicts the Governess believing that to attain her goal of gaining attentionby her employer, she must be a hero. Therefore, she invents lies about seeing her predessors haunting her pupils. Nonetheless, the more times James makes the Governess mention the ghosts the more she believes they are real and they, “want to get them (the children)” (82). The Governess is blinded by making it appear she sees the ghosts that she looses herself in her own lies leading her to an unstable condition of not knowing what is real or not.

Read More
999 Words | 4 Pages

Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for coming to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By putting blame on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power by the Puritans resorting to involving him in a situation whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age.

Read More

More about Failure In C. S. Lewis 'The Screwtape Letters'

Related Topics

Open Document