The Screwtape Letters Literary Elements

Epistolary novel

The action takes place in England during the Second World War.

The story is told from Screwtape’s subjective point of view.

Comic, ironic

From Screwtape’s point of view, the protagonist is the Devil and the antagonist is God.

The major conflict in the letters is between God and the Devil. While both characters never appear, agents send by them make frequent appearances and reveal their master’s ideas about the universe and the world. While God is portrayed as a positive character who wants the human kind to thrive and expand, the Devil wants them to die and suffer for eternity.

The story reaches its climax when the patient dies in the last letter and he is accepted into Heaven as being a pious man.

Screwtape’s reveal about the true nature of human kind and the idea that they are half spiritual beings and half carnal beings foreshadows the patient’s future sway from spirituality to a lack of it and vice versa.

In the fourth letter, Screwtape talks about how people think that the devils are giving them sinful thoughts. In reality, however, Screwtape notes that this is an understatement and that the devils are actually tasked with making sure a person’s mind remains empty and void of any type of thought.

One of the idea alluded in the letters is the idea that sometimes men and women act on the Devil’s behalf without them realizing it. Screwtape mentions this idea when he talks about the atheism in the world. He insists that while many believe that the existence of demons must be made clear in order for people to believe in their existence, Screwtape makes is clear that a person does not need to believe in demons to follow them and to do their bidding. In fact, Screwtape mentions how many people do the devil’s bidding without even realizing it.

In the second letter, Screwtape describes the Church and focuses on the buildings itself and how they look. Screwtape presents the buildings owned by the Church as being extremely old, and decaying, something that should in his opinion make the modern society drift away from it. The description of the Church is important because it shows just how people regarded the Church in modern times and how there was a tendency to consider it outdated and useless.

Screwtape explains that paradoxically, the prayers human kind make when there are no signs of God’s existence makes God feel good and loved because in those moments, the humans prove their love and loyalty for him.

In the second letter, Screwtape writes about a man who had fallen into sin and became a Christian. The way Screwtape describes the event is similar to the parable of the prodigal son, mentioned in the Bible. The parallel between the two has the purpose of highlighting the idea that evil can be just as convincing as goodness and that a person must be aware not to become influenced by it.

When Screwtape talks about the atheist, he uses the term in a general manner to make reference to every religious person in the world.

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