History Literature / TheScrewtapeLetters

* GreenEyedMonster: When describing how the patient went to Heaven, Screwtape expresses fury that a 'mere' human being can stand in the presence of "The Enemy" while neither Screwtape, Wormwood, nor any other demon can bare to stand in His presence without whimpering in fear.

* ThePeterPrinciple: The skilled tempter Screwtape has been promoted to middle management, where he makes only minimal contributions to the infernal cause while Wormwood and his equally incompetent colleagues are left with the real work.

->''These creatures are always accusing one another of wanting "to eat the cake and have it"; but thanks to our labours they are more often in the predicament of paying for the cake and not eating it.''

Adaptations of the work include a 2009 audio drama on Family Radio Theatre starring Creator/AndySerkis (Gollum in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy) as the voice for Screwtape, a comic book adaptation by Creator/MarvelComics in 1994, and a stage adaptation by Max [=Mclean=]. 20th Century Fox has held the film rights to the novel since 1950, but despite previous plans to partner with Walden Media to make a live action film adaptation with a 2008 release date, the project is currently in DevelopmentHell. (It's perhaps worth noting that Lewis himself considered the book [[HardToAdaptWork inherently unstageable and unfilmable]], [[invoked]] and once advised a playwright who wanted to adapt the book with a framing device to go ahead and make the framing device into its own play, leaving Screwtape out of it!)

* BeingEvilSucks: Good demonic style means luring a soul into corruption without actually giving anything in return. None of the demons seem particularly happy either, although they will never admit it. Screwtape in particular seems to be a completely miserable old grump who's totally committed to his crappy job.

-->'''Screwtape:''' ''Did you mark how naturally—as if he'd been born for it—the earthborn vermin entered the new life? How all his doubts became, in the twinkling of an eye, ridiculous? I know what the creature was saying to itself! "Yes. Of course. It always was like this. All horrors have followed the same course, getting worse and worse and forcing you into a kind of bottle-neck till, at the very moment when you thought you must be crushed, behold! you were out of the narrows and all was suddenly well. The extraction hurt more and more and then the tooth was out. The dream became a nightmare and then you woke. You die and die and then you are beyond death. How could I ever have doubted it?''
* EasilyForgiven: Screwtape finds the ease with which repentant humans are forgiven by [[BigGood the Enemy]] terribly unfair.

* GoodAngelBadAngel: A very in-depth example, as Lewis gives us a view about what actually motivates the little devil to whisper suggestions in The Patient's ear. {{Subverted}} as well, as the standard cartoon image of devils (with pronged tails and cloven hooves, etc.) is explicitly not used by Screwtape; he calls it one way devils keep humans from thinking of them as dangerous.

** The whole premise of devils looking at God the way humans would view Satan, as well as the use of words like Lowerarchy. On the other hand, they're disappointed with souls who are only a ''bit'' evil. The worst -- and tastiest -- sinners have the qualities that also make the best saints, and (as Screwtape complains), there are no inherently EvilVirtues.
** Also seen in the Devils themselves due to the PerspectiveFlip. The Devils have a "lowerarchy" ruled by "[[{{Satan}} Our Father Below]]", regard tempting humans to sin as a job well done, and find anything to do with goodness and love to be insufferable.

* PoliceState: Hell constantly monitors its inhabitants and harshly punishes violations, as Screwtrape finds out when he lets loose a dangerous secret.

* EasilyForgiven: Any sinner by the Enemy, and Screwtape finds this terribly unfair.

Adaptations of the work include a 2009 audio drama on Family Radio Theatre starring Creator/AndySerkis (Gollum in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy) as the voice for Screwtape, a comic book adaptation by Creator/MarvelComics in 1994, and a stage adaptation by Max [=Mclean=]. 20th Century Fox has held the film rights to the novel since 1950, but despite previous plans to partner with Walden Media to make a live action film adaptation with a 2008 release date, the project is currently in DevelopmentHell. (It's perhaps worth noting that Lewis himself considered the book inherently unstageable and unfilmable, and once advised a playwright who wanted to adapt the book with a framing device to go ahead and make the framing device into its own play, leaving Screwtape out of it!)

* AppealToObscurity: Lewis does one in the same article where he laments that he couldn’t write the GoodCounterpart of this book, alleging that even if he could “write like Traherne” the result would not be believed. This refers to Thomas Traherne, a 17th-century writer whom nobody reads anymore, Lewis thus implying that society is now so corrupt that true quality and virtue is forgotten if the name of one of history’s best writers is forgotten.

* AppealToObscurity: Lewis does one in the same article where he laments that he couldn’t write the GoodCounterpart of this book, alleging that even if one could “write like Traherne” the result would not be believed. This refers to Thomas Traherne, a 17th-century writer whom nobody reads anymore, Lewis thus implying that society is now so corrupt that true quality and virtue is forgotten.

--> "Your patient must demand that all his own utterances are to be [[TwistingTheWords taken at their face value and judged simply on the actual words,]] while at the same time judging all his mother's utterances with the fullest and most oversensitive interpretation of the tone and the context and the suspected intention. She must be encouraged to do the same to him. Hence from every quarrel they can both go away convinced, or very nearly convinced, [[MoralMyopia that they are quite innocent.]] ... Once this habit is well established you have the delightful situation of a human saying things with the express purpose of offending and yet having a grievance when offence is taken."

** Averted InUniverse, of course, where Screwtape is bitterly aware of "The Enemy" and gives Wormwood pointers on how to undermine him and his work.
*** At one point, briefly, Screwtape describes an oddly specific scenario of their own existence being enshrined among humans, "vaguely" and in an "emotionalized and mythologized" way, shutting out further rigor, and considers it a delightful third avenue to resolve Hell's "cruel dilemma" between fear and up-front deals, and denying all concerned... if they can ever get it to happen.

* ScienceMarchesOn: Screwtape mentions that "the majority of the human race dies in infancy". Thanks to modern medicine, it's not as much the case now as it was in the 1940s.

** Hell actually has a division of their research department trying to do this. They haven't made any progress in millennia. According to Screwtape, they've been right on the verge of something big for millenia now. The trouble is that the devils can't understand the concept of freely-given, no-strings-attached love and affection that comes from Heaven, so they'll be forever stuck. It's the diabolic equivalent of ReassignedToAntarctica.

* AssholeVictim: Invoked. The demons eat souls, so people that were more evil in life [[EvilTastesGood taste better in Death]]. Consequently, Screwtape and his ilk work so hard to get people to be truly ''horrible'' so the extreme sins will make their souls more flavorful than people who were simply not good enough to get to Heaven. Screwtape does caution Wormwood to be subtle about it, since if one is too heavy-handed in one's temptations, then the subject is likely to have a HeelRealization and slip from the devils' grasp entirely.

* BadBoss: Screwtape. Tends to act as unforgiving as Hell (literally) when Wormwood makes mistakes.

** The whole premise of devils looking at God the way humans would view Satan, as well as the use of words like Lowerarchy. On the other hand, devils find that persons without much moral fiber, while easier to drag to Hell, make tasteless and disappointing meals. Potential saints make the best sinners, but (as Screwtape complains), virtues like courage and patience aren't naturally on Hell's side and must be perverted before they can be useful.
** Also seen in the Devils themselves due to the PerspectiveFlip. The Devils have a "lowerarchy" ruled by "[[{{Satan}} Our Father Below]]", regard tempting humans to sin as a job well done, and find anything to do with goodness and love to be insufferable.

* BoringReligiousService: According to his letters, a particularly dull sermon is what inspired the novel.

* EvilVirtues: In general, the devils hate that this has to be a thing. As The Enemy is the source of all things good, virtues inherently belong to The Enemy. The devils know they have to rely on "good" qualities for evil to work effectively, but since the devils run on BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad, this is only grudgingly tolerable for them.

* TheHorseshoeEffect: The titular demon speaks about how any ideology can be used to turn a human to evil. He encourages creating zealots on both sides, and claims that after death their opposing souls can be blended into a most appetizing wine.

* AcademyOfEvil: It's mentioned that Hell has a Training College for young devils, run by a devil named Slubgob. They study such courses as sexual temptation ("a subject of considerable tedium," complains Screwtape, who is no HornyDevil) and [[AWolfInSheepsClothing disguising oneself as an Angel of Light]].

* HornyDevils: {{Inverted}}. Screwtape describes sexual temptation as a subject "of considerable tedium" and wastes no paper discussing it, as both he and Wormwood already know all there is to know about the methods in question.