The Screwtape Letters ThURsday, May 3, 2012 10:30 AM – 12:00 pM Wells Theatre, Norfolk What’s Inside C.S. Lewis Biography C.S. Lewis Vocabulary and Questions The Screwtape Letters Short Essay Questions Longer Essay Questions Translating Lewis Vocabulary Before You Go To The Show While You’re There After You’ve Been This Arts Event is made possible in part by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 The American C.S. LEWIS Biography Shakespeare Center Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends. Both authors served on the English faculty at Oxford University, and both were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the “Inklings.” According to his memoir Surprised by Joy, Lewis had been baptized in the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion) at birth, but fell away from his faith during his adolescence. Owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, at the age of 32, Lewis returned to the Anglican Communion, becoming “a very ordinary layman of the Church of England.” His faith had a profound effect on his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim. Clive Staples Lewis (1898 – 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as “Jack,” was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland. An intellectual giant of the 20th century, he is known for both his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy and his nonfiction, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. The Chronicles of Narnia have been particularly influential. Modern children’s literature such as Daniel Handler’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter have been influenced by Lewis’s series. Lewis’s works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. This critically acclaimed staging of C. S. Lewis’s mordantly funny treatise on the making of a sinner has sold out houses from New York to Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and beyond. The play, set in an eerily stylish office in hell, follows the clever scheming of Satan’s chief psychiatrist, Screwtape, as he entices a human ‘patient’ toward damnation. C.S. LEWIS vocabulary & Discussion Questions 3 Theologian: a person engaged in the study of the nature of God and religious truth, who makes rational inquiry into religious questions. Apologist: a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial. Discussion question: Why would a defense of Christianity qualify as “something controversial?” Controversial means giving rise or likely to give rise to public disagreement. After reading The Screwtape Letters, can you imagine someone taking issue with Lewis’s view of Christian values? Oxford University: The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University or Oxford) is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Twenty-six British prime ministers have attended Oxford. At least thirty other international leaders have been educated there. Oxford has also produced at least twelve saints and twenty Archbishops of Canterbury. The long list of writers associated with Oxford includes Theodor Geisel (also known as Dr. Seuss), Lewis Carroll, Graham Greene, Vikram Seth, the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Donne, A. E. Housman, and T.S. Eliot. Some notable scientists include Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. Anglican: a member of The Church of England. The Church of England: the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The British monarch, at present Queen Elizabeth II, has the constitutional title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Discussion question: According to our Constitution, no official faith may be established in the United States. How might our culture be different if we did have an established official faith? Based on your reading of The Screwtape Letters, do you think C.S. Lewis would favor the establishment of an official religion? Compare a paragraph in one of the books mentioned on the previous page with a paragraph from The Screwtape Letters. Can you find similarities in style? In content? THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS C.S. Lewis was a don at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1941 when he wrote The Screwtape Letters and dedicated it to his friend and colleague J. R. R. Tolkien. Both men would later carve their place in English literature with children’s tales that explored the dark side in fantasy fiction. But Lewis’s early writing concentrated on spiritual themes. The Screwtape Letters provides a series of lessons in the importance of taking a deliberate role in living out Christian faith by portraying a typical human life, with all its temptations and failings, as seen from devils’ viewpoints. Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy of Hell, and acts as a mentor to Wormwood, the inexperienced tempter. In the body of the thirty-one letters which make up the book, Screwtape gives Wormwood detailed advice on various methods of undermining faith and promoting sin in the Patient, interspersed with observations on human nature and Christian doctrine. Wormwood and Screwtape live in a peculiarly morally reversed world, where individual benefit and greed are seen as the greatest good, and neither demon is capable of comprehending or acknowledging true human virtue when he sees it. 4 SHORT ESSAY QUESTIONS Writers make many decisions when crafting a text. A writer begins with an idea, then must determine the format, style, tone, diction, and length of the project. Many of these decisions are made as the writer works, revising and editing the work along the way. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis made several surprising choices. The first was taking the Devil’s point-of-view. What are the advantages to telling the story this way? What are the possible pitfalls? The Screwtape Letters is an epistolary novel: it is written as a series of letters. Why do you suppose Lewis chose this form? Why only include Screwtape’s letters, and not responses from Wormwood? How does that affect the story? Reread the opening pages of the book. How does Lewis establish the identity of the writer? Style, tone, and diction are important tools for the writer. Style is the characteristic way in which the writer chooses and arranges words. Sentences may be long or short, complex or simple. Tone is the writer’s attitude towards his subject or character. Diction is the choice of words. What sorts of choices did Lewis make in crafting this book? Can you characterize the style, tone, and diction? 5 LONGER ESSAY QUESTIONS Lewis never directly introduces the character of “the Patient.” We see him only through the descriptions from Screwtape. Keeping in mind that Screwtape’s opinions or interpretations of the Patient and his actions may not be accurate, look through the letters and put together a characterization of the Patient. What are his strengths and weaknesses? His likes and dislikes? How does Screwtape characterize humanity in his letters? Examine and discuss some of the phrases he uses to describe humans. Why do you think Screwtape has this viewpoint of humans? In what ways is his assessment accurate? In what ways is he wrong? Although Screwtape alludes to the letters Wormwood has written him, none of these letters are included in the book. Write a letter from Wormwood to Screwtape. Your letter may directly address issues raised in Screwtape’s letters, or issues of your own choosing. Write a letter in which Screwtape advises Wormwood on how best to tempt you! 6 TRANSLATING LEWIS Read and reflect on the following quotes from C.S. Lewis. What does he mean by what he’s written? Do you agree with his assertions? “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” “An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.” “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” 7 VOCABULARY Define each of the following vocabulary words found in The Screwtape Letters. Then use it in a sentence of your own. Sojourn Inveterate Liaison Aggravate Innocuous Qualm Insatiable Gluttony Virtue Foment 8 BEFORE YOU GO TO THE SHOW Read The Screwtape Letters! Imagine how the book will be translated into a stage play. How would you dramatize a series of letters written from one devil to another? Would Screwtape appear? Would Wormwood? What do you suppose they might look like? What about the patient? Read one of the letters aloud. How should Screwtape sound? How might he carry himself? How would he differ from Wormwood? 9 WHILE YOU’RE THERE Compare what you thought the play might be like to the actual performance. How well does the interpretation work for you? Are you able to get involved in the story? 10 AFTER YOU’VE BEEN Reread a section of the book. Did the performance accurately interpret that experience? How did the performance differ from what you’d imagined it to be? What would you change about the play? Write a review of the performance. Describe what you saw and heard. How much do you remember of the play? Would you recommend it to a friend? 11 12 feedback form We need your feedback to make our Education Programs even better! Please take a moment to complete this form and either return it to the Virginia Arts Festival office at 440 Bank Street, Norfolk, VA 23510, fax it to (757) 282-2787, or e-mail your answers to [email protected]. WorldClass® Event: How did your students respond to the performance? How did you prepare your students for this performance? Did you use the Education Guide? If so, how? Did students enjoy the materials? How did this performance contribute to experiential learning in your classroom? What role do the arts play in your school? In your classroom? If you could change one thing about this experience, what would it be? Please include quotes and comments from your students as well! (Optional) Name: School: Would you like to be part of our database?  Yes City:  No 13 upcoming events Rhythm Live! February • 17 • 2012 Charlotte Blake Alston February • 24 • 2012 Virginia International Tattoo April • 26 & 27 • 2012 The Screwtape Letters May • 3 • 2012 Lula Washington Dance Theatre May • 4 • 2012  Fold Fold  Place stamp here Virginia Arts Festival 440 Bank Street Norfolk, VA 23510  Fold Fold World Class® Education Program Guides www.vafest.org Robert W. 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