Screwtape is the title character of C.S. Lewis’s 1942 work The Screwtape Letters.
The book is structured as a series of letters from Screwtape, a senior demon, to his inexperienced nephew Wormwood. Screwtape offers advice about tempting a human being, whom the demons call their “patient.” Lewis uses this reversed perspective to examine ordinary moral weaknesses and spiritual distractions.
The work first appeared in Britain in 1941 as a series in the Anglican newspaper The Guardian and was published in book form in 1942. Its satirical method lets Lewis discuss pride, envy, distraction, and self-deception without presenting the advice as a trustworthy moral guide.
Wormwood is a major character, but he is not the title character. The book’s title refers to the letters written by Screwtape, whose name identifies the fictional senior tempter.