Wormwood In The Screwtape Letters

Wormwood In the book The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, one of the main character’s name is Wormwood. This character is a demon and its name assumably has a great deal to do with how this character interacts without the other characters throughout the story. The term “wormwood” is a plant that can be grown and dried out to use. It is also referenced to in the Bible when describing immoral people or perversion. Wormwood is defined as something grievous, bitter, or extremely unpleasant. It is also any composite low shrub or herb of the genus Artemisia. Another definition of wormwood is, “a bitter, aromatic plant, A. absinthium, of the Old World, used as a vermifuge and a tonic, and as an ingredient in absinthe.” (www.dictionary.com)
Deuteronomy 29:18 says, “So that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood.” Proverbs 5:3-4 says, “For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” Jeremiah 9:13-15 says, “And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,” therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.”” Amos 5:7 says, “You who turn justice to wormwood, and lay righteousness to rest in the earth!” Jeremiah 23:15 says, “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land.’” Lamentations 3:15 says, “He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood. Lamentations 3:19 says, “Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. Amos 6:12 says, “Do horses run on rocks?
In Greek, wormwood means “undrinkable”. (www.biblestudytools.com) In the New Testament, wormwood is a star that falls into the waters of the earth. Revelation 8:10-11 says, “Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.” (www.biblegateway.com) The term is used repeatedly as being intensely bitter. In the end time, the Bible prophesies state that one third of all the water on the earth will be turned to wormwood and not be consumable. (gotquestions.org) The character Wormwood in C. S. Lewis’s book is definitely a dreadful persona. He will most likely not be mentally stable and will be destructive to any other characters. He will supposedly be calamitous to ideas or morals in the story. Wormwood is very bitter and this character will most likely not have a good impact on any situation in the