Ok, so before we dive into the actual book itself I wanted to give some food for thought about the characters The Fly and MacPhisto and thier relations to The Screwtape Letters.
So from reading the first 5 letters, you know that a senior devil named Screwtape is writing to his young nephew named Wormwood in charge of corrupting a soul. Let's look at the name Wormwood... The book of Revelations on the Bible states that one of the signs of the end of the world will be a huge star polluting rivers/springs, notice here in Rev. 8:10-11:
"The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- the name of the star is Wormwood."
So it is clear Lewis took the title Wormwood from the Bible....but who else also talks (or sings rather of stars falling from the sky?)--The Fly!
Well ok, but where the heck does the name The Fly come from anyways? The insect fly is considered to be the agent, or assistant of the devil, once attributed to the pagan god Baal in the Bible. Fly's are associated with decay and disease...THE FLY was a display or corruption and egomania. The Fly, in Bono's own words, is "like a phone call from hell...and the guy likes it there". The Fly is an obnoxious, self-centered, potty mouthed, conceited projection of a rock star wrapped into delusion; his head is filled with love of money, glamour, and other worldy things. No thought is given to God or the nature of life.
To tie in The Fly with Screwtape Letters is the idea of corruption and concentration on worldly things. When The Fly was created it was a projection of a rock and roller down the line...someone that has brought thier whole life focus onto 'thier career and image'. The rock n'roll lifestyle becomes central, and fueling the job is excess and greed. Too much is never enough.
In Lewis' introduction to The Screwtape Letters, he writes: "The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid dens of crime {concentration/labour camps}...But it is concieved and ordered...by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth shaven faces who do not need to raise thier voice. Hence my symbol for hell is somehting like the bureaucracy of a police state, or the offices of a throughly nasty business concern"
I found a parallel in a Bono quote from Hot Press Magazine, June '93: "This whole question about the nature of the devil is very important to me. But I don't necessarily see the devil in the kind of darkness most people associate with the devil...for me you see it more in corporate life...Because tthe is a great power people have if nothing will get in their way, if they have no morality, no uncertainty, no doubt. All those things trouble the spirit. This, to me, is where darkness lies."
It is understood that MacPhisto is considered to be The Fly down the line...MacPhisto is The Fly once he has become fully corrupted and doesn't know any other way to live. Corruption worked so through The Fly that MacPhisto's heart has become cold. We'll talk about the nature of MacPhisto next...but for now let's discuss The Fly.
Bono’s Fly doesn’t wear the horns or appear garishly unhuman like MacPhisto because he hasn’t reached any stage of accountability as far as 'evil' goes. He is a glamorous rockstar with a passion for his image, yet he is still earnest in his attempts to conquer the world. Innocence through naivety carries him a long way--- what does his character say about society? About human nature? What was Bono's point? How do you think The Fly's behaviors in concert and video and song relate to Screwtape Letters? Go with it!
