That Ocean of Flames

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 25 June 2014.

I guess I'm more cynical than you are (and impressed by the book I mentioned).

Last Judgment (detail) by Hans Memling

I would continue to consider the idea, though, from the artistic perspective. As I said, it has already figured prominently as a motif. One possibility would be that Arthur had a vision of his father and/or mother. One of the more disturbing visions that occurs again and again in Fr. Schouppe's book is when a friend or family member is seen in Hell's torment. Hell seems to be an all too common destination for people.

If this is true, many of us are in serious danger of experiencing something way, way, way more agonizing than anything on this earth and--oh yeah--for all eternity. Here's one from the book, which is highly readable due to it being more or less a catalogue of shocking accounts:

St. Peter Damian speaks of a worldling who lived only for amusement and pleasure. To no purpose was he advised to think of his soul; to no purpose was he warned that, by following the life of the wicked rich man, he should reach the same end; he continued his guilty life unto death. He had scarcely ceased to live when an anchorite (hermit) knew of his damnation. He saw him in the midst of a fiery pool; it was an immense pool like a sea, in which a great number of people, howling with despair, were plunged. They were striving to gain the shore, but it was guarded by pitiless dragons and demons, who prevented them from coming near it, and hurled them far back into that ocean of flames.

Could Stan Witkowski be in Hell? Perhaps Will has a vision of that down in the tunnels as he tries to retrace his steps and figure out who he killed. That could have some interesting resonances. We could create a Lazarus and the rich man type story, with the buried worker going to Heaven (not "Abraham's bosom" as in the original) and Stan Witkowski going to Hell. Could Stan be in Hell and Lena be in Purgatory, with Lena returning to warn Arthur about her deathbed pact with Will because, from her now-eternal perpective, she sees where it leads. I like at least one character to go Hell, and not just for being an out-and-out villain, like Farthington or perhaps Steffi. Perhaps Stan followed the American Dream straight to Hell.

In the book, the damned are able to do actual damage to the living. For example, one licentious man came back to a rich woman he had been flirting with and grabbed her wrist, burning it all the way down to the bone, such that she had to wear a wide bracelet the rest of her days. These damned are not trying to save anyone usually, they're just pissed as Hell (literally!).

As Miller puts it, "the possibility of victory must be present in tragedy." I think the inverse of that statement is also true: "the possibility of defeat must be present in comedy." As you've mentioned before, you want this to be a comedy, but we need some darker shadows to ground and provide relief for the redemptive elements.