The Hero in Paradise Lost by John Milton
Critics abroad have argued about who the hero is of John Milton's "Paradise Lost:" Satan, Adam or Christ, the Son? Since Milton's overall theme stated in the opening lines of Book I is to relate 'Man's first disobedience' and to 'justify the ways of God to men', Adam must be regarded as the main hero. John M. Steadman supports this view in an essay on "Paradise Lost:" "It is Adam's action which constitutes the argument of the epic." Steadman continues:
The Son and Satan embody heroic archetypes and that, through the interplay of the infernal and celestial strategies, Milton represents Satan's plot against man and Christ's resolution to save him as heroic enterprises. Christ and Satan are therefore epic machines. (268-272)
Although Satan may be an epic machine, he is best portrayed as the tragic anti-hero of "Paradise Lost" or, at the very least, a main character who possesses the stature and attributes which enable him to achieve tragic status. In the Greek tradition, the essential components of tragedy are admiration, fear and pity for the 'hero', who has to display a tragic weakness or flaw in his character, which will lead to his downfall. It might be argued that the flaws in Satan's character are such that we should feel no admiration, fear or pity for him, yet he can be seen to inspire these emotions. Satan's tragic flaws are pointed out in Book I. They are envy, pride, and ambition towards self-glorification. Satan's pride, in particular, is stressed throughout Paradise Lost. In accordance with epic convention, Satan is frequently qualified by Milton's use of the word 'proud'. Virgil used the same device in his epic the Aeneid, in which the name of Aeneas rarely appears without being preceded by 'pious'. The most striking visual example of Satan's main weaknesses appears in Book IV (89-90) during Raphael's narrative to Adam regarding the battles in Heaven, Raphael refers to Satan as 'the proud/Aspirer'. 'Proud' at the end of one line and 'Aspirer' at the beginning of the next gives equal emphasis and impact to Satan's pride and ambition and it is implied that, in Satan, the two characters are inseparable and of equal importance. Milton, in fact, defended his use of blank verse as a suitable vehicle for epic poetry, as opposed to the frequently favored heroic couplet. How then, does Satan inspire the feelings of admiration, fear and pity necessary to a tragic figure?
The struggle between good and evil, the rewards of Heaven, and the consequences of sin are all Christian themes shared in the works of Hildegard, Dante, and Milton. While their works vary in style and substance, they are informed by a common religious background and understanding. Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutum, Dante’s Inferno, and Milton’s Paradise Lost all have a common character in Satan. Satan in both the Ordo Virtutum and Inferno appears in a significant, but limited role. In Paradise Lost, Satan is a primary character and expresses a full range of traits and provokes a wide range of responses from the audience.
Milton's Complex Satan in Paradise Lost Milton's Satan continues to fascinate critics largely because he is more complex than the Devil of the Christian tradition appears. Satan's rebelliousness, his seeking of transcendence, his capacity for action, particularly unconventional action, endeared him to certain types of minds, even if their viewpoint might be considered theologically misleading. Milton often follows the road of intellectual definition for his characters, of reasoning demonstration. This serves well his theological and intellectual cohesiveness. However, when his thought becomes more conceptual rather than metaphoric, it falls trap to its own special kind of static imprisonment.
From the very beginning of time, many people believe that Satan is evil because they weren’t taught otherwise, but john Milton proves it in his poem that Satan is very much just like us, and you can be sympathetic for Satan because he disobeyed God .In paradise lost by John Milton, Satan is a sympathetic character because he comes off more like man then the figure of God. Anything he does, Feels, or acts on is just like a human
As described, heroism and its appearance are similar traits that are easily confused. However, assigning these qualities to (Aeschylus’s) Prometheus and (Milton’s) Satan makes these traits appear very different. Prometheus is a heroic character that is comprised of the very definition of heroism. Satan appears heroic; however, he his filled with cruel intentions and egotism that eventually exposes his character as a villain. “Paradise Lost” and “Prometheus Bound” establish and define a clear difference between a hero and someone who appears heroic; due to dominating protagonist roles and access to the characters’ motives.
Satan frequently characterizes “the tyranny of heaven” and employs negative diction in his depictions of both heaven and God (I.124). His negative portrayals of God and his kingdom highlight his utter dissatisfaction with being subservient to God and, from that, his desire for autonomy. In the exposition of the text, Satan’s emotions toward God make themselves apparent when Satan “throws his baleful eyes / That witnessed huge affliction and dismay / Mixed with obdúrate pride and steadfast hate” (I.56-58). Satan reveals himself to be furious with his continued subjugation to God as well as his inability to truly revenge himself against his subsequent punishment. According to Satan, God’s dissimulation of his power tempted Satan and others to rise
Satan's predicament after he falls in Paradise Lost is utterly hopeless, yet he chooses to persevere. He reasons that he should continue to struggle, even though he is aware that it is entirely in vain. The process he follows to arrive at this choice is similar to the process Albert Camus will use to justify the unrelenting toil of his 'absurd man.' Before this becomes apparent, portions of Satan as a character must be eliminated from consideration, because they present an intractable set of problems. Prior to his rebellion, Satan is a divine being, who "stood'st in Heav'n, upright and pure," (IV, 936-37) like God and the other angels. We do not get a clear portrayal of this character, only Satan's and Raphael's memories and reconstructions of what he must have been like, and God's statement that He "made him just and right, sufficient to have stood" (III, 98-9). Like other angels, he has an "intuitive" (V, 488) way of knowing that Milton defines as far from human apprehension, particularly in our fallen state. We can on Earth only see "but the shadow of Heav'n" (575), which in this case is useful, because we are off the hook to even try to explain why Satan chooses to rebel in the first place. Milton too, by placing the godlike mind off limits to human reason as it is commonly understood, is off the hook as well to entirely "justify the ways of God to men" (I, 26). Instead we are presented with the paradoxical claim that God made his creatures "free to fall" (III, 99) "without least impulse or shadow of Fate" (120), and so somehow put bounds on his own omnipotence so that his omniscient "foreknowledge had no influence on their fault" (119). To try to enclose this tortuously defined causality within the mind of a mere huma...
In Milton's Paradise Lost, he writes the story of the fall of Satan, his followers, and mankind. Many critics often view Satan as the unlikely or tragic hero of the epic poem. Satan is, obviously, the main character throughout most of the poem, but not necessarily the hero. Satan's main purpose is to fight G-d, and try to be on the same level as Him. The important thing is to realize that Satan is sin, and being humans, who are all born into sin, we can easily relate to a sinful character. G-d is holy and perfect. This is something which we, being fallible humans, cannot begin to comprehend. Satan does, at the beginning, follow many of the attributes which coincide with Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero; however, after the first few Books, Satan looses his status as a tragic hero rather rapidly. Along with this, Satan's thoughts parallel the idea of "Evil, be thou my good," (p76, line 110) which is the opposite of what G-d intends.
Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost is a complex character meant to be the evil figure in the epic poem. Whenever possible Satan attempts to undermine God and the Son of God who is the true hero of the story. Throughout the story Milton tells the readers that Satan is an evil character, he is meant not to have any redeeming qualities, and to be shown completely as an unsympathetic figure. Satan’s greatest sins are pride and vanity in thinking he can overthrow God, and in the early part of the poem he is portrayed as selfish while in Heaven where all of God’s angels are loved and happy. Satan’s journey starts out as a fallen angel with great stature, has the ability to reason and argue, but by Book X the anguish and pain he goes through is more reason for him to follow an evil path instead. Even so, Milton uses literal and figurative imagery in the description of Satan’s character to manipulate the reader’s response to the possibility that Satan may actually be a heroic figure. As the plot of the story unfolds there are moments where the reader can identify with Satan’s desires and relate to his disappointments.
Although the epic poem centers around the story of the fall of man, it is interesting that Milton intertwines in this story the fall of Satan from heaven and the consequences it has not only for Satan himself, but for Adam, Eve, and the world as a whole. Milton allows the reader to see the fall from the point of view of Satan, God, as well as Adam and Eve. Because Milton gives insight into these characters feelings regarding the fall, it is no surprise that he uses “eternal providence” in conjunction with the stories of Satan, Adam, and Eve. The providence being described here is the knowledge of good and evil. However, ev...
Helen Gardner addresses this notion, claiming how “Satan is, of course, a character in an epic, and he is in no sense the hero of the epic as a whole. But he is a figure of heroic magnitude and heroic energy, and he is developed by Milton with dramatic emphasis and dramatic intensity” (Baker/Helen, 208). Satan is without a doubt the antichrist, or “villain” in the biblical scriptures, however one must take into consideration his alternative and more ambiguous portrayal in Paradise Lost. In this paper, I will analyze Satan’s actions, physical portrayal and speeches in Book I of Paradise Lost, and argue that from the textual evidence, these aspects of Satan are ultimately ambivalent, thus Satan cannot be categorized as either the extreme hero or the extreme villain, but rather as a dramatic figure with both heroic and villainous characteristics. The preliminary depiction of Satan’s actions in Paradise Lost appears after Milton describes God, his kingdom of heaven, and his children Adam and Eve.... ...
For Milton's part, Satan is courageous, clever and powerful and he is also an acclaimed leader. He is rather unique from the traditional heroes in many distinguished works. In Paradise Lost, the Genesis story upon the corruption of man was recreated by the author, as a matter of fact, caused by Satan. For the sake of Satan's deadly shortcomings
Milton uses many events like the ones listed above to encourage the reader to view Satan as a hero. "Satan is described to be the brightest and most important angel" (McColley 32). These traits of Satan show how one might recognize Satan as the second in power right below God, who was the highest power of all. Before Satan decides to give up what he has and to rebel against God, he was one of the wisest and most beautiful of all the angels in heaven (McColley 24). Although Satan was beautiful, the most important trait that makes him fit into the hero category is that he was the most powerful angel in heaven.
The identity of the true protagonist in Paradise Lost is a mystery. One would gather that Milton, a Puritan, would have no problem casting God as the hero, and Satan as the antagonist. However, looking back in history, Milton saw that most epic heroes had conflicts that prevented them from accomplishing their goals. God and his Son have no conflict, and Adam’s story does not really begin until the Fall of Man. Therefore, Milton was forced to select Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost because he adheres to the guidelines of epic poetry set by Homer, Virgil and others. There are many examples of how Milton uses and edits the tradition of these previous epics in the formation of the Devil as a hero. One of the most basic examples of heroism in epic poetry is the exhortation of the leader to his followers. In The Odyssey, Homer lets Odysseus give a speech that would convince anyone they could survive the journey to the Strait of Messina, "Then we die with our eyes open, if we are going to die, or know what death we baffle if we can. (Ln.1243-1245)" After passing the Sirens, the ship approaches the Strait, and the crew sees the twin terrors of Scylla and Charybdis, they are mortified. Odysseus again lifts their spirits with this speech, "Friends, have we ever been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave? What power he had! Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find a way out for us?
The regularity with which Milton frequently conforms to principles of epic structure make his occasional (but nevertheless fundamental) variations on the epic tradition all the more striking by contrast. The most important departures from epic decorum--the rejection of a martial theme, and the choice of an argument that emphasizes the hero's transgression and defeat instead of celebrating his virtues and triumphs--are paradoxically conditioned by concern for the ethical and religious decorum of the epic genre. On the whole, Milton has retained the formal motifs and devices of the heroic poem but has invested them with Christian matter and meaning. In this sense his epic is . . . something of a "pseudomorph"--retaining the form of classical epic but replacing its values and contents with Judeo-Christian correlatives. (Epic and Tragic Structure . . . 20)
Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton uses various tools of the epic to convey a traditional and very popular Biblical story. He adds his own touches to make it more of an epic and to set forth new insights into God's ways and the temptations we all face. Through his uses of love, war, heroism, and allusion, Milton crafted an epic; through his references to the Bible and his selection of Christ as the hero, he set forth a beautifully religious Renaissance work. He masterfully combined these two techniques to create a beautiful story capable of withstanding the test of time and touching its readers for centuries.