Kimberly N. Broughton
Dr. Pardlow
English Literature I Final Exam
December 9, 2013
Passage I appears in Book I of Paradise Lost, lines 254-263. The narrator, Satan, is boasting, along with his friend Beelzebub, lord of the flies, about how is it better to be the ruler in hell than serve God in Heaven. It all started when Satan awoken in Hell from being thrown out of Heaven. Many angels had joined Satan and thus started the war with God. Realizing what happened, Satan goes on a rant to Beelzebub, telling him how he will never bow down to God.
Interpreting Satan’s rant, he says that everyone has their own mind. Whether or not they’re in Heaven or hell physically, they can make it feel as another mentally. He also questions what makes God any greater than him or him any less that God. Satan figures at least he is free to roam and rule in Hell. In his mind, being king is more important, even if it is in Hell. He also believes that by no means can God drive them away from their throne in Hell.
Passage V appears in Book IV of Paradise Lost, lines 98-102. During this phase, Satan lands near the Garden of Eden. Looking back on Earth reminded Satan of who he once was. He considers, for a brief moment, asking God for forgiveness despite its false pretenses. However, Satan is the epitome of evil. Wherever he goes, death, sin, and all things bad will follow.
Through lines 98-102, the narrator is saying that there is too much hatred and sin to justify. Satan mentions that if he attempts and achieves to reconcile with God, he is bound to relapse and become worse than before. In his heart he knows that God has given up on him and the other fallen angels. They believe that God created a new world known as man, to replace them. All good is lo...
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...er and disobedience to God. Even though the sins of Satan, Adam, and Eve granted them tedious punishments, their reasoning greatly differed. Adam sinned for the love and affection of a woman, while Satan disobeyed because of pride and enviousness.
Lastly, passage IX is found in Book 8. During this section, Adam and Eve had already partaken of the forbidden fruit. Shortly after tasting the fruit, Adam mentions that why something so delightful and pleasurable would be forbidden when it should be encouraged. Eating the fruit allowed them to become aware of their physical appearance. Adam and Eve began to cover themselves for they were ashamed. However, along with being ashamed, they become attracted to the appearance of the flesh. Never had Adam ever noticed the perfection of Eve’s body. Needless to say, they had sexual intercourse all night until they fell asleep.
Satan is the core of Milton’s master piece and no matter how he is interpreted; the overall complexity of his character cannot be overlooked.
Satan's poetic rhetoric making him all the more so.... ... middle of paper ... ... Bibliography Forsyth, Neil, “Paradise Lost” and the Origin of “Evil”: Classical or Judeo-Christian? ', International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Vol. 6, No. 1 -. 4 (2000) Herman, William R., 'Heroism and Paradise Lost', College English, Vol.
Satan is an allegorical representation of God the Father. Both Satan and God are seen as Father figures; God as the Father of all that is virtuous, and Satan as the Father of all that is wicked. Just as God is the King of heaven, Satan claims himself King of Hell. God is the originator of Goodness, as Satan is the originator of Evilness. All in all, Satan is a perverse representation of God.
In Paradise Lost, Women’s inability to control themselves leads to disobedience and disaster follows. The disobedience of Eve is described using reference to the seven deadly sins.
Satan aspires to rise above God in power, yet his ambition makes him unable to recognize the impossibility of such desires. Satan’s lofty position as God’s second-in-command raises his ambition: “lifted up so high/ I sdeined subjection, and thought one step higher/ Would set me highest” (Milton 4.49-51). The angel’s ambition drives his hope for absolute power and convinces him that he could fulfill such grandiose desires. However, God is unequalled in supremacy and can never be defeated; his absolute dominance renders Satan’s hopes futile. The angel will never be able to challenge God’s power, let alone defeat the omnipotent. Still, Satan is overly ambitious and thus blind to the impossibility of defeating God. Satan’s ambition parallels to the monster’s desperation for love in Shelley’s Frankenstein. As the monster observes the daily lives of the cottagers, he develops an ardent longing to enjoy the love and sympathy of mankind. He knows his desires are impossible to fulfill, but his desperation drives him to feign ignorance: “I persuaded myself that when they should become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues they would compassionate me and overlook my personal deformity” (Shelley
We soon learn that we cannot get answers in hell, but we begin to see certain questions, and the possibility that their answers may appear when we see the actual dramatic presentation of the rebellion. For one thing, Satan’s “innumerable force” receives a definite tally later- it is only one third of the angels. And this fact will look different when we learn that God opposes the enemy force with an equal number only, and then puts a fixed limit on the individual strength of the contestants, and then sends only the Son against the rebels, and with His strength limited too. Satan puts so much concentration on having shaken the throne of god, against “His utmost power”-“Who from the terrour of this Arm so late/...
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
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.
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.... ...
After defeating the rebellious angels, God cast them out from Heaven, placing them in Hell, a despairing and horrid place. Satan describes God as a tyrant who believes himself better than all, placing God as his epic adversary, “...our grand Foe/Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy/Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven” (1.122-124). Satan refuses to accept his defeat, and rather seeks to enact revenge against God either by once again leading his minions into battle or using his guile.
Milton's introduction of Satan shows the reader how significant Satan is to Paradise Lost. He uses Satan's heroic qualities to his followers, and his ability to corrupt to show the thin line between good and evil. Satan was one of the highest angels in Heaven and was know as Lucifer, meaning, light bearer. This shows he was once a good angel. Milton makes the reader see him as a leader and a strong influence to all in his presence. He best describes Satan's ways when stating, "His pride/ had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host. / Of rebel angels, by whose aspiring/ To set himself in glory above his peers" (Milton Book I). Satan's pride was the main reason that God banned him from heaven. Satan always tried to be number one and a leader, instead of following in God's shadow. He would of lived a life in Paradise forever, but he had to follow his feelings as he states, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" (Milton 31). This shows how strongly he felt about not being above everybody else.
John Milton's Paradise Lost is a work of enduring charm and value because of its theological conceptions, its beautiful language, and its "updating" of the epic to the modern world's values. Book II of this epic poem opens with Satan's speech to his minions in hell, proposing war on Heaven itself. In these first 44 lines, Satan is clearly established as epic hero, but at the same time is theologically/morally denounced by the speaker.
Seeing paradise only reminds Satan of what he lost as a result of his fall from Heaven. Satan comes to the conclusion that he is the very embodiment of hell, bringing it everywhere he goes : “The Hell within him, for within him Hell /He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell/One step no more then from himself can fly (20-22).” Compared to the Bible, we actually get to see the torment Satan suffers as he lives his life as God’s adversary. Satan actually takes responsibility for his fall , pointing out the flaws that led to it: “Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down” ( 40 ) . Unlike the Satan in Genesis and Job, Milton’s Satan clearly understands why he has fallen. As Satan continues to ponder his situation , he realizes that even if there was a chance for his redemption, he would never be comfortable being God’s servant. Sooner or later, the same feelings of inferiority and the desire to overthrow God would rise. Satan becomes bitterer as his soliloquy goes on and resolves that his fate is sealed : “So farwel Hope, and with Hope farwel Fear,/ Farwel Remorse: all Good to me is lost;/Evil be thou my Good;”( 108-110). He then goes on to continue his revenge plot on God. Angry with God for putting him in the position to fall , Satan sees the same potential for failure in Adam and Eve. He then explains that it is in fact God’s fault that he must corrupt them and tells them to “ Thank him
As Satan and his followers were thrown from the heavens by God, during the poem, the fallen Angel seeks his revenge by creating another revolt against the Lord. At the beginning of the poem the Angels who have been cast down to hell speak of the actions they should next take, whether they should seek revenge or should be peaceful and submissive to the lot they have been given. Satan is the strongest advocate for the second battle against God, he wishes to find revenge for the loss of the status of an Arch Angel and for the suffering placed of them in hell. “With rallied Arms to try what may be yet Regain’d in Heav’n, or what more lost in Hell?”(Paradise Lost Book I lines...
...nowing (Satan is just hunk of mass with no free will) and that Satan is our epic hero (Satan is head the rebel angels). Satan also loses because of the fact that due to his trickery he would be a snake forever, and that The Son was going to come down to earth and die to save Adam & Eve, so that Satan’s action would be eliminated. Break down Paradise Lost to it bare essentials, removing all religious overtones, and all that remains is an epic poem. The hero of this poem is a man named Satan who is banished for challenging the leadership of the clan. This man Satan makes a vow to destroy or corrupt anything created by the clan. This Satan was resourceful, making the best of what he had, very little, and accomplishing his goal. Satan may just be the nonconformist who could not abide by what was considered normal. In any case, one must show their admiration for Satan in his unwillingness to serve in Heaven, and then in the way he accepted his resulting role in Hell.