Paradise Lost by John Milton

According to the Christian religion the Devil, or Satan, is the source of sin and temptation. It is believed that there was a war in heaven against the rule of God and that Satan lead away many of the host of heaven to become fallen angels as God expelled the traitors from the heavens. John Milton wished to write a poem by which he could be remembered as the authors of the odyssey, Iliad, and the Aeneid. He did this in the form an epic poem about the story of Eden. Milton’s poem is written from the point of view of Satan and in such a way that he appears to be the heroic figure of the tale.

The reader’s distaste for Satan is strengthened by Satan’s shift in motives. The conquering of humans, which he originally presented as a rebellion against God and his authoritative rule, later came to be about pure corruption and hate. It’s therefore possible to say that if Satan had never given up on his original reasoning, he would still be the hero of Paradise Lost. Works Cited # Milton, John. “Paradise Lost.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature.

This state of repentance distinguishes man apart from Satan’s ways of only wishing to continue with evil and sinning. Even though Satan and Eve’s falls are derived from similar motives, the aftermaths differ from each other because of each of their distinct characteristics and reactions to their actions. Satan’s immediate reaction to his fall is to continue in the same direction of acting in evil manners for it is the only only thing he has left. He acts upon tempting man into sinning in any form and way he decides fits best to get the results he desires. Satan expects to receive praise when he returns to his kingdom but instead he hears the hissing from all the devils who have assumed the transformation of serpents.

Satan rebelled against God when He chose His son, Jesus, to be the ruler of the world. Satan couldn't except this, he was the most beautiful and the most powerful next to God. He got other angels to rebel with him in hope of taking over heaven. Satan failed and along with other angels they were sent to hell. When God creates Adam and Eve, He puts them in The Garden of Eden, also known as Paradise.

He leaves only Satan’s side of the story as the reader 's first interpretation of the events. As the fallen Angels awake in the lake of fire, Satan beings his heroic speech; he, being the Angel closest to God, is looked as the leader of the fallen rebels. In his speech, Satan speaks of the tyranny of God and how it is “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”(I, 263) The disobedience Milton mentions is that of the Humans Adam and Eve; however, Satan is also disobedient in that he rebelled, not because of God’s tyranny, but because Satan wants what he wants rather than what God wants. In the Demon’s debate about their course of action, Milton describes their words as “cloth’d in reason’s garb.”(II, 226) Satan himself is unaware of his own pride and jealousy. His original disobedience is the reason that Adam and Eve fall; lured by Satan’s seemingly reasonable words, Adam and Eve disobey God as he did.

Most Christians believe that Satan was once one of God's high angels until he became greedy and wanted to become more powerful than God. God then threw Lucifer (Satan) out of heaven and into Hell, "And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven" (Luke 10:18). Some Christians take this to have literal meaning, but others say Satan is just a made-up person to symbolise evil. Some Christians say that Evil does not exist, it is merely an absence of good. St Augustine first suggested this view in the fourth century.

Satan got very jealous because he thought that he deserved to rule with God, rather than his son. He got some of the angels who once supported the lord to then go against him. There was a fight between heaven and all of the fallen angels for power. Satan was warned that no one could beat heaven in the end, but he doesn’t believe so. He continues to want to fight, and states it is “better to reign in hell than to rule in heaven.

An example of this is when we are first introduced to Satan. Satan and the other fallen angels are in hell and Satan tells the others to not be frightened, when he is frightened as well. The character of Satan "deteriorates" greatly through the epic (Ruma 81). Satan is viewed as a great warrior and then as time passes, his own followers begin to doubt him. "Milton has his brilliant hero advance to be met and repulsed, first verbally, and then in arms" (Revard 225).

As shown throughout Paradise Lost, but beginning in Book 1 when Satan says "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven", Satan's biggest sin is pride and because of his pride hope is unattainable for him (line 263). Milton suggests that this is the number one reason Satan is not only thrown out of Heaven, but... ... middle of paper ... ...ed" (lines 55-57; lines 60-69). As the reader reads of the horror of hell and Satan's struggle, the reader almost becomes sucked in like one of his minions. Milton portrays Satan's position as a sad state that is blamed on everyone else but himself, when in reality that's exactly whose fault it is, Satan's. Regardless of Satan's pride and vanity and hopeless situation, the quote "The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a Heaven of Hell, or a Hell of Heaven" lies as a central theme for Satan's situation (lines 254-255).

Satan states: "How such united force of gods, how such /
As stood like these, co... ... middle of paper ... ...pportive of him, later reveal his truly destructive character, resulting in the reader disliking Satan. Accordingly, when the character of Satan is followed throughout Paradise Lost, Milton`s reason behind the order of development can be realized. Milton’s desire to create a strong hatred of Satan is achieved best by emphasizing Satan’s good points first. Then, when Satan’s real character begins to surface, the reader is shocked by the actions of their ‘hero’, causing them to dislike him more than if he had always been a bad character. The reader’s dislike of Satan is strengthened by Satan’s shift in motives.