The Fall Of Satan In John Milton's Paradise Lost

The way Satan thinks, feels, and acts is all very human and that’s one reason we can sympathize with him, because we’ve all been there at one point in time. At an all-time low, that’s we he ends up embracing his future like he should. In the beginning of John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, Satan was banished from heaven for rebelling against god himself because of his beliefs that he would be a better ruler of Heaven then god. He refused to accept God’s son as ruler because he felt like he was bound in chains by tyranny. This is a good argument for anyone to rebel, and any man put under the rule of a tyrant, feels that it is his job to make a change.

Milton’s Satan, on the other hand, comes off originally as charming, but slowly presents himself to be weak and unsure, and his ideals are eventually presented as a mask for his insatiable pride. When Milton’s Satan tricks Adam and Eve into leaving paradise, they are ultimately worse off. Pullman, on the other hand, shows that human beings are essentially crippled without their right and ability to sin and make choices. It is through their differing portrayals of Satan, that Milton and Pullman present their respective cases on how the original sin caused man to lose paradise and eternal bliss, or find free will. When Paradise Lost begins, the vainglorious actions of Satan have resulted in his removal from heaven and placed him on the path to exact revenge against those who have done so.

He doesn’t want to try and be convinced otherwise by his brother. Ivan accepts and believes in God and says that there has to be evil. Evil has to be permitted because without it men would never know the difference between good and evil. This is important because it makes us aware of what could happen in the afterlife. We should think about if the fact of evil counts against the existence of God.

With there being no knowledge of sin how could anything possibly go wrong? Well Satan is what’s wrong. His envy for God turned his love for God into Hate. The devil was said to be the highest angel in God’s ranks and most favored. So being that God is all knowing that would mean he knew the beginning to the end.

God became man so that all of humanity might be saved from the evils of sin and death. There was no other way that we, as humans, could achieve salvation without Him. Repentance was not nearly enough, it did not have the power to “guard the Divine consistency” for if death did not dictate mankind, God might be seen as untruthful, neither could it “recall men from what is according to their nature” (Athanasius 7). The transgression of humans began long ago when Adam and Eve failed to remain obedient to God’s law. With this Original Sin, corruption entered humanity never to leave until God the Father imposed His Word onto us so that we could be saved.

In Paradise Lost, Satan says “He deserved no such return From me, whom He created... ... middle of paper ... ...alizes how good and powerful God actually is when God shows Adam and Eve mercy after they disobey Him. Milton proves to be on God’s side in many ways throughout Paradise Lost Including man’s free will, God’s creation, and God’s mercy. Even though he gives a greater description for Satan, Milton’s faith in God is seemingly more powerful. Paradise Lost proves that God’s Creation “is indeed the very exercise of God’s goodness which is apparent in all God’s works” (Sewell 125). Only God knows what is on the road ahead for mankind, but according to Milton God beholds the “…past, present and future” (III 77-78).

It was also believed by Protestants at the time that without deprivation during life, there was no ascent to Heaven upon death. Satan's flaw in one word was pride. For any true protestant, this is a terrible sin since any achievement is directly attributable to God and not to the man in question. Milton identifies pride as the cardinal sin b... ... middle of paper ... ...ms throughout Paradise Lost that this simple equation might work : since God is good and Charles II can be compared to God then logically it can be deducted that he is also good. Conversely, in the poem, we arrive at the conclusion that Satan is bad and this time, since milton compares cromwell to Satan then it would seem logical to deduce that cromwell is also bad.

Only then will they be forgiven. However, God did not take this action to be or become something of evil to those who were innocent in their wrong, He carried through this effort to purify the Earth of the corruption which was spreading throughout man. For he wants to correct the wrong and make man “Good”. Man was too spread-out, as well as corrupt, the only option left to God was to do as he did, flush man from the Earth and save those who he saw as worthy to re-establish Man. And so through this Chapter we see the vengeance and determination of God, to be right in being in such emotion, as His creation had become corrupt.

If Satan truly had no free will, then nothing would be his fault, as he alleges. God tells Jesus that humanity can find grace because Satan deceives it into falling, (3.130-2). But, if Satan is deceived into falling, can he also find grace? Works Cited: Milton, John. Paradise Lost.

In that area, archeologists found amulets inscribed with prayers to angels, asking for protection against evil spirits. It is reasonable to conclude that the people had called upon these angels for protection rather than completely relying on God. However, the greatest fault of the people of Colossae was not in seeking protection against evil spirits but in whom they sought that protection from. All things were created through Christ – it is he who has ultimate power over all things in heaven and earth, whether visible or invisible, thrones or dominions, rulers or powers. Anything that detracts from his supremacy over all things does not hold true to the gospel in which all men are to affirm.