The words, good and evil, and right and wrong, have been interpreted with ambiguity over the course of generations by humanity, and the finer details of their ethics are still obscured to even the most intelligent of minds, leaving us to often stay with the few basic tenants that seek to preserve humankind’s further existence. Throughout John Milton’s Paradise Lost we encounter this constant struggle between good and evil, as the enigmatic and eternal Satan—a character who is perhaps the chief hero, and protagonist of the epic poem—wages vain war against God’s tyranny in heaven. Satan, like all angels, is acutely aware of the differences that separate the abstract philosophies of what is considered to be right and wrong. And much like the theologians before him, Milton suggests that mankind, much like the angels of heaven, has also always possessed the ability to discern good from evil. However, Milton’s humanity—unlike the angels of heaven—has been given the opportunity of disobedience through the cursory act of consuming the fruit grown from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. This brings to question whether mankind’s choice of damnation was illusory, and that Eve was destined to eat the fruit of the tree, to be untouched by all but the divine hand of God, or that all beings under heaven must answer to God for the actions they took. While human views on fatalism are open to interpretation, Milton suggests throughout his work that all beings under God’s domain possess the ability to choose their fates, and govern their own destiny. This coincides with the views of the Rabbi Maimonides, and the dialogue of the angel Raphael.
Most religions of Jewish-origins elect that humanity was given access to the knowledge of good and evil by ea...
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...ill is a golden thread, running through the frozen matrix of fixed events (Heinlein). However, after applying the logic of free-will and choice as presented by John Milton and Maimonides, the words of the Turkish playwright Mehmet ildan seem more fitting. “We are not heavenly destined for a particular road; every road is our destiny; every path and every passage is our fate” (ildan). Ultimately, it is you who decides the life you live. Everything else is simply mockery.
Works Cited
Heinlein, Robert A. The Rolling Stones. New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.
ildan, Mehmet Murat. Quotations. 21 October 2009. 1 March 2010 .
Maimonides, Moses. The Guide for the Perplexed. Trans. Michael Friedländer. New York City: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2004.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. 2nd. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2004.
Hell is huge but it isn’t big enough. Within the text of Paradise Lost by John Milton, it is, A universe of death, which God by curse Created evil, for evil only good,Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds,Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,Abominable, inutterable, and worse… (II.622-6)There is no satiety in Hell. Eden, by comparison, is a relatively small place in Milton’s epic poem, but it seems to be an environment replete with satisfaction. Or is it? We students of experiential literature owe Milton a debt of gratitude for helping us to experience our forebears’, that is Adam and Eve’s, lack of satiation within a paradisiacal environment. This paper will explore the topic of satiety within that environment; and, along the way, discuss the concept of singularity found in Cavendish’s Blazing World for comment upon that satiation.
Many arguments have been made that Dante’s Inferno glimmers through here and there in Milton’s Paradise Lost. While at first glance the two poems seem quite drastically different in their portrayal of Hell, but scholars have made arguments that influence from Dante shines through Milton’s work as well as arguments refuting these claims. All of these arguments have their own merit and while there are instances where a Dantean influence can be seen throughout Paradise Lost, Milton’s progression of evil and Satan are quite different from Dante. Dante’s influence on Milton is noted by many scholars and is very apparent in several instances throughout Paradise Lost, however, Milton shows a progression of evil through his own vision of Satan and creates a Hell that is less meticulously constructed than Dante’s and more open to interpretation.
The basic Christian view of Milton's Paradise Lost is that a purely evil being, the anti-god if you will, Satan, is the cause of all of human downfall. Briefly the story goes like this, first God creates everything, but a rogue angel named Lucifer wants more out of existence so he attempt a coup d'etat of heaven. He fails, as he had no chance to begin with, as the Christian god is omnipotent. He is thrown into hell and is royally pissed off. Like a teenager with too much time, he finds a way to truly anger god by tempting and eventually corrupting God's precious, new, perfect world by introducing "sin", which is an action of some sort that angers this God. The humans are banned from perfection, grounded for the rest of eternity, and told to sit in a corner until their omnipotent God can find out some way to dispose of this "evil" being, which, thousands, if not millions, of years later, apparently still hasn't happened. The only problem with this interpretation is that it is made by humans with years upon years of religious brainwashing, and uses absolutely no logic at all. They know for a fact (blind faith) that God is good Satan is evil. But Is Satan really the most evil thing in existence? Is God perfect and loving? Was eating the apple really a bad thing?
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.
Collins, John J. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.
When a person hears Satan, a streak of fear, and the thought of evil arises. People fear Satan, and think of him as evil, but in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he displays a thought of the Father being the evil being, and Satan a tragic hero. In Paradise Lost, Book 1 and 2, the minor areas where God is shown, He is displayed as hypocritical. He contradicts himself by creating the humans to be of free will, but when Satan displays free will, he is shunned. Satan could be described in many terms, and by many people, but all can be disputed. According to my sources, Satan is displayed as the hero, while God is the evil deity, and Milton was wrong for writing Him as so. In this essay, I will show my thoughts on the subject of Satan as an evil deity, and other’s opinions on the matter.
Paradise Lost is an epic poem portraying John Milton’s theological standpoints. The theme is knowledge and the fall of man. Milton uses his poem to state some of his theological beliefs and his personal reflections. Milton wrote Paradise Lost in the 17th century but uses influence from classic poets. Milton’s epic is an extremely important piece of literature. The excerpt used in this commentary takes on the subjects of sin and the punishment with regards to the atonement from God’s point of view. Milton’s states many of his own theological opinions but wants the reader to know that God is justified in everything that he does, and also wants them to know that man has free will.
Milton’s adherence to orthodox views resulted in an uninspired portrait of Heaven. Hell, in contrast, was greatly developed; the vivid imagery of the volcanic and desolate terrain gave Hell a genuine ambience. Milton described Hell as a “lake of fire” (280) and commented on the “Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire” (77). He indicated that darkness is given off instead of light: “No light, but rather darkness visible” (63). The devils, especially Satan, were characterized in more detail than the angels or God. The first two books of Paradise Lost featured the fallen angels’ debate regarding their future plans. As a “true Poet” Milton sought to appeal to the emotions of his readers. The natural human inclination towards evil inspired Milton’s powerful description of Hell as opposed to his unimaginative view of Heaven.
In John Milton’s epic, Paradise Lost, the author establishes Satan as the most complex and thought-provoking character in the tale through his depiction of Satan’s competing desires. Throughout the first four books of Paradise Lost, Satan repeatedly reveals his yearning both for recognition from God and, simultaneously, independence from God. The paradox that prevents Satan from achieving his desires may be interpreted as a suggestion of Milton’s establishment of a sympathetic reading for this character, as he cannot truly find happiness. In actuality, the construction of Satan’s rivaling aspirations evince Satan’s repulsive depravity to Milton’s audience and encourage readers to condemn his character.
Images and allusions to sex and death are intermingled throughout John Milton's Paradise Lost. The character of Satan serves as not only an embodiment of death and sin, but also insatiated sexual lust. The combination of sex and lust has significant philosophical implications, especially in relation to themes of creation, destruction, and the nature of existence. Milton, in Paradise Lost, establishes that with sex, as with religion, he is of no particular hierarchical establishment. However, Milton does not want to be confused with the stereotypical puritan. Milton the poet, seems to celebrate the ideal of sex; yet, he deplores concupiscence and warns against the evils of lust, insisting lust leads to sin, violence and death.
John Milton’s Paradise Lost continues the epic tradition developed by the ancient Greek and Roman poets. Composed in exact imitation of its predecessors, the work depicts all characteristics of a traditional epic poem—including the epic hero, a powerful embodiment of societal values. Milton presents his hero in a most unpredictable form: Satan. Despite the unorthodox oddity, the former archangel exhibits the conventions of an epic hero. Milton’s forced perception of Satan as the hero of the poem reflects his stated purpose for writing the piece. By placing Satan in a traditional heroic role, Milton illustrates his manipulative and cunning nature, which anyone can easily fall prey to, and resultingly fashions Satan into an antihero.
The question of whether Satan is the hero or the villain of John Milton’s Paradise Lost has been largely debated by scholars over the centuries. The ones who believe Satan is the villain of the epic, more commonly known as the Anti-Satanists, tend to argue that Satan is too foolish to be considered a hero, as his “hostility to Almighty power” is ultimately a futile endeavour (as God’s power is omnipotent) (Carey, 135). C.W. Lewis, also an anti-Satanist, goes as far as to claim that to “admire Satan, then, is to give one’s vote not only for a world of misery, but also for a world of lies and propaganda, of wishful thinking” (Lewis, 203). The ones who claim Satan is the hero of the epic, the Satanists, perceive him as the rebellious angel who rises up and defies God’s monarchy and “the tyranny of Heav’n” (174).They choose to focus on Satan’s “nobler qualities, his loyalty in leadership, fortitude in adversity, unflinching courage and splendid recklessness” (Satan/Promo, 3). While these two positions are both valid, this paper will be focusing on a third position; the individuals who believe that Satan is neither the hero nor the villain of the epic. Helen Gardner addresses this notion, claiming how “Satan is, of course, a character in an epic, and he is 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 Los...
John Milton’s Paradise Lost is an epic poem that describes the fall of Satan and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. Satan is the protagonist of Paradise Lost and has several characteristics in which readers may identify with him. Throughout the poem, Satan is not only a tragic hero but also the key character that drives the plot and portrays many flawed human qualities. As an angel fallen from the high esteem of God and a possessor of hubris that leads to his downfall, he represents a tragic hero but also a character in which readers may identify with.
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...
In his epic poem Paradise Lost, John Milton presents Satan as a complex and multifaceted figure. As Jeffrey Burton Russell describes in The Prince of Darkness, Milton’s goal in writing this epic poem was to “justify the ways of God to men” (Russell, chap.12, p.15). With this in mind, it is easy to interpret the character of Satan as a mere foe, the evil at the opposite of God’s goodness, and to see God as the obvious protagonist of the poem. Things in Milton, however, are not quite as black and white, and while the justification of God’s actions is at the centre here, it is the character of Satan who drives the poem forward, as a protagonist should.