If one were not imbued with the preconceived separation of Satan and God into evil and virtue, then the reader of John Milton’s Paradise Lost would undoubtedly judge Satan the poem’s hero and God as the ruler of an oppressive hierarchy in heaven. By his use of characterization and tone, Milton’s Satan becomes the sympathetic martyr of Paradise Lost.
Christianity paints Satan only in terms of evil: a jealous, “sinuous snake,” that tempts man to disobey God. However, the Bible fails to further analyze Satan’s motives and character, thus he remains a static “villain.” Milton’s portrayals of God and the fallen Archangel are more complex than the Bible assumes. Far from the righteous leader of the civilized world, Milton characterizes God as an all-consuming, unforgiving force that not only expels His rebel angels out of His Kingdom, but also damns them to a miserable existence of torment. As Satan led the insurrection against God’s thrown, he undergoes the most torture. God claimed to have bestowed all His creatures with Free Will, yet he punishes those who exercise that power by denying them the happiness of Heaven. “The Arch-Fiend lay Chained on the burning lake nor ever thence Had risen or heaved his head but that the will and high permission of all-ruling Heaven.” God is a proponent of Free Will; he allows Satan to operate and spread his evil throughout the world even though He could easily crush him. Apparently some crimes outweigh others in God’s eyes; a threat to His crown calls for immediate attention while the havoc wreaked upon the world by Satan is allowed because God has given the gift of Free Will to His creations- sometimes.
The Essay on Adam And Eve God Satan Milton
The purpose of Paradise Lost by, John Milton, is to "justify the ways of God to men." Milton uses the Bible as evidence to support his claim and explain the natural understanding of life as it is seen by many people. He uses Satan and Adam and Eve's life journey to explain the ways of God. To begin Paradise Lost, Milton tells of Satan's banishment from Heaven. He and his brigade have plotted war ...
To God, in accordance with Milton’s analysis, it is His way or no way at all; sure his creatures have a choice-worship Him or go to hell. The reader cannot help but notice that God seems less the kindly Heavenly Father and more the uncaring, hypocritical, and selfish Deity. If one might discard the black and white separation of “good” and “evil” it is easy to sympathize with Satan’s plight; thrown from his home because he disagreed with it’s King, deformed, and facing torture for the rest of eternity, he is justified in his decision to wage war against Heaven’s “Tyrant” for what other choice does he have? “To be weak is to be miserable” and to submit to the Will of God and lay passive is unacceptable to Satan, as it would to any Tragic Hero. However, because this particular hero is Satan the reader is hesitant to lay aside the preconceptions society has fed him. Milton’s portrayal of Satan forces the reader to evaluate who the true evil is: the creation endowed with free will but punished when he exercises it, or the “benevolent” Creator who grants his subjects free will but then denies them that gift.
Satan oscillates between deep despair and determination within Part I. Wracked by “torture without end,” chained “where peace and rest can never dwell, hope never comes…in utter darkness” Satan is still defiantly possessed of “the unconquerable will…Courage never to submit or yield…” He vows to continue his fight against the “tyranny of heaven” through “open war or guile.” The Archangel claims he fears God and whatever the “potent Victor in his rage can else inflict” no longer. Despite his outward bravado, Satan oftentimes views his faithful followers with signs of remorse and regret for he knows that it was he who condemned them to an eternity of torture, “far from the light of Heaven.” The initial tone of Satan’s discussion with Beelzebub reveals his uncertainty and fears. Milton describes the Archangel as “lost” as he asks his second-in-command “Is this the region, this the soil, the clime…We must change for Heaven, this mournful gloom For that celestial light?” However, Satan’s tone intensifies as it dawns that he is now ruler of hell- that although he has been thrown from Heaven, he is the master of this new domain “be it so, since he Who now is sovran can…bid what…be right…above his equals.” And then, a third time, the tone changes, and Satan resumes, bitter but triumphant “ Hail, horrors! Hail Infernal World! And thou, profoundest Hell Receive thy new possessor…Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” The passage is thick with irony: Satan’s greatest desire has come to fruition- he is now the Ultimate Ruler of his own kingdom. However, his wish has been granted at the expense of his expulsion from the only place he ever knew and loved. The vacillation in tones throughout Part I of Paradise Lost- from despair, to acceptance, to defiance, reveals Satan’s chaotic emotions, making him an altogether empathetic character to the reader.
The Essay on Milton's Paradise Lost And His Justification Of The Ways Of God To Man
When John Milton decided to write, he knew from the start he wanted his creation to be that of an epic. Paradise Lost is just that. It is Milton’s own take on the biblical story of Satan’s fall from grace as well as man’s fall. Milton was not only armed with an extensive knowledge on the Bible, but in everything a man of his time could learn. With his wisdom he emersed himself ...
Regardless of any “evil” Satan may possess, it is obvious that he is the true hero of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Milton’s use of characterization and tone support the Archangel’s position as protagonist and frequently justify his actions to the reader by juxtaposing the negative characterization of God with Satan’s heroic attributes.
