The Motivations Of Satan In John Milton's Paradise Lost

John Milton grew up in a middle class family in London and was exposed highly to a variety of cultures. His father was highly devoted to the Protestant cause and this devotion wore off on Milton, which be demonstrated in many of his works. At the age 13, Milton began his formal education and was even tutored at home. He went on to several different higher learning opportunities and programs. By 1652, Milton found himself to be completely blind due to his long nights reading next to candle light. Nonetheless, he was completely devoted to writing a piece of literature as good or better than that of Homer and other great writers. His dream came to of creating a truly captivating piece of literature when his epic poem Paradise Lost came to light

Like most epic poems, this one begins in the middle of the story, after a majority of the actions that has occurred that could explain Satan’s motivations. The main goal of Satan is to corrupt man kind and lead them in the direction of sin in an attempt to rebel against God. Satan’s main motivations come from a disagreement with God, the all-powerful. This was basically a power struggle between the two and caused the punishment of Satan. This punishment and loss to God can be seen as the two primary motivations of Satan. He was able to recruit some rebellious angels as well, but one did leave his side. Because of his actions, Satan and his followers were dammed to hell, and as the epic poem opens up, they are chained to a burning lake as part of their punishment. This lead Satan to his actions of leading Adam and Eve into the evils of sin, “Who first seduc’d them to that foul revolt? Th’infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile stirr’d up with Envy and Revenge, deciev’d the Mother of Mankind, what time his pride has cast him out from Heaven,” (Pg. 6). His envy can also be characterized in a psychological profile of Satan as it is one of the leading causes for his actions. He can also be characterized as extremely

Some of the motivations of Satan in this epic poem come from his loss of power and punishment by God. These motivations can be seen as both evil and heroic, especially depending on perspective. One of his motivations that can be seen as extremely dangerous would be that of keeping Satan’s pride intact. Because of this motivation, he caused the corruption of mankind. A motivation that is seen as less dangerous and evil and more heroic is that of creating a good situation out of a bad one. To always have a decent outlook on issues is something that is very important to all epic heroes, because without this characteristic, they could never be seen as a hero. All of Satan’s motivations keep this epic poem by John Milton very strong and allow Milton to gain his goal of being one of the