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Analyzing satans character in paradise lost
Satan's character in paradise lost a brief description of
Milton's view of satan
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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.
Satan is thought of as the tragic hero in Book 1 and 2 of Paradise Lost because he is shunned by God for trying to overthrow Him, and being ambitious enough to think he could be God. Satan, in my opinion, is not as much an evil individual, but more juvenile, and ignorant. He is displayed as juvenile because of his intentions to defeat God in Book 1, and in Book 2, when he comes up with the plan to corrupt God’s creation. He is ignorant in being that he actually believes that if God did not have thunder, then he could have easily defeated God. He continued to show ignorance by going behind God’s back, and trying to conquer him in childish ways.
Milton wrote Satan as a hero, because he was very influenced by the English Civil War during that time. During the English Civil War, Milton was on the side of the Puritans led by Cromwell against King Charles. He thought of King Charles as a tyrant that needed to be stopped, and Cromwell as the hero that had to ...
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...cially with the characteristics he gave him, and how he wrote God as the tyrant when in the minds of people; God is perfection, while Satan is the exact opposite. Satan is still the bad while God is good, but there will be many inconsistencies in the story, and with religion as a whole.
Works Cited
Bryson, Michael. “That Far Be From Thee”: Divine Evil and Justification in Paradise Lost.” Milton Quarterly 36.2 (2002): 87. Literary Reference Center. Web. 29 Nov. 2013
Wolfson, Susan, Peter Manning, David Damrosch, and John Milton. "Paradise Lost." The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Fourth ed. Vol. 1B. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 1726-772. Print. The Early Modern Period.
Woodman, Ross Greig. “Satan and Evil: A Study of Milton’s Satans in Relation to the Problem of Evil in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain’d.” (2012): OAlster. Web. 29 Nov. 2013
From the very moment that Satan is introduced he presents this unwavering passion to defeat his all-mighty creator. Satan says in book one, “By force, hath overcome but half his foe. (1:648-649). Here, Satan states in his second speech that they have not lost the battle of Heaven vs. Hell completely. God was stronger than they expected but they were going to overcome their first loss and win the next one. Not...
The struggle between good and evil, the rewards of Heaven, and the consequences of sin are all Christian themes shared in the works of Hildegard, Dante, and Milton. While their works vary in style and substance, they are informed by a common religious background and understanding. Hildegard’s Ordo Virtutum, Dante’s Inferno, and Milton’s Paradise Lost all have a common character in Satan. Satan in both the Ordo Virtutum and Inferno appears in a significant, but limited role. In Paradise Lost, Satan is a primary character and expresses a full range of traits and provokes a wide range of responses from the audience.
For example, in Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve struggle when they are exiled from Paradise, thus taking their first steps in the journey of humanities salvation. Satan, on the other hand, struggles to conquer his weaknesses and doubts, but he does so for the purpose of humankind’s damnation, and to gain glory and acclaim. Therefore, while Adam and Eve serve the greater good, Satan serves himself and seeks to fulfill his desires, he doesn’t rebel against God in order to fight the tyranny and to aid his accomplices who have fallen from heaven, rather, Satan does it merely to go against God’s whishes, and to impose his own order. Satan’s power of delivering flowery speeches is an asset at the beginning of the play, although he is blatantly lying and exaggerating, he succeeds in propeling the fallen angels to an uprising. By the beginning of Book IV, the true nature of Satan starts to become apparent. In the opening soliloquy of Book IV, Satan announces: “Me Miserable! Which way shall I fly, / Infinite Wrath, and infinite Despair? / Which way I fly is Hell: myself am Hell” (IV,73-74), in other words, Satan claims that he himself is Hell, and wherever he goes is Hell, thus, Satan justifies his evil deeds, as they come from the Hell inside of him. As the poem closes, Satan takes the form of a serpent and retires to Hell, after he tempts Eve to eat from the Tree of
Satan is very easy to sympathize because he is more like man than god is, he has more characteristics and feelings that god does not have. He has jealousy, fear, pride and he makes mistakes like we all do. His pride is what got him where he is today, thinking he could take over heaven for the better of the angels. But when has god ever made a mistake? He doesn’t because he’s so perfect. When one looks around it is clear every human around you is not perfect. We all make mistakes, regrets, but that does not mean we should be thrown away from earth. 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.
As a result of Milton's failed political aspirations, he believes that individuals do not construct truth, or decide for themselves what the truth is; instead, individuals receive the truth directly or indirectly from God. Conversely, deception comes from Satan. In Paradise Lost, Milton sets up this idea by forcing good to result only from obedience to God's will and evil to result whenever God is disobeyed. Dr. Evans' argument that Milton's ultimate point in all this is to express a moral position that is very extreme, that no quality or action can be innately good or evil, is firmly rooted in this model. What determines the morality of anything we do is in whose service we do it. Since Raphael was sent from God, his warning is true and divine. Since Satan disobeyed God, his ideas are all false lies. Part of Milton's ideology may have come from his own life experiences. After the restorat...
middle of paper ... ... Not only is he a heroic figure, but he also possesses characteristics of which mankind can identify with. Satan also doubts himself, has jealousy, confidence and does not know he is wrong when he is; all of which a reader can identify with. Satan is in the same position as human beings under an omnipotent God who has foreseen their fate and yet argues that they possess free will.
Satan frequently characterizes “the tyranny of heaven” and employs negative diction in his depictions of both heaven and God (I.124). His negative portrayals of God and his kingdom highlight his utter dissatisfaction with being subservient to God and, from that, his desire for autonomy. In the exposition of the text, Satan’s emotions toward God make themselves apparent when Satan “throws his baleful eyes / That witnessed huge affliction and dismay / Mixed with obdúrate pride and steadfast hate” (I.56-58). Satan reveals himself to be furious with his continued subjugation to God as well as his inability to truly revenge himself against his subsequent punishment. According to Satan, God’s dissimulation of his power tempted Satan and others to rise
Reichert, John. Milton's Wisdom: Nature and Scripture in Paradise Lost. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press. 1992
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.
While I still believe he is a villain due to his evil intentions, by making him the protagonist it is easier to understand his motives and his way of thinking. Milton attempted something practically unheard of and a revolutionary concept was developed. Stories are no longer so black and white because Milton presented the possibility of looking at an event through the eyes of the person most people would believe to be evil and show that these characters are more deserving of our sympathy than we realize. His intention to defend God through Satan 's perspective allowed people to be more understanding towards the fact that they would experience bad things in life, but that didn 't mean that God didn 't care. Milton gave people hope through his ingenious decision to make Satan the protagonist. It also is one of the reasons that his work became so famous. Milton truly accomplished his goal to create a work that would be just as good or even better than the best literature in the
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.
Satan demonstrates his leadership, intelligence, and traits valued by his fellow fallen angels within the first several books of Paradise Lost. Satan speaks eloquently throughout the entire work, which demonstrates both his intelligence and ability to manipulate others, “Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven!/For, since no deep within her gulf can hold/Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen,/I give not Heaven for lost...claim our just inheritance of old,/Surer to prosper than prosperity/Could have assured us, and by what best way, Whether of open war or covert guile,/We now debate; who can advise, may speak” (2.11-42). Satan beautifully addresses his peers and cunningly proposes a democracy, disguising his leadership and intentions of making the decisions himself. However, his companions in Hell blindly
Milton's introduction of Satan shows the reader how significant Satan is to Paradise Lost. He uses Satan's heroic qualities to his followers, and his ability to corrupt to show the thin line between good and evil. Satan was one of the highest angels in Heaven and was know as Lucifer, meaning, light bearer. This shows he was once a good angel. Milton makes the reader see him as a leader and a strong influence to all in his presence. He best describes Satan's ways when stating, "His pride/ had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host. / Of rebel angels, by whose aspiring/ To set himself in glory above his peers" (Milton Book I). Satan's pride was the main reason that God banned him from heaven. Satan always tried to be number one and a leader, instead of following in God's shadow. He would of lived a life in Paradise forever, but he had to follow his feelings as he states, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" (Milton 31). This shows how strongly he felt about not being above everybody else.
Question: Compare / Contrast the characterization of Satan/the Devil as he appears in the excerpts we’ve read of the Bible vs. the characterization of Satan as he appears in Book IV of Paradise Lost.
MacCaffrey, Isabel. "Satan’s Voyage". Modern Critical Views: John Milton . Bloom, Harold, ed. Chelsea House Publishers: New York, 1986.