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The character of satan in paradise lost
Satan characteristics in paradise lost
The character of satan in paradise lost
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Defining a character such as Satan, or Lucifer, is extremely difficult because of the sheer amount of emotion, and the immense personality that he portrays. Most think he is simply an evil being that was never really capable of feeling or doing good things. What most do not think about is that he was once an archangel and was amongst the tops ranks of the angels. Satan's personality traits are very deep but yet his motivations seem so childish. He is thrown from Heaven with his legions because he started a war over Christ. It was his pride that got him banished. Yet, it is persistence that humans value so much in a hero. So was he or was he not a heroic figure? Satan's personality helps this debate. Satan's characteristics and actions in Milton's Paradise Lost books one through four will be further investigated within this essay, to help see things in a different light.
Toward the beginning of book one, it is described that Satan will take over Hell and make it his own. The way that he proclaims this is interesting, however, saying, "....thou profoundest Hell/ Receive thy new Posse...
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.
Wicked, dishonorable, corrupt, villainous, malicious, and vicious all have one thing in common: they define evil. A person or a group of people that display these qualities are often to be defined as evil beings or creatures. Two people that have many of these characteristics developed within them are Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello and Lucifer from the Bible. Both Iago and Lucifer are developed with many “evil” qualities woven intricately into their character development. The representation of each “evil” characteristic gives them something they have in common allowing the description and portrayal of both Iago and Lucifer in literature show the audience they share common “evil” characteristics and that they lead to chaos and downfall.
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.
From the very beginning of time, many people believe that Satan is evil because they weren’t taught otherwise, but john Milton proves it in his poem that Satan is very much just like us, and you can be sympathetic for Satan because he disobeyed God .In paradise lost by John Milton, Satan is a sympathetic character because he comes off more like man then the figure of God. Anything he does, Feels, or acts on is just like a human
Milton uses many events like the ones listed above to encourage the reader to view Satan as a hero. "Satan is described to be the brightest and most important angel" (McColley 32). These traits of Satan show how one might recognize Satan as the second in power right below God, who was the highest power of all. Before Satan decides to give up what he has and to rebel against God, he was one of the wisest and most beautiful of all the angels in heaven (McColley 24). Although Satan was beautiful, the most important trait that makes him fit into the hero category is that he was the most powerful angel in heaven.
As described, heroism and its appearance are similar traits that are easily confused. However, assigning these qualities to (Aeschylus’s) Prometheus and (Milton’s) Satan makes these traits appear very different. Prometheus is a heroic character that is comprised of the very definition of heroism. Satan appears heroic; however, he his filled with cruel intentions and egotism that eventually exposes his character as a villain. “Paradise Lost” and “Prometheus Bound” establish and define a clear difference between a hero and someone who appears heroic; due to dominating protagonist roles and access to the characters’ motives.
Ask anyone to draw Satan and you 'll get a red snake-like figure with horns and a pitchfork. Satan, as introduced in the Hebrew bible is an unworthy adversary of God. His longing to be like God is quickly recognized and dealt with. God banishes him from Heaven and sends him to Hell. That 's the last we see of him until he talks with God about his faithful servant Job. In each interaction we see Satan in, we get only a glimpse of who he really is. Satan 's motive is not developed and we assume he does evil simply because he is evil
Mankind lives in a physical, tangible, material world, which is influenced by the invisible, spiritual world around us. The present day spiritual world is just as existent as it was nearly two thousand years ago when Lord Jesus walked the earth. The Old and New Testaments reveal to us from time to time, glimpses of this spiritual world. These Testaments provide us with the most factual information regarding Satan. Unfortunately, many have been misinformed and do not thoroughly comprehend Satan’s origin and what his purpose concerning the spiritual and physical world. There is a great need to set the record straight regarding Satan especially in our hour with its present angel craze, channeling and a belief in spirit guides. I chose Satan as the subject of my paper because I am one who does not thoroughly comprehend who he is and what his purpose in both the spiritual and physical world is.
The identity of the true protagonist in Paradise Lost is a mystery. One would gather that Milton, a Puritan, would have no problem casting God as the hero, and Satan as the antagonist. However, looking back in history, Milton saw that most epic heroes had conflicts that prevented them from accomplishing their goals. God and his Son have no conflict, and Adam’s story does not really begin until the Fall of Man. Therefore, Milton was forced to select Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost because he adheres to the guidelines of epic poetry set by Homer, Virgil and others. There are many examples of how Milton uses and edits the tradition of these previous epics in the formation of the Devil as a hero. One of the most basic examples of heroism in epic poetry is the exhortation of the leader to his followers. In The Odyssey, Homer lets Odysseus give a speech that would convince anyone they could survive the journey to the Strait of Messina, "Then we die with our eyes open, if we are going to die, or know what death we baffle if we can. (Ln.1243-1245)" After passing the Sirens, the ship approaches the Strait, and the crew sees the twin terrors of Scylla and Charybdis, they are mortified. Odysseus again lifts their spirits with this speech, "Friends, have we ever been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave? What power he had! Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find a way out for us?
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.
Milton shows that the potential for evil was innate in these beings and was not the result of corruption from an external force. Lucifer believes himself to be God’s equal and desires omnipotence for himself. Lucifer’s pride is his undoing, and he is cast into hell where he becomes Satan. The pride is intrinsic to Lucifer’s nature and results from God giving angels free will. Indeed, Satan later considers repenting and seeking God’s forgiveness upon seeing Earth and all of God’s creation and being overwhelmed by emotion. However, he realizes that even if he did receive forgiveness, he would grow dissatisfied with his position in heaven once again and fall a second time “book four quote “ . This establishes evil as being a constant part of Satan; the evil could not exist without the good, but it is an inherent part of
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. Following the standards of classic tragic heroes, Satan is a determined leader with an extreme amount of hubris.
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.
The great debate whether Satan is the hero of Milton’s Epic Poem, Paradise Lost, has been speculated for hundreds of years. Milton, a writer devoted to theology and the appraisal of God, may not have intended for his portrayal of Satan to be marked as heroic. Yet, this argument is valid and shares just how remarkable the study of literature can be. Milton wrote his tale of the fall of man in the 1674. His masterpiece is an example of how ideas of a society change with time. This is because it wasn’t until the 1800’s during the Romantic era, that people no longer saw the hero of literary works as perfect in every way. It started to become more popular to develop the flawed character similar to the ones written in the classics. A literary criterion that is based on a protagonist, who undergoes conflict on the outside and from within and is prevented by a specific flaw to accomplish their main goal, creates an epic Hero. In Paradise Lost, God does not face conflict because he is perfect and all-knowing, and Adam’s conflict is not presented from the very start, Satan’s is. Because Satan is the main character of the work and possesses qualities that would deem him heroic, such as his determination against tough odds, his ability to lead, and his human-like nature to error, he can be seen has the Hero of the famous poem.
In Milton's Paradise Lost, he writes the story of the fall of Satan, his followers, and mankind. Many critics often view Satan as the unlikely or tragic hero of the epic poem. Satan is, obviously, the main character throughout most of the poem, but not necessarily the hero. Satan's main purpose is to fight G-d, and try to be on the same level as Him. The important thing is to realize that Satan is sin, and being humans, who are all born into sin, we can easily relate to a sinful character. G-d is holy and perfect. This is something which we, being fallible humans, cannot begin to comprehend. Satan does, at the beginning, follow many of the attributes which coincide with Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero; however, after the first few Books, Satan looses his status as a tragic hero rather rapidly. Along with this, Satan's thoughts parallel the idea of "Evil, be thou my good," (p76, line 110) which is the opposite of what G-d intends.