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Mythology and its effect on modern culture
Mythology and its effect on modern culture
Mythology and its effect on modern culture
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Satan: Hero or Villian
If I was to ask people on the street about Satan I doubt many would call him a hero. This has been an argument among readers of “Paradise Lost” for decades. At first Satan can be seen as a hero but throughout the story it becomes more and more obvious that he is anything but.
Before being able to decide if Satan truly is a hero or not, you must look at both sides. A hero by definition is a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character. Some people will say he is a hero because he embarked on a courageous mission to destroy Gods creation when no other out casted angel would. Others will say he isn’t one because how can a hero be a hero when their whole goal is to destroy something? Maybe the question is purely
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This allows the reader to understand and sympathize with him for being sentenced to hell. Satan says living in hell is better than serving in heaven, “Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least, We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built, Here for his envy, will not drive us hence, Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce, To reign is worth ambition though in Hell, Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.”(John Milton 1667) This can sway readers to believing that maybe he is a victim to Gods rule and eventually we see him as a hero who starts to make his way through chaos to find earth and free his self and his followers. Along the way to destroying Gods creation we can see Satan have a hard time with his revenge pan because everywhere he looks he sees something that brings his reminders of heaven and feelings that could be seen as a good thing. For example when Satan sees innocence “And should I at your harmless innocence Melt, as I doe”(John Milton 1667) Being able to see this side of him opens up the possibility if Satan being the hero a little more. Anyone who has read a book about heroes knows that they go above and beyond to save the day which is kind of what Satan does in the eyes of the other outcast angels who look up to him. The readers being able to see Satan as a hero and leader in his own world full of villains enables them to view him as a hero in Gods
A hero is defined as "someone admired for his bravery, great deeds or noble qualities". There are three categories to which all heroes can be classified into, one of which is the anti-hero genre.
This sources provides a well of content and most importantly a look at Satan. This in-depth look lends a great hand in the sorting of details. The timeline given will be a great help.
In Paradise Lost Satan Ends up telling us how much he hates God and tells us this,"To do aught good never will be our task,/But ever to do ill our sole delight,/As being the contrary to his high will/Whom we resist. If then his providence /Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,/Our labor must be to pervert that end,/And out of good still to find means of evil" (Milton 745). Satan in this quote basically says that he will will stop at nothing until he gets his revenge against God. This corresponded to the monster quite well.
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
Satan is an allegorical representation of God the Father. Both Satan and God are seen as Father figures; God as the Father of all that is virtuous, and Satan as the Father of all that is wicked. Just as God is the King of heaven, Satan claims himself King of Hell. God is the originator of Goodness, as Satan is the originator of Evilness. All in all, Satan is a perverse representation of God.
In considering Aristotle’s idea of hamartia, someone who is a good person, but fell from grace, and apply it to Satan then it seems reasonable to interpret Satan as having hero like characteristics. Aristotle would say that a courageous person is inspired by confidence, faces dangerous, and acts appropriately to this courage (Nicomachean Ethics). Not only is Satan a courageous figure, but starts off as a good character even though he makes mistakes along the way. In the first two Books Milton does this very thing of portraying Satan as a hero to appeal to the readers so that they are able to identify with his charact...
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.
Seeing paradise only reminds Satan of what he lost as a result of his fall from Heaven. Satan comes to the conclusion that he is the very embodiment of hell, bringing it everywhere he goes : “The Hell within him, for within him Hell /He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell/One step no more then from himself can fly (20-22).” Compared to the Bible, we actually get to see the torment Satan suffers as he lives his life as God’s adversary. Satan actually takes responsibility for his fall , pointing out the flaws that led to it: “Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down” ( 40 ) . Unlike the Satan in Genesis and Job, Milton’s Satan clearly understands why he has fallen. As Satan continues to ponder his situation , he realizes that even if there was a chance for his redemption, he would never be comfortable being God’s servant. Sooner or later, the same feelings of inferiority and the desire to overthrow God would rise. Satan becomes bitterer as his soliloquy goes on and resolves that his fate is sealed : “So farwel Hope, and with Hope farwel Fear,/ Farwel Remorse: all Good to me is lost;/Evil be thou my Good;”( 108-110). He then goes on to continue his revenge plot on God. Angry with God for putting him in the position to fall , Satan sees the same potential for failure in Adam and Eve. He then explains that it is in fact God’s fault that he must corrupt them and tells them to “ Thank him
In today's modern times we hear the word hero all of the time. The news media throws the term around as if it is an everyday word. What exactly is a hero? Who, or what, can be classified as heroic? The correct definition of the word hero is: One invested with heroic qualities in the opinions of others. That is a fine definition for books and intellectual minds. To the average person, however, a hero is much more.
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?
Helen Gardner addresses this notion, claiming how “Satan is, of course, a character in an epic, and he is in 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 Lost, and argue that from the textual evidence, these aspects of Satan are ultimately ambivalent, thus Satan cannot be categorized as either the extreme hero or the extreme villain, but rather as a dramatic figure with both heroic and villainous characteristics. The preliminary depiction of Satan’s actions in Paradise Lost appears after Milton describes God, his kingdom of heaven, and his children Adam and Eve.... ...
It is important to notice that Satan is punished twice in this story for his actions regarding his rebellion and his part in the fall of mankind. Satan’s first punishment is being banished to Hell, which is described as, “…A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, / As one great furnace flam’d: yet from those flames / No light, but rather darkness visible…” (Paradise Lost 1: 61-63).
Without Satan’s Rebellion, man would possibly not have been created and would certainly not have fallen, and no justification of the ways of God to man would have been necessary or possible. A proper understanding of the rebellion of Satan is likewise essential to the whole philosophic meaning of the epic (The motivation of Satan’s Rebellion)
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
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.