The Significance of Satan’s and Mephistopheles’s Villainous Motives in their Transgression
In both Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the concept of villainy is brought into question. The reader is made to question whether the main villain in the story is actually a hero, whose tragic experiences force him to take drastic measures, or if the villain is indeed carrying out his actions out of malice. However, it can be concluded, upon further analysis of the text that a fine line separates tragic heroism and villainy: the choices a character makes. Thus, we can conclude that the relationship between good and evil is, in its essence, a competition, both Marlowe’s Mephistopheles and Milton’s Satan have rare moments
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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
His determination is shown by the quote ‘He circled, four times crossed the car of night’. This makes it obvious to the reader that Satan’s desire for revenge is much more than a simple whim it is lust. In Book 2 of Paradise Lost, Satan’s determination is introduced as he leaves the other fallen angels in Pandemonium to wreak havoc on Earth and orchestrate their revenge. It is now, in book 9, that his efforts come to fruition, as Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge and convinces Adam to do the same, consequently, man falls. Despite this, Satan does not receive his full punishment until Book 10
Everyone remembers the nasty villains that terrorize the happy people in fairy tales. Indeed, many of these fairy tales are defined by their clearly defined good and bad archetypes, using clichéd physical stereotypes. What is noteworthy is that these fairy tales are predominately either old themselves or based on stories of antiquity. Modern stories and epics do not offer these clear definitions; they force the reader to continually redefine the definitions of morality to the hero that is not fully good and the villain that is not so despicable. From Dante’s Inferno, through the winding mental visions in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, spiraling through the labyrinth in Kafka’s The Trial, and culminating in Joyce’s abstract realization of morality in “The Dead,” authors grapple with this development. In the literary progression to the modern world, the increasing abstraction of evil from its classic archetype to a foreign, supernatural entity without bounds or cure is strongly suggestive of the pugnacious assault on individualism in the face of literature’s dualistic, thematically oligopolistic heritage.
In most works of literature there is an “evil” character that has conflicting interests with the protagonist. This issue may arise in multiple forms including, but not limited to, abuse and manipulation. In this paper we will be discussing the similarities and differences between Shakespeare’s character Iago from Othello and J.K. Rowling’s character Voldemort from the Harry Potter series.
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
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 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.
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.
The poem Paradise Lost by John Milton tells the epic story of Satan's demise and the fall of Adam and Eve. Satan, disgraced and in hell after a war between his devils and God's angels, works to destroy the purity and good of God's newly created Earth. As he schemes, Adam and Eve live in perpetual peace and happiness in the Garden of Eden as rulers of the Earth. Throughout the progression of the epic, it becomes evident that Eve and Satan contain many similarities. The correlations between these two characters help the reader understand why they act the way they do but also see the devastating consequences of those actions. Eve and Satan are both tempters and use the same arguments to persuade their victims; they also hold subordinate positions and want to elevate their statuses.
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.
After Satan is worshipped by the other fallen angels, he begins his journey to the new land. He notices that there are nine gates of Hell and approaches the one guarded by Sin and Death. After convincing them to open the gate , he continues on to find Chaos, Night, Confusion, Discord and a few others. He once again uses his rhetorical skills to convince Chaos to show him the way to Earth. Now that he knows where he is going he continues the difficult journey : " So he with difficulty and labour hard/Mov’d on, with difficulty and labour hee;" (1021-1022). Satan will stop at nothing to get to Earth. Milton 's description of Satan 's journey shows us his determination and his intelligence . Even God takes account of Satan 's drive and mentions it to the Son
One Writer;two tragedies and two really different murderers. William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Macbeth are generally common tragedies. Hamlet and Macbeth successfully deal with the need for royal power and its bad after effects.This essay examines the probable corollary that a tragic villain may possess and or including characteristics that may be on the same passing level with the tragic-heroes. Being hero-villains, Macbeth and Claudius present similarities.Both of them are magnanimous,driven by ambition,suffer internally,lack conscience and smart.
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.... ...
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
He knows that God is the most powerful being, and yet he still rises against him, wanting more than just God’s highest approval. As compared to most tragic and epic heroes, Satan begins in a position of supreme status, but his tragic flaw leads to his downfall. In Book I, Milton describes Satan’s fatal flaw of hubris. “Th’ infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile. Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived.
In order to attempt to discern if Satan is a tragic hero, his character must fit a certain profile. According to Aristotle's theory, the tragic hero has the potential to be great, but is doomed to fail. The tragic hero, although fallen, still wins a moral victory. The general characteristics follow that the tragic hero is a noble, is responsible for their fate, contains a tragic flaw, and is doomed to make a severe error in judgment. Eventually, the tragic hero falls from a high status, realizes the mistake that was made, faces and accepts their death, and finally ends in a tragic death. It is important to state that, in all tragic heroes, the audience is affected by fear and/or pity. In Paradise Lost, the reader is easily able to relate to Satan, even pity him at some points...