Characteristics Of Satan In Paradise Lost

Satan’s character embodies the idea of a heroic figure because he questions what he feels to be true, even though his tragic fall is that he becomes easily misguided.

However, craving independence from God ferociously backfires on Satan when he finds out that even after leaving hell, he cannot escape it, “which way [he] [flies] is Hell, [he] [himself] is Hell,” (IV, 75). Satan finds his way to revolt against and separate from God to overrule Heaven and become king, instead however, he takes on the role of the representation of all evil which is evidently seen in his interactions with Eve.

Satan was unwilling to back down, no matter how great God’s power. This mission stands out as an element of the epic hero. In almost all epics written the hero has to stifle past guarded boundaries in order to complete goals. Satan’s bravery in trying to learn answers concerning his existence in heaven and his damnation to Hell is noble. Determination to derive truth is an admirable quality. Though his bitterness creates negative characteristics, his core purpose is not entirely blasphemous. He considers all that is placed before him and says in book 1, “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven” (263). He knows that Hell is a place of doom and torture, but he is committed to living there with dignity and hopes to eventually rise above the creator and gain back what he feels he is entitled to as a living being. This acceptance of his conditions and determination to overcome makes him the underdog that an audience cannot help but root for. Everyone knows what it’s like to be in dark place with no visible escape. People want to be able to relate to a character that remains hopeful. In this sense Satan seems very heroic and critics have even gone as far as interpreting God as the villain.

In (Revelation 12:3) Satan appeared as a 7 headed dragon that had a crown on every head. He became so jealous and full of pride that he threw a rebellion against God. Isaiah 14 says “ I will raise my throne above the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14 12-15 NIV). A war broke out in Heaven, Michael and his angles fought Satan (Revelation 12:7). This next verse proves that Satan is truly evil, It says “Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.” (Revelation 12:4 NIV) That clearly shows that he wants nothing good for us and wants to destroy us. Hell was originally for Satan only, but in Genesis God gave us the choice to live in eternally in heaven or go to hell. The

In book I of “Paradise Lost” the speaker characterized Satan as a leader based on his ability to lead the falling angels. By “Paradise Lost” being a Christian poem some may wonder why Satan is considered a powerful leader. I believe Milton portrays Satan as a heroic figure in order to show God’s ultimate power.

Satan’s fall can be easily broken up into four steps: he came to think of himself too highly, putting himself equal to God; he made a following for himself; he plotted a rebellion with his fellow rebel angels; and he attempted to carry out the rebellion. His attempt to overthrow God and obtain power was, however, futile and easily thwarted. Satan was severely demoted and he spent the rest of the plot trying to pervert every good thing as if it would be to any avail to do so. He attempted to exert his own powers over creation and tried to get a foothold so that he could gain more power. His extreme arrogance led to his fall from grace. “This is the same willfulness which lies behind his rebellious claim in heaven that he is ‘self-begot’…What Satan the general refuses to give up here…is…individual glory, which he pursues at all costs.” (Loewenstein, 56-57). Considering that Satan was an angel in the presence of God at the beginning, he had no excuse such as ignorance to claim. Satan’s rebellion began within himself with little else to prompt him. Satan had the ambition to raise a rebel force, but army or no army, he surely would have thought himself more powerful than he ought have. His pride also got in the way of him ever being restored to his former position. “As part of his task of exculpating God…Satan explains that even if he could repent and get back to heaven ‘by act of grace’, it would do

“O Hell!” Satan’s opening exclamation of frustration immediately alerts readers to Satan’s state of mind. As Satan gazes on Adam and Eve, he is struck by their blissful state, which sends him into a spiral of confusion as he slightly reconsiders his plan to destroy them. To himself, Satan addresses the pair; he begins regretful and with pity for Adam and Eve. He later shifts in tone to vengeful, envious, and angry. Further exemplifying Satan’s contrasting attitudes, Milton uses antonymous words of emotion throughout the passage. By the end of passage, Milton solidifies Satan’s hardening of heart and ends the struggle that has been festering inside Satan since his first act of rebellion against God. Milton successfully uses both the shift in tone and the emotional diction to reveal Satan’s stormy internal conflict.

Overall I think in the poem “Paradise Lost” Satan’s character was meant to be more attractive to the readers so they would also be seduced by his ways. His character was meant to be more liked then he usually is in things such as the Bible. He was not necessarily meant to be looked at as the hero, but he was described in such a way that it tempted the readers to like him. Just like Satan lured people in and made them do the wrong things Milton lured in his readers to like Satan. He did such a great job that I felt sorry for Satan. But he also made us see everything from Satan view. Which basically

John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, has been the subject of criticism and interpretation through many years; these interpretations concur in that Adam and Eve are the sufferers of the poem, and it is their blight to lose Paradise because of their disobedience; however, their exile is merely a plight brought by Satan, and it is he who suffers exile before any others. Satan changes from Book I of the poem to Book XII; his introduction is heroic and grand, appearing as a hero rebelling against an unjust God. But by the finalization of Milton’s poem, Satan is a burnt shell of himself and, though ruler of Pandemonium, he sits in a throne in the lowest pit from God’s light. Satan’s exile brings forth the salvation of mankind and his own regressive transformation; tying in with the theme of disobedience, Satan’s exile gives

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

Throughout time, John Milton's Paradise Lost has been studied by many people and comprehended in many different fashions, developing all kinds of new interpretations of the great epic. There have been many different interpretations of this great epic. Milton's purpose in writing the epic was to explain the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Although the epic is similar to the Bible story in many ways, Milton's character structure differs from that of the Bible's version. All through out the epic Milton describes the characters in the way he believes they are. In book II of Paradise Lost, Milton portrays Satan as a rebel who exhibits certain heroic qualities, but who turns out not to be a hero.

God throws Satan and his followers into hell for their defiance. Satan shows rebellion towards God, this is the first rebellion there ever was. According to Webster’s dictionary rebellion is organized opposition to authority, a conflict in which one faction tries to take control from another. I think rebellion also includes disobedience. John Carrey says that in the epic “Satan concedes his own criminality, and his own responsibility for his fall. He facilitates between remorse and defiance. He confesses that his rebellion was completely unjustifiable, that he had the same freewill and power to stand as all God’s creatures, and that he therefore has nothing to accuse but heavens free love dealt equally to all”(134). Basically Satan did this to himself. We do not really understand why Satan defied God and we probably would not understand.

One of these obstacles is Satan’s insecurity; he encounters moments of weakness along the pathway to glory, but he recognizes them and grows stronger in his resolve, like a true classical hero. For example, when Satan enters Eden he is amazed by its beauty. Again he considers repenting to God but he justifies the bitterness he feels as foretelling of evil actions he intends to commit on humans (and snakes). Additionally, he has to justify the reason he rebelled once again and convince himself that he is hell and, “in the lowest deep a deeper deep / still threatening to devour me opens wide / to which the hell I suffer seems a heaven,” he is happier now than he was in Heaven (4.1-78). He goes on to say that he will feel no fear or shame in doing evil because evil is his good (4.104-113). Satan accomplishes his goal of tempting Eve to evil against God, and so slithers victoriously back to Hell. When he reaches Hell, he is treated like a king by his followers.

While many arguments can be made to defend Satan as the hero of this story, his power clearly declines throughout the poem. In the end, he does not achieve his goal. Satan is “bitter, but also acknowledges the reality of his circumstances” (Smith). We see Satan reach his peak, then his power gently declines by the end of the story. Although Satan is powerful and persevering, he is no match for God. We begin to see more of his flaws. Satan is undoubtedly charismatic and persuasive in his speeches, as well as a powerful military leader, yet he seems to be somewhat hypocritical as well. For example, when we are first introduced to Satan, he tells his followers not to be afraid, yet he is afraid himself. Some might view this as Satan being brave, but this could also be viewed as him being deceptive, which illustrates how he

As Satan later claims, “To reign is worth ambition .. /Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.” (PL, I: 262-63, p.156) His statement suggests that his fatal flaw might be his ambition, his desire to become even more powerful than he once was. This image of Satan having a 'fatal flaw', something that drives him into destruction, connects him with the idea of Aristotle's hamartia, and connects him to the imagery of the other a 'good person' who has fallen from grace, but is nonetheless a hero. Satan is also connected to Aristotle's idea that “heroic virtue is superhuman, godlike, and divine”5, when he is described to be “stretched out huge in length” (PL, I: 209, p.155) across the lake, further imprinting the image of his heroic status.