Creative Writing: Strangers In The Dumpster

“I promise I will be back before the sun has set on the horizon. Lie down and rest, when you awaken I shall be home.”

In addition, here, as throughout much the poem, Satan continues to hedge the other side of the argument, insisting that he isn't forced to do evil by opposing God, but that "to do ill our sole delight" (160). This belief that he has a choice in the matter is tied up in the misconception that he was, and continues to be, equal to God, as "reason hath equall'd" (248) them.  Quite to the contrary, Milton makes it clear that "the will And high permission of all-ruling Heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs" (211-3).  And it is only Satan's perverted sense of reason that convinces him that "The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n" (254-5).  He believes that his reason and contemplation will help him discover "How overcome this dire Calamity" (189), or failing that, change his will such that it fits his current circumstance.  This is the classic method of the delusional and disenfranchised, holding out hope for change, but at the same time putting forth the belief that the current situation can actually be beneficial.  The sophistry has shown through Satan's speech, as he declares that there is no way for God to beat him, in his mind, when we know he is already defeated.

Quote 2: “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed,

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.

“ Gabriel: ‘Oh, yeah… I know it. The devil’s strong. The devil ain’t no pushover. Hellhounds snipping at everybody’s heels. But I

My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world." (Shelly 132). When reading this quote we are shown that mankind has completely pushed away the creature, since the people who lived in the cottage rejected him he feels that he has lost all hope of connecting with mankind, once he learns that the people have completely left the village the creature goes into a state of anger which causes his dangerous escalate into a murderer. "Evil thenceforth became my good.” (Shelly 210). When the creature says this quote in the end of the book he is acting as if he is lucifer. In paradise lost lucifer says "farewell remorse all good to me is lost;/ evil, be thou my good." (Paradise lost IV.109-110). As the creature is reminiscing back on his life he realizes that he himself is more like lucifer than Adam, he is a fallen angel. And the creature continues to realize that even the most horrible people, including Lucifer the fallen angel, have people to be with and share thoughts. The creature has no one to love or care for him. Remembering all of the terrible things that he has done it causes the creature to think about his decisions and the decisions made by the society that ever so outwardly hated him. The creature is going to die with no one even though he tried to find companionship. Society did not accept the creature for who he is, therefor he was plunged into an icy

“ Gabriel: ‘Oh, yeah… I know it. The devil’s strong. The devil ain’t no pushover. Hellhounds snipping at everybody’s

“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.

“My brothers…that fatal hunt is up, and harrying our streets today. See him there, that angel of the pestilence, comely as lucifer, shining like Evil’s very self! He is hovering above your roofs with his great spear in his right hand, poised to strike, while his

The first few chapters seek to explain the psychology of Evil. He uses examples such as Lucifer’s transformation to Satan, acts of war, Genocide and his infamous “Stanford Experiment”. Lucifer, who was once a good angel, defied the words of God and was cast into hell for his actions. Soon after adapting to his life in hell, Lucifer took on the name of Satan, an evil demon who dedicated himself to evil.

In Milton’s Paradise Lost, surely we have come to ponder upon the makeup of Satan’s attractable character—his rebellious, seductive, almost “bad-ass” attitude—a case of admirable evil. But let us not forget his ambition, his strive to weld the image of God. We have seen many moments throughout where we get Satan’s ground for imitating the image of God: “…In imitation of that Mount whereon / Messiah was declar’d…” (V 764-65). But why does Satan do this? What is it in Satan that causes him to “look up” to God? Is God a tyrant yet a role model to Satan? I propose that Satan’s drive is something more than just an act of pretending; maybe, it is rather a means of trying to grasp what he has been taken away from him. Or, we can say that Satan was more. Perhaps he came to existence not in the mold of angel, but as a divine tool. There must be a reason as to: why Satan was considered God’s “first and favorite angel”? This seems to suggest that Satan is, originally, at some level of divinity; an experiment of God’s that was put to the test (or is a test)—a divine prototype.

“If the devil were doing this to delude me and drag me down to hell, he would make use of means which so completely defeated their own ends by taking away my vices…making me virtuous and strong; for it was quite clear to me that these experiences had immediately made me a different person,” (St. Teresa 43).

Milton, through Satan's soliloquies in Book 4, shows that Satan's idea of free will is a facade, and God carefully manipulates him to fulfill his plan of Adam and Eve's fall. While speaking, Satan inadvertently places doubts in the reader's mind that his will is free. Satan proves through his actions that God created him to act in a very narrow range, even though he himself does not realize this. The combination of pride, ambition, abhorrence of subordination, and ignorance of his own state as a puppet lead to perpetually diminishing stature and divinity.

Satan comes to man with his temptations as an angel of light, as he came to Christ. He has been working to bring man into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may overcome him with his temptations, and then triumph over his ruin. ...He well knows that it is impossible for man to discharge his obligations to God and to his fellow-men, while he impairs the faculties God has given him. The brain is the capital of the body... pg. 236

To illustrate, Milton's description of Lucifer not only suggests that he is the protagonist but that he is the hero, too. One example of Lucifer's heroic qualities can be seen after his fall from heaven and in his speech to his loyal followers saying, " And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?/All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,/And study of revenge, immortal hate,/And courage never to submit or yield"( Book I. l.105-109). In this speech to the other fallen angels, Lucifer demonstrates that there is still hope in their cause even when they have just lost the their confidence,