York: the Fall of the Angels and Chester: the Fall of Lucifer
It is no doubt that the cause of the tortured condition of the state of affairs in the world today had to start somewhere. The universe which is created and governed by God can be a friendly habitat for humans as long as they follow their moral ideals. If there is a deviation from moral ideals, we can be sure that the forces of evil will find root in our thoughts and actions. Since ideals proceed from our minds, they become our own intentions. The two plays, York: the Fall of the Angels and Chester: the Fall of Lucifer are prime examples of deviation from God’s moral ideals and submitting to the forces of evil that are governed by pride and greed. Particular elements of pride
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The imaginative picture that Lucifer’s thoughts support in the York play is a valueless and meaningless picture. It only proves that Lucifer can not possibly realize the values of God’s gift of making Lucifer “the most next to me moste nexte after me” (York, 35, p. 13) and “morour of my Mighte to mirror my might (York, line 36, p. 13).” Lucifer’s thoughts blindly follow the perverted picture supported by the freedom of his will. Even though his sin is only a thought and no action, Lucifer’s alliterations like the “s” provide the signal pertinent to his serpent-like character. This serpent-like character provides subtle hints about his evil thoughts. The simultaneous blossoming of his serpent-like character and the spirit which guides this characterization creates for Lucifer’s thoughts of defiance. Lucifer fails to realize that, with the gift of free-will, God also provides him, and the other angels, with conscience. It is the conscience that guides the moral principles of what is good and what is evil. However, Lucifer’s conscience which should guide his free-will fights a losing battle in his thoughts. Because God is all knowing and has power over our minds, the consequences of Lucifer’s twisted thoughts cause the fall of himself and the angels from heaven.
The message that the York play imparts to the viewers or the readers of the play, is that, even though God provides for
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
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.
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.
- Religion is one of the theme that has been featured in the play,it is crucial to realize that the play intends to expose a
The playwright was trying to get quite a few messages when he created this play. First of all, I believe he was trying to show social change and the power and potential that an individual has inside of them, despite their circumstances. I think that this play/movie reveals the true messiness of life and how with the right mindset, you can make it through anything you
In William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,William Golding’s Lord of the Flies , and C. S. Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet all depict how mankind is born innocent and turned to evil. The stories show that this conversion to evil is caused by the influence of society or characters acting in the place of a society. The corruptibility of mankind is illuminated in these texts. The treachery, dishonesty, and murder as shown in the stories are not acts of innocence. In their books, the authors point out that mankind is not innately evil but instead born innocent and converted to evil by society.
“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.
Although humankind attempts its best at preventing evil actions, eventually evil rises above all else. While humans are living ordinary lives and living in ignorance, evil is always scheming and waiting to slide up behind the turned backs of society as depicted in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. One could argue that this is not the case and that good deeds always overshadow evil and that evil is just an occasional blip. However, what one’s opinion of society does not outshine the cold hard facts of humankind’s natural tendencies; specifically, how things are never as they seem, how easily humans can betray their emotions and how humans choose to ignore difficult situations in the search for an easy
God was very angry about this act of betrayal as he saw it and so he turned his head and the beautiful angel was dropped from God's hands and fell so far he reached a place of darkness and sadness to stay there forever... he chose to build and make his barren wasteland of a home into a place where, like he wanted Adam and Eve to be, whoever they want, to do whatever they want, to be free. Though he was in this place he still wanted to help the humans. through time god had whispered into the human's ears about how awful and evil Lucifer was, and if we worshiped god and followed his rules we could stay with him in heaven, But if we disobey the rules we are condemned to an eternal fire.
“Satan as archangel, before his fall, is never shown by Milton, but this stage of existence is often alluded to, as is the fact that some of his archangelic powers remain”(Carey pg.162). Satan is a character within Milton’s “Paradise Lost” who exemplifies a being on a journey to achieve goodness for himself by getting back at the being who put him into eternal damnation. Satan is forced by his own mind to rebel against God for what he has done to him by ‘making him fall from the eternal kingdom’. Satan is allowing himself to take up a journey through hell, heaven, and earth for the sole reason of trying to gain the seat of heaven because of his yearning for revenge against God, “Th’ infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile stirred up with envy and revenge.”(I.34-35). Satan tempts other beings by using a powerful technique known as pathos through his rhetoric seen in the passage, “Look on me, me who have touched and tasted, yet both live.”(IX.687-678) which shows Satan’s style of tempting Eve to eat of the forbidden tree through pathos. He offers himself up as the supernatural being who will take up an adventure which he is hoping will lead him to gain heaven for his own wants and cast God off his heavenly throne. Satan uses the demons in hell to help him achieve his goal of casting out those in power of heaven, which is shown in the quote “We may with more successful hope resolve to wage by force or guile eternal war irreconcilable, to our grand foe”(I.120-122) giving the
“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
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
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.
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
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.