John Milton: A View of Evil vs. Ignorance Essay

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

Milton presents us Satan entering as a mist into the Garden of Eden, “night mists and fogs were associated with evil and pestilence, since moist night air was supposed to have carried contagion” (Flannagan, Roy 463) As the books develop, instead of presenting Satan with a magnanimous image, he portrays Satan as an image of decadence, for the passions that rule Satan, such as pride, ambition, and envy are not heroic: “The heroic qualities which Satan brings to his mission, the fortitude, the steadfast hate, the implacable resolution which is founded on despair are qualities not to be imitated or admired”. (B. Rajan 107) Although Satan claims to be free, he is the slave of his selfhood, and Hell follows him wherever he goes. We know, even Satan knows, that God permits evil to exist because free will cannot exist without the choice between good and evil, therefore Satan’s existence cannot be seen as nothing else but as a necessary evil, for the breach that separates him from God is so great that no reconciliation could possibly heal it. Satan’s inability to be other than he is, is the main cause of his downfall and eternal damnation, and the loss of his splendor, hence Satan remains for the reader as a condemned, confounded, and damned poetic force, which was presented as a hero only as a mere illusion by Milton for the

In “Paradise Lost” I think that Milton’s character Satan may be considered one of the most complex characters and is always changing. Of course at first he comes off as a very evil guy, who had a strong thirst for vengeance and liked to wreak havoc. Even though

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.

Paradise Lost was written by John Milton in the 17th century, and through the course of time it has stayed an important fixture in Western Literature. It tells the story of how one of God’s angels (known as Satan) fell from grace, and how he plotted to turn God’s creation of man to sin. While going through the text Milton portrays Satan as the antagonist, and God and his Son as protagonists, and while Milton portrays this idea pretty clearly it has stemmed a topic of scholarly debate. This debate is can Satan be viewed as a heroic figure? And to push the idea further, what are the ways in which Satan can be described as an epic hero? While this is a question that has been tossed around for years it has remained

Through his creating on Paradise Lost, John Milton was greatly influenced by three alterations in his life: religious conversion, lose of family and political fail. Firstly, although he was born at a Catholic family, he converted to Protestant while he only partially accept its teaching. His individual christian ideas brings complicated aspects on his literary works such as Paradise Lost. Secondly, he lost his wife and first son while he was working on his epic poem which some of the characteristics of Satan had been polished and sympathized. Thirdly, I believe Charles II, the son of whom had been opposed by Milton, regained power after the downfall of Oliver Cromwell gave potentially impressed him of God’s image. In his words, God “sits/high throned above all height bent down His eye/His own works and their works at once to view”. It demonstrate God is contradictory which presents two conflicting characters. Compared with God’s description, Milton tells of Satan's banishment from Heaven in Paradise Lost, and Satan is a complex

The poem “Paradise Lost” and the novel “Northern Lights” both have a focus on the traditional character role of Satan. The character of Satan is a complex one as he is usually considered to be evil, however they also display natural human traits that the reader or audience can relate to. In John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, Satan is a central part of the story. While he is depicted as a hero at the beginning, this changes as the story develops and Satan starts to behave in a more sinister manner. This is shown in the ways that Satan tries to rebel against God and Heaven, as he does not want the structure and order that comes from following a God and instead wants freedom from this, even if it leads to chaos. Satan does not allow anyone or anything to get in the way of completing his task. His dedication to his cause is his only reason for doing what he does, even if it causes death and destruction on the way. Philip Pullman also portrays the character or role of Satan in the “His Dark Materials” trilogy through the character of Lord Asriel. He is very similar to Milton’s Satan in many ways due to Pullman’s inspiration from Paradise Lost; however Lord Asriel uses different methods to achieve his aims. While Asriel would have been considered as a purely evil character in most contexts, the way that he is shown to the reader in Northern Lights allows the reader to sympathise with his beliefs to some extent. This is what makes the character of Satan unique as he possesses many qualities that usually belong to the hero of a story; however he has goals that are morally wrong.

Satan is a character that has been ridiculed and teased in our modern world because of his symbolization of evil, combined with the underlying hypothesis that good will always triumph over evil ultimately questioning and mocking his presence. In Paradise Lost John Milton frays from the typical view of Satan as the devil-on-your-shoulder by having the readers absorbed in the idea that they actually feel sympathetic towards this evil creature. Within lines 605-645 in Book 1 Milton humanizes Satan on a level that the readers can relate, which aids to their view of sympathy towards him. These lines establish a struggle within Satan and illustrate his banishment from Heaven, which brought him

In Paradise lost by John Milton, Satan preforms the role of a revolutionary leader in order to have his band of demons and fallen angels trust him, but also for the readers to be charmed by him. There are readers that would initially consider Satan to be the hero of Paradise Lost because of many compelling qualities that Satan shows that make him intriguing to the readers, but also because of how the author portrays Satan’s overcoming his doubts and weaknesses and disguising him in a way to making the reader think that Satan is the hero, but in reality he is downright villainess. Satan’s more compelling qualities to making him seem the heroic and more appealing type, where deliberately shown by Milton early in Paradise Lost to accentually draw the reader into sympathizing with Satan even though the reader knows that Satan actions are atrocious and in doing so Milton shows how we the reader are like Adam and Eve and can be

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.

Satan’s definitions include the advocate of God, a personification of evil, the fallen angel, a spirit created by God, and also the accuser. People see Satan differently, some know of his existence, others think of him as just a myth, and there are those that just ignore him. John Milton's Paradise Lost tells of Satan's banishment from Heaven and his gain of earth. He and his brigade have plotted war against God and are now doomed to billow in the fiery pits of hell. Satan is a complex character with many different qualities. God is a character who we, as Christians, know about but do not completely understand. We also do not completely understand Satan. Some may think they know Satan but when asked “Is Satan divine?”

In the poem of ?Paradise Lost?, critics disagree with Milton for portraying Satan as a hero, while many oppose it; others view it as Milton?s style. Even-though within the poem Milton carries the same moral concepts and ambiguity of Satan?s heroism which has been a topic of discussion for more than three centuries (Murphy). Aristotle?s idea of hamartia to a reading of ?Paradise Lost? is rational of that of Satan, because he is perceived as a strong leader to the fallen angels and has tremendous importance which can be viewed as a hero. Even-though throughout the poem, he struggles to overcome his apprehensions, he eventually choses to dedicate himself to evil. Satan goes though many constructions; one is the way Milton sees him and the other which is not as evident, but in the context itself (Murphy). Satan lacks strength to accomplish his goal of corrupting mankind as well as becomes unable to judge God?s grace and is not able to find a way of making his past right. Therefore, he is punished by being condemned to eternal Hell. There is really no consideration if Satan is morally perverse, the only things that is comparable is his consequences of his difference within his morality and his literary heroism.

John Milton divided the characters in his epic poem Paradise Lost into two sides, one side under God representing good, and the other side under Satan representing evil and sin. Milton first introduced the reader to the character Satan, the representative of all evil, and his allegiance of fallen angels that aided in his revolt against God (Milton 35). Only later did Milton introduce the reader to all powerful God, leader and creator of all mankind (John). This introduction of Satan first led the reader to believe acts of sin were good, just like Eve felt in the Garden of Eden when she was enticed by Satan to eat the fruit off of the Tree of Knowledge (Milton 255). The later introduction of The Almighty had the readers change their feelings towards sin, as the ways of God were introduced to them and these ways were shown to be the way to feel and believe. This levy of good vs. evil carried on throughout the poem with the interaction of Satan and his fallen angels with God and his son in Heaven.

The argument over who is the true protagonist of Paradise Lost, has been brewing for centuries. One would gather that Milton, a Puritan, would have no problem casting God as the hero, and Satan as the antagonist. But 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 doesn't 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, Vergil and others. There many examples of how Milton uses and edits the tradition of these previous epics in the formation of the Devil as a hero.