Paradise Lost Book 9 Analysis

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

Everyone has their own definition of what paradise means to them. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph’s paradise is being able to do whatever he wants and not having to follow any rules. Piggy’s definition to him is a place where everyone is civilized and following rules with no disruption. Throughout the book, the meaning could change, just like mine. My interpretation has the ability to change with a snap of the finger. This poem gave a small sampling of what I think paradise is. To me, paradise is a life where I am the person I want to be.

The creature feels abandoned by his creator, Victor, and proclaims to him: “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel” (Shelley 87). Shelley refers to the creature as being abandoned by Victor just as God abandoned angel Lucifer after he committed terrible sin. The reference to Adam in the Bible is a reoccurring theme which reflects how Victor’s abandonment of the creature caused him to do harm. Victor brings his monster into the world as an innocent creature, or so the creature believes. However, society rejects the creature because of his appearance and he is corrupted to a life of misery, thus losing his innocence. Shelley uses this allusion to prove that as humans (or creatures of similar nature, in this case) experience the corruption that exists in the world, their innocence is lost.

She believes that the purpose of the poem was to provoke readers (Webber 514). The confusion of Milton’s explanation and God’s intentions arise when Milton makes a claim that Adam and Eve’s plunge into the world of sin was indirectly the result of Lucifer, a serpent wondering around in the Garden of Eden. At this time, Satan becomes the central focus of this poem. Routinely in epic novels and poems the epic character narrates the tale. So for Satan to be the main narrator in books one and two begs to question whether Milton has lost focus in his story and inadvertently portrayed Satan as the epic hero.

“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.

This innocence allows Adam and Eve to live in the Garden of Eden, free from all conflict under the condition that they follow the only rule God gave them. This rule was to simply stay away from the tree of knowledge. However, Satan came to Eve in the form of a snake and tempted her to eat from the tree knowledge. This tree grants the consumer knowledge and curiosity, which negates the innocence Eve once held. Adam, learning of this, is quite furious, yet he eats the apple as well. The apple granted the two beings the ability to know of lust, shame, and mutual distrust. Their punishment would be banishment from the garden, pregnancy for Eve, and labor work for Adam. Hence the title, Paradise Lost, meaning the simple and gracious life they lead has crumbled due to their actions. With this, we are able to connect the monster to Adam. The quote “I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam” (66) is said to Victor by the creature when they encounter each other atop Mont Blanc. This quote essentially explains how the monster began as an innocent creature knowing nothing, much like Adam, and suffers considerably as he discovers how people view him. He is a monster, a symbol of terror to the human race. As readers go further into the book, they learn that the monster reads Paradise Lost

The bible can be seen as a great piece of literature, one which many people will recognize if there are references to it in modern-day books, movies, and even music. One of the major topics for allusions is the Serpent. Most commonly known for his role in the story of Adam and Eve the serpent is sly, cunning, and deceivingly tricky. Authors allude to the Serpent if they want to characterize a character as evil or devious. They may also use this allusion to advance a theme as to not trust everyone you meet or temptation may be your downfall. They can use it to create other moods such as suspenseful ones, or even sad ones if the reader knows that the fall of the character is coming. All of these things are used in the examples in the next

This is evidence of the idea that the monster cannot be Adam because Victor is not God. God creates a paradise for his man to dwell in, “Earth, so fresh and gay,/Ye hills and dales, ye rivers,

“A perfect creature, happy and prosperous”, the creature describes Adam as opposed to his perspective of himself. He speaks of Adam’s ability to be loved by his Creator and acknowledged by his superiors, yet while pursuing this route, the creature is rejected by his Creator - Victor - and condemned by his superiors - humans. “How all his malice served but to bring forth/ Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shewn/ On Man by him seduced, but on himself/ Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured” (l. 217-220) in Paradise Lost evokes Satan’s repression of kindness after recognizing humanity’s ungratefulness. The creature sympathizes with Satan, claiming him the “fitter emblem of [his] condition” (124). However, there are two distinctions between Satan and the creature: the former being “Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but [the creature is] solitary and abhorred” (125); and the latter being the creature’s tendency for kindness despite his public alienation. “This trait of kindness moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed to steal, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain, I abstained

John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” is a text from the British Literature era that was written in 1667. This text constructs identity beyond societal norms in because it deals with the first two human beings, Adam and Eve. Milton illustrates identity beyond societal norms with Adam and Eve’s behavior. This behavior is shown in Milton’s book IV of “Paradise Lost”.

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.

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.

Through his work of Paradise Lost, Milton exposes his view that God allows suffering in order for a greater good of the human race to exist. Milton uses the Fall- both Satan’s and Adam and Eve’s- as a device to demonstrate human corruption, as each fall is “a step down from a higher being to a lower being”. Both the Fall of Satan and the Fall of Adam & Eve are falls away from a position of divine power to a position of chaos and disorder- something Milton illustrates as an undesirable event. Milton introduces Satan as a selfish, power-hungry character; similar to an individual of today’s society who believes they are the greatest- nobody can ‘one-up’ them. He inherently denies of the existence of a greater God, as that would discredit his own belief that he is the utmost being. Instead of blind denial, Satan instead builds up a power against God himself, in an effort to “contest the throne of Heaven” (slide). However, this in of itself is a hypocrisy on his own beliefs, as he cannot be autonomous in a search for autonomy, since he is unable to defeat God on his own. This is Satan’s first fall, because he has now relinquished his stance on denying a being greater than himself, and must maintain his uprising unless he wants to face what Milton would consider a second Fall. Milton uses Satan as a representation of disobedience within the human race; he is the ‘wrong direction’ in the two paths of moral decisions. He uses Satan to show that rebellion that stems from self-

John Milton's epic “Paradise Lost” is one that has brought about much debate since its writing. This epic tells the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, although from a different perspective than what most people usually see. Milton tells the story more through the eyes of Satan, whom most people usually consider the ultimate villain. The way in which Satan is portrayed in this story has caused speculation as to whether Satan is actually a hero in this situation. He certainly has heroic qualities throughout the story, yet still is ultimately responsible for Adam and Eve's sin. Satan can easily be classified as a hero in this story, as well as the main antagonist, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. Milton introduces Satan as an important

In a way, Satan's rebellion is reminiscent of Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave." It can be argued that Satan has come to realize that he has other options and has the option of breaking free from ignorance. "The allure of free will is where the attractiveness and power of Satan's character lies" (Zeng). Satan is an individual who wants to break others from their ignorance and will do so by appealing to their reason and encouraging them to make their own decisions (Plato). Moreover, Satan did not force Eve to eat the Forbidden Fruit as Eve contends before eating it, "Our reason is our Law" (Milton Book IX line 654). Additionally, Satan is not described by Milton as someone that forceful, but rather is repeatedly referred to as "The Tempter" (Book IX, line 665).