Paradise Lost: Is Satan a Tragic Hero? 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

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.

The beginning of book I of “Paradise Lost” starts off with the post war against God. The speaker begins with a description of Satan on his back alongside the other rebellious angels, chained on a lake of fire. The speaker then revisits the war by addressing Satan as Lucifer, the greatest angel, and going to say how Lucifer and his compatriots lost the war against God and was cast from heaven to the fires of hell. Then the story picks up with Satan and Beelzebub, Satan’s second in command, conversation about the war with God. Even though they’re being punished by God and it’s not looking too good on their behalf, they still feel courageous and alive. Beelzebub states, it’s “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” (263). Their motivation was to seek vengeance on God by turning all good things

Throughout the passage, Milton inserts beautifully emotional words that describe Satan’s contrasting feelings: grief and joy, woe and bliss, loathing and delight. The positive feelings that Satan expresses, though describing Adam and Eve’s state, reflect the good nature in Satan. That nature is visibly small, as Satan describes himself as joyful or blissful. He merely observes this happiness in Adam and Eve; he even speaks the words with hints of regret. The negative words have a much more powerful effect: Satan uses these words to describe his own feelings and his own domain, Hell. The feelings of grief, woe, and loathing are his, not Adam and Eve’s, and thus

Complex versions of Satan and how opinions change the way we view this dark entity. Satan or Lucifer is a figure of evil among most people and he is most commonly considered the most awful being in the world. The two epic poems by John Milton and Dante Alighieri are two of the most famous peace’s of literature in history. “Paradise Lost” and Dante’s ‘’inferno” contrast by the images of Satan and contrast by the characterization of Satan, but are similar in Satan’s main motives of wanting to corrupt mankind and return to Heaven from which he was exiled from.

Satan's pride further constrains him. Because he is able to prove his freedom via dissent, and because he has ignored the fact that his free will comes from God, Satan thinks (or at least tells the angels before his own fall) that all heavenly beings including God are "Equally free" (5.792). Focused on his own freedom, Satan cannot understand that God has even more freedom than he. When confronted with the hegemonic power of the Son, then, Satan believes that "new Laws" have been imposed, that God has changed the rules (5.679-80). But this is not a new constraint; it is merely a new formulation of the Godhead.

The devil, in literature, is always a catalyst of change for those who encounter him. He is a force working underground, moving against what is widely considered virtuous and good, and it is contact with him that often changes the course of characters lives, and even the world. In Paradise Lost and a book based on it, The Golden Compass, ‘the devil’, in both cases, is an advocate for moving away from the control of God and the Church. Where the stories differ, is in the author’s intent for these actions. In the former, John Milton uses the devil to display how vanity and pride are the sins that halt us in an opportunity to live blissfully, with and under God. Philip Pullman, in his twist on Paradise Lost, The Golden Compass, claims that

Ironically, God is the one who created him. The reader’s imagination is triggered, as he or she is required to turn against their natural instinct in viewing Satan as a hero when in fact he is a villain. Throughout the poem, Satan shows up as a rebellious villain, creating conflict, revenge, and deceit. “The infernal Serpent; [Satan] it [is], whole guile/ [Stirs] up with envy and revenge, [deceives]/ The mother of mankind (God), what time [Satan’s] pride/ [Has] cast [Satan] out of heaven” (Milton, 34-37). This is a quote from when Satan had recently been thrown from heaven and is now residing in Hell. It explains that he had just deceived God, due to envy and want for revenge. Satan also decides, while in his new realm, that he is not continuing to give in to God’s desires and rules. Satan decides that he is to turn completely evil. “To [Satan’s] own dark designs,/ That with reiterated crimes [Satan] might/ Heap on [Satan’s self] damnation, while [Satan seeks]/ Evil to others” (Milton, 213-216). Satan has a rebellious mindset, set to hurt God through hurting humans. Throughout the poem, sinful traits such as seeking to do evil to others and pride are revealed to be features Satan has plenty of, revealing him as a

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

The way Dante describes Satan makes the theme even more noticeable, especially when the way he describes his version of Satan is contrasted with other images of Satan. The Satan of Milton's Paradise Lost, for example, still has some of the rule and beauty he had when he was the most dominant and attractive of all the angels. He was energetic, was able to make influential speeches in hell, and able to leave Hell to lure Eve. His speechmaking has even influenced some future readers that there is something honorable about his decision to rebel against God: "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven," he says (Lines 258-263

He makes up for that by continuing to fool himself by his new life. “The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n / What matter where, if I be still the same / And what I should be, all but less than he / Whom thunder hath made greater” (Milton 9)? Satan wants to make Hell even better than Heaven. It is his new home now, and he’s trying to make the best of a bad situation. “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n” (Milton 9). He can’t be saved like humans. “The first sort by their own suggestion fell, / Self-tempted, self-depraved: Man falls deceived / By the other first: Man therefore shall fall grace, / The other none” (Milton, III, 129-132). The reason why Satan is so intent on deluding himself is because he knows there is no hope of going back to his old

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

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.

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-