Paradise Lost - John Milton's Satan; Hero or Not? Essay

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

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 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

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

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.

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.

In Paradise Lost Satan is tempting to enjoy as a character. He is more dynamic, interesting as well he takes the place of the hero in this epic. Satan’s home is hell which Milton’s describes vividly as “a dungeon horrible”, “darkness visible”, “where peace and rest can never dwell, hope never comes”, “torture without end”, “waste and wild” in contrast to basically no description of heaven. In contrast Gods character in Paradise Lost is depicted as bland, he does not tempt, just states what he needs to state in the hopes that his people will follow. Appropriate for the situation for Milton believes God is perfection and does not need to change. The reasoning for this particular depiction of these characters is found in Milton’s ideals. As a Puritan, Milton’s valued simplicity in religion so

In Milton's Paradise Lost, he writes the story of the fall of Satan, his followers, and mankind. Many critics often view Satan as the unlikely or tragic hero of the epic poem. Satan is, obviously, the main character throughout most of the poem, but not necessarily the hero. Satan's main purpose is to fight G-d, and try to be on the same level as Him. The important thing is to realize that Satan is sin, and being humans, who are all born into sin, we can easily relate to a sinful character. G-d is holy and perfect. This is something which we, being fallible humans, cannot begin to comprehend. Satan does, at the beginning, follow many of the attributes which coincide with Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero; however, after the

John Milton’s Paradise Lost has long been a widely contested, appreciated and debated epic poem – largely due to the presentation of Satan as an epic hero. Throughout the body of this essay, using a close reading of Book 2, lines 657-669 in relation to the entirety of the poem, I will explore the ways in which Milton portrays Satan in accordance to conventions of the hero within the epic genre as well as dispelling any challenges to the idea of Satan as an epic hero in Paradise Lost.

The first difference between Miltons epic and the Holy Bible is seen as Milton begins the narration in hell; just moments before, Satan and his following angels are thrown out from heaven because of disobedience. Miltons main purpose is to juxtapose the fallen natures of the demons with that of humanity and to show the inferior natures of people to that of angels.

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-

Considering these interpretations of Satan’s rebellion and Satan’s failure, let us, now, focus on the character of Satan in Paradise Lost, Book 1. Despite his defeat, claims Professor David Loewenstein in his essay “The Radical Religious Politics of Paradise Lost”, Satan remains “a courageous military leader”. Charismatic, ruthless and using an excellent rhetoric speech “of resistance”, Satan continues defying God and asks his falling angels, lying in the lake, to plan to take revenge on God (PL, 1: 156-191). David Loewenstein draws his readers’ attention to the troubling parallel between Satan’s language in Hell against God’s tyranny and Milton’s language as a republican activist just week before the Restoration. Lowewenstein argues that “Satan’s language is not stable [..], at one moment he sounds like a bold revolutionary, at another like a conservative royalist”. This remark can be explained by Milton’s intention to reveal human’s tyranny which may affect human liberty and

In “Paradise Lost” the character of Satan is created by Milton. There are many characters of Satan in literature, and over the creation of each Satan, he as a character has evolved. It is thought by John Carey that Milton observed the former characters of Satan and used them as inspiration to influence his new character as Satan. Milton created Satan as the author of evil and created him by himself. Satan is the main character throughout “Paradise Lost” that starts the story and puts events into motion. As Milton created his Satan he focused on strong characteristics of epic heroes and rhetoric. In “Paradise Lost”, Milton uses select qualities of an epic hero to be displayed as an epic hero himself.

One of the most intriguing characters in the epic Paradise Lost is Satan who rebels against God and chooses to live his life on his own terms. While Satan is commonly associated with evil, John Milton portrays him sympathetically and shows uses him as a tool to demonstrate the power of free will. In Paradise Lost, Satan can be considered to be the ultimate rebel. Not only does he defy God, but he also influences others to think for themselves and to blindly follow others.

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