Essay about The Powers of Satan in Paradise Lost

Satan’s character embodies the idea of a heroic figure because he questions what he feels to be true, even though his tragic fall is that he becomes easily misguided.

Eve’s hunger to become independent from Adam and all she is commanded to do is similar to Satan’s situation in that their yearn for power and singular identity lead them to revolt against their creator. Her desire to separate from Adam is first seen when she is introduced to the audience in her state of narcissism. She sees a reflection of herself in a pond and is in awe of her beauty “of sympathy and love,” (IV, 465) which shows the parallelism to Satan’s own arrogant vanity. He catches on to this similarity they share and decides she will be an easy target of persuasion. He quickly takes charge and plans how he will lead her to eat the apple from the “Tree of Knowledge,” which is the only tree that God prohibited to pick fruit from. Satan first catches her attention by being a serpent who speaks; something she had never encountered before. He smooth talks her into really listening to him by focusing his words around her and how much better life could be if she just took a bite

He does this because the scene happens in the past and therefore he uses her to discuss it rather than confusing the reader with a flashback type scene. He also has Eve relate what happened to prove that Eve must indeed be beautiful if she herself was taken by her looks as she discusses how she “pined with vain desire” (IV, 466) for the image of her reflection. In fact, Eve’s beauty is discussed repeatedly. For example, when Satan first sees the human couple, he is overtaken by Eve’s “beauty and submissive charms” (IV, 498). Milton even goes so far to stress her beauty and charms as to have her stun Satan himself with it. Actually, as Satan is on his mission to seduce Eve into eating the apple, her beauty overtakes him.

Satan was unwilling to back down, no matter how great God’s power. This mission stands out as an element of the epic hero. In almost all epics written the hero has to stifle past guarded boundaries in order to complete goals. Satan’s bravery in trying to learn answers concerning his existence in heaven and his damnation to Hell is noble. Determination to derive truth is an admirable quality. Though his bitterness creates negative characteristics, his core purpose is not entirely blasphemous. He considers all that is placed before him and says in book 1, “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven” (263). He knows that Hell is a place of doom and torture, but he is committed to living there with dignity and hopes to eventually rise above the creator and gain back what he feels he is entitled to as a living being. This acceptance of his conditions and determination to overcome makes him the underdog that an audience cannot help but root for. Everyone knows what it’s like to be in dark place with no visible escape. People want to be able to relate to a character that remains hopeful. In this sense Satan seems very heroic and critics have even gone as far as interpreting God as the villain.

Young children and adults across the world are taught that God is a hero above the rest. He is both omnipotent and omnipresent, almost like how Santa Clause is described as to little children. God does no wrong and is incapable of committing a sin; He is a picture perfect being. Satan is God’s archenemy and polar opposite, he’s popularly known for his evil ways and the fiery inferno that he inhabits, described in the book Dante’s Inferno. Rarely do people confuse the idea that God is the hero and Satan is the evildoer that needs to be extinguished from the world. I can safely say that in terms of Christianity and its beliefs there is no mistake to who the epic hero of the bible is. In John Milton’s poem “ Paradise Lost,” the lines

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

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

But if Satan does only what God wants, there is no external proof that Satan indeed had exercised his will. Satan cannot be content with mere assent that looks like blind obedience. Dissent, on the other hand, is absolute proof of Satan's individual will being realized over against God's will. Satan's intent seems to be to prove the existence of his will rather than, as God wants, to prove the independently good content of his will. By dissent, Satan shows himself to be more concerned with himself than with God, with the appearance of free will than with its real content. Here is the second major constraint under which Satan lies: as a rule, he only recognizes that part of himself which is disobedient. This constraint, unlike the one natural to Satan's will, is self-imposed.

First, to prove that Satan must be something more than a mere “favored” angel, some kind of divine being, let us consider Adam’s longing for a companion (as I think the concept here holds basis): he reasons with God as to why it is appropriate for him to have an equality alongside, and of course, God, “not displeased,” grants Adam’s request, that is to become, Eve. Now imagine God in the shoes of Adam, that is

We can see the poem deals with the entire story of man's fall from grace, including background for Satan's motives. In Paradise Lost, Eve was tricked by Satan, who assumed the form of a serpent, into eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Satan had whispered into her ear when she was asleep, and when he spoke to her later, he used his cunning to mislead her:

Satan, still within the body of the serpent, offers Eve a multitude of reasons why she should eat from the Tree of Knowledge, despite God’s warnings. He tells her the fruit will not kill her as God says, for he ate of the fruit and is not only alive, but made even more powerful. In his most prevalent argument, Satan attempts to demonstrate to Eve that the act of eating has the ability to become a transformative experience. Though ultimately true, the transformation that Satan describes occurs far differently than the one she and Adam actually receive. In Christianity, food acts as such a significant force that Satan can almost seamlessly trick Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Food and eating is so powerful throughout theology, that Eve can effortlessly envision its potential as a vehicle to transform her from an earthly human to a god-like being. Upon Eve’s initial consumption of the illicit fruit, one of her leading thoughts becomes that the fruit "may render me

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?”

Following the standards of classic tragic heroes, Satan is a determined leader with an extreme amount of hubris. He knows that God is the most powerful being and yet he still

Satan comes to man with his temptations as an angel of light, as he came to Christ. He has been working to bring man into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may overcome him with his temptations, and then triumph over his ruin. ...He well knows that it is impossible for man to discharge his obligations to God and to his fellow-men, while he impairs the faculties God has given him. The brain is the capital of the body... pg. 236

While many arguments can be made to defend Satan as the hero of this story, his power clearly declines throughout the poem. In the end, he does not achieve his goal. Satan is “bitter, but also acknowledges the reality of his circumstances” (Smith). We see Satan reach his peak, then his power gently declines by the end of the story. Although Satan is powerful and persevering, he is no match for God. We begin to see more of his flaws. Satan is undoubtedly charismatic and persuasive in his speeches, as well as a powerful military leader, yet he seems to be somewhat hypocritical as well. For example, when we are first introduced to Satan, he tells his followers not to be afraid, yet he is afraid himself. Some might view this as Satan being brave, but this could also be viewed as him being deceptive, which illustrates how he