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Paradise Lost
The poem by John Milton is written in the style of literary epics; it starts not the beginning but in the middle of the story. Still, right away the reader knows that there is a war between good and evil, between Satan and Heaven (or God Himself), and that Satan was an Angel before he fell into disfavor with God. Since Satan had been an angel, in the reader's mind something must have happened to cause Satan to fall from grace. There are two basic stories in this long, complicated and esoteric poem -- one involved Satan and why he was banished from Heaven, and the other narrative is about Adam and Eve. In fact, in the poem Satan is the one who temps Eve to eat fruit from the tree that God asked her not to eat. Readers know that Satan is clever, tricky, and while disguised as a snake, Satan has certain rhetorical powers that allow him to get what he wants, and this is part of Milton's genius, to create an evil character who actually has some seemingly positive human talents and abilities.
How does John Milton go about creating and characterizing Satan in Paradise Lost?
Milton opens Book 1 by describing what he intends to make the centerpiece of his poem, and that is there has been disobedience in Heaven and hence, Satan has lost Paradise. Satan has lost Paradise because the Serpent -- with Satan inside the Serpent -- rebelled against God, and Satan left Heaven (was actually pushed out of Heaven).
Satan has raised what Milton describes as an "impious war in Heav'n" (1-43), which can be seen as a kind of
Once out of Heaven, God "Left him at large to his own dark designs, That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation, while he sought Evil to others…" (211-216).
But while in Heaven Satan, called Lucifer, was both a beautiful Angel but also a tragic figure. You don't try to out-gun God in Heaven, which is what Satan apparently did. Milton makes him a kind of anti-hero but one who has credibility nonetheless. Not enough credibility to be the protagonist -- he is more the antagonist than protagonist -- and yet Milton has given Satan what can be called charisma so that his character is powerful and to be respected in a dark way.
Satan is troubled, and while struggling to have confidence in himself and to be sure of what he is doing, he does come to the realization that his goal is to bring humankind down to his level of evil. In time he believes in his own falsehoods as well. Is he likeable? Yes in many ways Milton has created a character that the reader sometimes sympathizes with. In Book 3, Milton's depiction of God does not compare to his depiction of Satan. In fact God comes across as not very interesting juxtaposed with Satan, which is why some scholars contend that Satan is the more compelling character in this long poem.
Is Satan the hero of the story?
If a reader comes to the conclusion that Satan is the hero, then Satan is both an anti-hero and a hero in a bizarre way. It is almost as though Milton is seducing the reader into…
Works Cited
"Devil's Advocate." Director Taylor Hackford. 1997.
Milton, John. "Paradise Lost." Samuel Simmons, Publisher. 1667.
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