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John Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost Paradise Lost is an epic poem by 17th century English writer, John Milton. At the time of its publication it caused a lot of controversy due to its in-depth depiction of Satan around the time of The Fall of Adam and Eve. In this poem we question about parallels between Milton’s version of Satan and Milton himself. In attempt to understand these parallels we can observe the text to better understand how Milton portrayed Satan’s character.
Satan’s heroic persona is heavily focused on in the first few books to display the complexity of his character and make him relatable to the reader. Also, we can see both directly and indirectly in the text how Milton is able to relate to Satan’s character in Paradise Lost. Lastly, by combining information and evidence from this epic poem, we can further distinguish what Milton is trying to convey about both Satan and God. Throughout this epic poem, Milton’s Satan is heavily focused on in order to display the intricacy of his character.
In doing so, Milton creates an appeal to this character by creating familiarity with the reader. Satan repeatedly exhibits character flaws giving him relatable, human-like qualities. Previous to Paradise Lost it would have been assumed that Satan would be purely evil without second guessing his decisions. However, after The Fall in Milton’s epic poem we are introduced to a new form of Satan. For example, in Book I Satan shows unexpected weakness when he says, “A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n” (bk 1; line 253). This line displays Satan’s unhappiness as well as his attempt to create a false image in his mind to regain that happiness. Satan again shows human-like attributes when his “heart distends with pride” (bk 1; line 571) as he looks out at the army of followers that he has gathered. Despite the cruel intentions of his army, the audience is then able to reconnect with Satan in his shown appreciation. In combination with denial and pride, Satan also shows inner turmoil.
In Book I Milton shows that Satan has even the capacity to cry from passion and conflict when “Tears such as angels weep burst forth: at last words interwove with sighs found out their way” (bk 1; line 620). Further on in Book IV Satan becomes more doubtful of himself questioning whether he could be forgiven or not when he says, “Left for repentance, none for pardon left? ” (bk 4; line 80). This suggests that the mental wall of denial that he had built has begun to deteriorate. While in Eden jealousy also becomes evident in the character of Satan when he sees Adam and Eve together and is tormented by it:
Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two Imparadised in one another’s arms The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust… (bk 4; line 505). By devoting much of this epic poem to building Satan’s human-like character flaws, Milton creates an attractive character in a way that we can relate to. While Milton places words coming from Satan’s mouth to make his character more attractive, he also places emphasis in the narration making Satan even more appealing. This is where we can find out what Milton is trying to say about Satan.
In Book I after Satan has a dialogue concerning whether he should fight back or not, Milton adds additional support to show Satan’s inner turmoil by the line, “So spake th’ apostate angel, though in pain, Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair… ” (bk 1; line 125). This presents his upset over having fallen without breaking the heroic persona that Milton has built for Satan. Later in Book II when Satan meets Sin he is disgusted and prepares to fight and says, “Hell-born, not to contend with spirits of Heav’n” (bk 2; line 687).
This maintains sympathy for Satan’s character by him referring to himself as from Heaven despite having earlier said to embrace Hell and make it Heaven in his mind. In Book IV Milton again uses narration to show his view of Satan after his dialogue concerning if he could even be forgiven but finally realizes he’ll always fall again. Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face Thrice changed with pale, ire, envy and despair, Which marred his borrow visage, and betrayed Him counterfeit, if any eye behold. (bk 4; line 114)
This final image of Satan’s dimmed passion reiterates his vulnerability. Through these additions in the narrative text Milton is able to show what he sees in Satan. William Blake was once quoted saying, “[Milton] was of the Devil’s party without knowing it. “1 Milton’s interest in, and possibly his identification with Satan is evident simply by having used a large majority of the first few books to build up the character of Satan while having no character descriptions of God. This suggests Milton’s preference to Satan as Blake had proposed.
In the very beginning of Book I this statement is supported through Milton’s attempt to “justify the ways of God to men” (bk 1; line 26) as if God’s ways need justification. Given that Milton’s past included the death of two wives and a child, divorce, blindness and strained relationships, it is possible that this influenced his mistrust in God. The amount of loss that Milton had gone through in his life is almost similar to Satan’s loss during his fall. In Book I Satan reminisces about his previous state in heaven when he was “… n the happy realms of light Clothed with transcendent brightness” which has indirect reference to Milton before he became blind. In the text Satan falls and is on the flaming lake that does not give off light but rather “darkness visible” (bk 1; line 63) it is possible that this is in reference to Milton’s blindness as well. As Satan’s frustration with God is evident throughout this poem, Milton’s confusion is also displayed by way of leaving many religious arguments open-ended and unanswered.
For example, Satan comes to an understanding with himself that no matter what, he will fall again even if he does repent and return to heaven. This suggests Satan, despite being God’s creation, was intended to fall which contradicts the stereotypical idea of God always doing good. By observing Milton’s past beside Satan’s fall and resentment toward God, the reader can identify parallels between Milton and his character. Satan is not pure evil. Or at least that is what John Milton was trying to convey in his epic poem, Paradise Lost.
By further investigating the text we can find out what makes Satan appealing, Milton’s identification with this character, and the ways in which Milton promotes this appeal in order to decipher what Milton is trying to say about “his” Satan. In this book Satan is given human qualities that contrast with the stereotypical idea of the Devil absolute evil. This shows Milton’s assumed belief of there being no pure evil given that is what Satan should be. This also shows a lack of pure good coming from God by lack of control over the constant “falls” taken by his own creations.