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Satan’s Transformation in John Milton’s Paradise Lost The controlling purpose of this paper is to analyze the transformation of Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Satan is a very strong and demanding character in all of the series of Paradise Lost , from the beginning to the end. Satan’s main goal throughout the entire poem is to try to corrupt humankind and, unfortunately with his tricky tactics and significant transformation skills he does. At the beginning of the poem Satan is a very kind and majestic angel, by the name of Lucifer that many follow and listen to.
In Heaven all angels are equal, loved, happy, and worship only one God. However , Satan wanted it to be the other way around where everyone looked up to him rather than God. One day Satan and an army of his rebel angels decide to go to war with God and the other angels in Heaven. Satan and his rebels are defeated and they’re 2. all cast down into Hell by God. Satan’s greatest fault is his pride, because his confidence in thinking that he could ever overthrow God displays tremendous pride and vanity. Only a few hours after being defeated Satan’s rebel angels are awakened by Satan rising from a burning lake which is a part of hell.
The rebels and Satan begin to discuss whether or not to declare another war on Heaven. Satan does not declare another war on Heaven. His rebel lieutenant (Beelzebub) tells him of a new world being created which only man and animals lived. Satan decides to pay a visit to this paradise, but he knows in order to get through paradise he needed to transform into non-human like figures. That was nothing to Satan because he would do anything to corrupt humankind. In order for Satan to get to Paradise he had to travel through the gates of Hell, the sentries Sin and Death, and the realm of Chaos.
While traveling through these places Satan goes through numerous transformations, from a humble cherub, a cormorant, a toad, and finally a snake. He also gives birth to Sin with a burst of fire from his forehead. (“Satan is a narcissistic to the point of being aroused by his own image, 3. and from his incest with his “daughter” Sin, Death is born. ” {Rust}) By this time in the poem Satan has already lost his ability to reason and argue with others. He has transformed into a true demon who no longer believes in the one he used to praise and worship. Satan was so demented he began to believe his own lies.
Once a powerful angel from Heaven now a insane demon from Hell Satan cannot even think morally. Satan has been blinded to God’s Grace, unable to reconcile his past with his eternal punishment forever. At the end of Satan’s long journey through the different realms he discovers himself on the rim of the universe. Quickly he undergoes an unexpected transformation. He disguises himself as an angel. Shortly, after being noticed Satan is then directed to earth by Uriel ,Guardian of the Sun. Then, Satan discovers The Garden of Eden. He observes Adam and Eve discussing the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. “Eve is a “coy”, flirtatious, beautiful, sex object that Adam is overwhelmed by” {Rust}) Satan tries to tempt Eve by speaking to her in her sleep. His attempt fails, he is found and expelled from The Garden of Eden. Satan soon returns to the Garden of Eden now in the form of a serpent 4. (snake). He succeeds at cunning Eve to eat from The Tree of Knowledge. (“Under the serpent influence, Eve’s idolatry and self-deification foreshadow the errors into which her “Sons” will stray” {Harding,163}) Adam ate off of Eve’s fruit because he did not want to see her suffer alone. Satan had did it, he had succeeded his goal of corrupting humankind.
It begin to storm terribly with the rise of high passions, lust, anger, hate, mistrust, suspicion and discord. Adam and Eve were removed from The Garden of Eden and punished greatly. The paradise was lost. Satan returned to Hell in great pandemonium. In his case, everything had finally paid off from his many transformations to his pride and greed. In conclusion, Satan is a strong, demanding yet evil character. However, he accomplishes his goal of corrupting humankind with many transformations which are very convenient for him because he works very well with each disguise.