Revolt of Satan in Paradise Lost Book 1

———————
———————
——- The Rebellion of Satan in John Milton’s
Paradise Lost Paradise Lost is the famous epic by 17th-century
English poet John Milton. The poem concerns the Biblical story
of the Man: the story of the fallen angel Satan, head of the
rebellious angels who have just fallen from Heaven along with
the rest of the rebel angels and how he tempted Adam and Eve
to eat of the forbidden fruit and fall from grace. As the poem’s
antagonist, Satan is the originator of sin—the first to be
ungrateful for God blessing. “Of Man’s first disobedience and
the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought
death into the world, and, all our woe, With the loss of Eden,
till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat’’
These lines refer to original sin of Adam and Eve. Satan’s
rebellion begins when God calls an assembly of all the angels in
Heaven in order to announce that he has appointed his Son to
reign over them: “To Him shall bow All knees in Heav’n” Satan
believes that he and the Son are equal in rank; he wanted to
be like god: “To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted
to have equaled the Most High, If he opposed; and with
ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Raised
impious was in Heaven and battle proud With vain attempt. ”
He concludes that God in this exaltation of the Son is unjust.
Satan refuses to surrender his personal freedom or to submit to
what he regards as the illegitimate reign of the Son, and he
appeals to the other angels to do the same. A part of the
angels join Satan, and Satan criticizes those that do not follow
him: “I see that most through sloth had rather serve” Satan
then leads his followers in an attack against Heaven. The battle
between the loyal and rebel angels rages for days before the
Son comes forth from his throne; the Son defeats Satan and
casts the rebellious angels from Heaven to Hell.
Milton’s purpose of this work, stated in Book I, is to
“justify the ways of God to men” , but the
earlier part of the piece shows the fall of Satan and reveals his
intention of seeking a vengeance. He is accompanied by his
assistant Beelzebub in his revolt against God which leads them
to tempt Adam and Eve to have the fruit of knowledge against
the will of God. Satan himself is fully aware of the glory he and
his companion has lost. Only sights of woe meet his eyes and it
is a place where ‘peace and rest can never dwell’ and where
hope never comes. The disorder of the place is evident in the
fact that flame exists there without light and darkness is
‘visible’ only to reveal the misery. The condition in Hell are
experienced by Satan only as a result of the impious war
waged in heaven. The attempt of Satan to overthrow God
speaks of the very high opinion Satan has himself.
Milton’s depiction of Satan challenges preconceived
notions that he is pure evil and explores the human
characteristics of the fallen angel. Rather than a wildly defiant
leader of a Hellish host, Satan appears as a tragic figure who,
although he is thrust into hell and suffering by God,
nevertheless chooses to continue to wage war with Heaven
despite the anguish of his circumstances. Satan’s appearance
and actions say much about his character, but Milton goes
beyond the superficial and explores the inner struggle between
Heaven and Hell in him. With each attempt to control the fallen
angel, Milton adds greater depth to his character by
emphasizing the complex interaction of his good and evil
qualities. Satan has determined to always do evil in order to
negate the Will of God. If God would work good out of evil,
Satan would bring evil out of good. Satan’s empire obviously
will be full of evil and misery, and if we admire him we are
giving our consent to the creation of such an empire. The
wishful thinking mark Satan’s instigation of his followers to
continue their war, knowing full well God’s power. While writing
Paradise Lost, Milton seeks for facts. He wonders that who
made the innocent Adam and Eve make a horrible mistake and
go against the rule given by God himself. It was that snake
from Hell, Satan, whose envy and thirst for revenge made him
go trick Eve the way he did. His pride had got him thrown out
of Heaven with all his followers. They supported him in his
ambition to glorify himself – even to the point of
waging war against God. But he was doomed to fail. After a
terrible war, God threw him into Hell for daring to fight him.
For nine days he and his evil followers were lying helpless in
the fires of Hell. “Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
The infernal Serpent, he who was, whose guile, Stirred up with
envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind, what time
his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with his host Of rebel
angels” In these given lines, Satan corrupted God’s plan out of
vengeance and God allows evil to exist in order that good may
arise from it. Here Satan thrown out of Heaven by God. He is
to blame for original sin. Even in Hell, Satan remains committed
to the cause which he sees as just. He implores his troops to
have the “courage never to submit or yield”. He describes
God’s reign as “the tyranny of Heav’n”. He stands firm in his
dedication to freedom and liberty, proclaiming: “Better to reign
in Hell, than to serve in Heaven. Satan’s unrepentant evil
nature is unwavering. Even cast down in defeat, he does not
consider changing his ways: he insists to his fellow devils that
their delight will be in doing evil, not good. In particular, as he
explains to Beelzebub, he wishes to pervert God’s will and find
a way to make evil out of good. It is not easy for Satan to
maintain this determination; the battle has just demonstrated
God’s overwhelming power, and the devils could not even have
lifted themselves off the lake of fire unless God had allowed it.
God allows it precisely because he intends to turn their evil
designs toward a greater good in the end. Satan’s envy of the
Son’s chosen status led him to rebel and consequently to be
condemned. His continued envy and search for freedom leads
him to believe that he would rather be a king in Hell than a
servant in Heaven. Satan’s pride has caused him to believe that
his own free intellect is as great as God’s will. Satan remarks
that the mind can make its own Hell out of Heaven, or in his
case, its own Heaven out of Hell. The devils in Paradise Lost
are introduced to the story here in Book I in almost a parody of
how Homer introduces great warriors in the Iliad. The irony of
these descriptions lies in the fact that while these devils seem
heroic and noteworthy in certain ways, they just lost the war in
Heaven. As frightening and vividly presented as these creatures
are, they did not succeed in killing a single angel. Though
Satan appears as an immortal spirit “matchless but with
the almighty”, the poet also references the pride that
caused his great fall and the birth of Sin. By placing these
contrasting descriptions close together Milton emphasizes the
internal conflict in the angel’s existence.
Satan’s “dauntless courage and considerable
pride” reveal an endearing struggle against a fearsome
opponent that compares to David and Goliath’s battle.
Although Satan knows his battle is a lost cause, the human-like
determination in him continues to rise to the surface, and these
emotions drive him to continue his fight. His courage in the
face of sure defeat is a powerful draw for his host as well as
humanity. A strange combination of haughtiness, grief, and
courage, Satan, early on appears very multifaceted, and he
becomes further complicated by his relationship with the
physical hell. Satan’s connection to hell adds an
internal aspect to his struggle that parallels the physical
suffering he experiences because he dared independent,
inward thought. However, this inward thought leaves him alone
in his decision-making and he questions his rebellion
throughout the text. Even as he resolves to tempt man as part
of his rebellion against Heaven, “horror and doubt
distract / his troubled thoughts” and “the hell
within him” causes him to pause in his corruption.
Milton presents Satan primarily as a military hero, and the
council of devils as a council of war. In doing so, he makes
Paradise Lost resonate with earlier epics, which all center
around military heroes and their exploits. At the same time,
Milton presents an implicit critique of a literary culture that
glorifies war and warriors. Satan displays all of the virtues of a
great warrior such as Achilles or Odysseus. He is courageous,
undaunted, refusing to yield in the face of impossible odds, and
able to stir his followers to follow him in brave and violent
exploits. Milton is clearly aware of what he’s doing in making
Satan somewhat appealing in the early chapters. By drawing us
into sympathizing with and admiring Satan, Milton forces us to
question why we admire martial prowess and pride in literary
characters. Ultimately he attempts to show that the Christian
virtues of obedience, humility, and forbearance are more
important. Still, Satan tells Beelzebub that all is not lost. He will
never bow down to God and now, knowing more of the extent
of God’s might, the rebel angels might better know
how to continue to fight him in an eternal war. His sufferings
do not make him humble and repentant, but they make him all
the more revengeful. Satan’s connection to hell adds
an internal aspect to his struggle that parallels the physical
suffering he experiences because he dared independent,
inward thought. However, this inward thought leaves him alone
in his decision-making and he questions his rebellion
throughout the text. Even as he resolves to tempt man as part
of his rebellion against Heaven, “horror and doubt distract / his
troubled thoughts” and “the hell within
him” causes him to pause in his corruption. Not only
does his reluctance to inflict the same punishment of Death
and Sin upon the innocence of man show his regret, but also
his decision to continue regardless of this reluctance displays
his bitterness and spite for the paradise Adam and Eve enjoy.
Grief and anger at the injustice of his circumstances plague
Satan, “for within him hell / he brings,” and his
soul becomes his hell much more so than the physical place of
torment. These outward results of inward self-questioning
reveal the torments of the hell within his soul. Satan cannot
escape his grief or anger because he carries everything evil in
the world within his immortal, divine being. The prime problem
for Satan is that the hell in him encompasses everything in him,
including the good, and he is powerless to subvert his own
soul, so he remains trapped in a soul that, although it is his
own, constantly strives against him. The determination to
persevere though hell persists within him also helps Satan
motivate his compatriots in rebellion despite the personal grief
caused by his fragmented soul. Milton gives Satan the human
emotions of grief, worry, pain, and suffering, all of which are
revealed in the deep scars of thunder… and care” that
“sat on his faded cheek”. By giving him these
non-divine emotions, Milton suspends Satan in an inescapable
web stretching from the depths of hell to the height of Heaven
because he cannot reconcile the non-divine with the divine any
more than God can reconcile sin with Heaven. Milton weaves
an elaborate tapestry of Satan’s conflicting emotions
by comparing the archfiend’s “cruel
eye”, “waiting revenge” with his inner
grief and weariness. “Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong
flaming from the ethereal sky With hideous ruin and
combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In
adamantine chains and penal fire Who durst defy the
Omnipotent to arms” Satan’s unrepentant evil nature is
unwavering. Even cast down in defeat, he does not consider
changing his ways: he insists to his fellow devils that their
delight will be in doing evil, not good. In particular, as he
explains to Beelzebub, he wishes to pervert God’s will and find
a way to make evil out of good. It is not easy for Satan to
maintain this determination; the battle has just demonstrated
God’s overwhelming power, and the devils could not even have
lifted themselves off the lake of fire unless God had allowed it.
God allows it precisely because he intends to turn their evil
designs toward a greater good in the end. Satan’s envy of the
Son’s chosen status led him to rebel and consequently to be
condemned. His continued envy and search for freedom leads
him to believe that he would rather be a king in Hell than a
servant in Heaven. Satan’s pride has caused him to believe that
his own free intellect is as great as God’s will. Satan remarks
that the mind can make its own Hell out of Heaven, or in his
case, its own Heaven out of Hell.