Q. Discuss the conflict between good and evil in Paradise Lost, Book 1.

Q. Discuss the conflict between God AND Satan in Paradise Lost.

In the poem, Paradise Lost Satan was thrown out of heaven for rebelling against God and all
that is good. He was the archangel and is the most beautiful and perfect angel, but he was not
so perfect because he had flaws. Some of the flaws he had were pride that led to ambition and
jealousy that led deception. The flaw that led him to destruction was pride, because since he
was the most beautiful angel, he believed he was the greatest in heaven. He questioned why
should he serve God, and evidently led a rebellion against God in a chance to overthrow Him.
John Milton divided the characters in his epic poem Paradise Lost into two sides, one side under
God representing good, and the other side under Satan representing evil and sin. Milton first
introduced the reader to the character Satan, the representative of all evil, and his commitment
to fallen angels that aided in his revolt against God. Only later did Milton introduce the reader
to all powerful God, leader and creator of all mankind. This introduction of Satan first led the
reader to believe acts of sin were good, just like Eve felt in the Garden of Eden when she was
tempted by Satan to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The later introduction of The
Almighty had the reader’s change their feelings towards sin, as the ways of God were
introduced to them and these ways were shown to be the way to feel and believe. This levy of
good vs evil carried on throughout the poem with the interaction of Satan and his fallen angels
with God and Christ in Heaven. The common representation of sin and evil came from the lead
character in the battle against God, Satan. His name means "enemy of God." He was a former
high angel from Heaven named Lucifer, meaning, "Light bearer”. Satan became jealous in
Heaven of God's son and formed an allegiance of angels to battle against God, only for God to
cast them out of Heaven into Hell. This did not bother Satan at first since he became the leader
in Hell rather than a servant in Heaven. Satan believed that it was, "Better to reign in Hell than
serve in Heaven". Satan even found pleasure in the pain and destruction of other people and
things,
"To do aught good never will be our task, / But ever to do ill our soul delight".
He formed an allegiance of fallen angels to help him carry out his evil goals. Satan placed his
chief supporter named Beelzebub in charge of the fallen angels, and getting them together to
form the Satanic Council to serve as an administration for Hell. Milton described Beelzebub as
being a " Majestic, wise national leader " in his leadership abilities of this council. Although
Satan put Beelzebub in charge, it was not because of Beelzebub's abilities, but due to the fact
Satan was able to trick his chief supporter easily into expressing his beliefs instead of
Beelzebub's own. With Satan's ability to deceive Beelzebub easily, he will easily mislead the
Satanic Council into carrying out his evil ideas against God in Heaven. Milton used two main
characters to display good and virtue to the reader; the first one is God himself. God was the
true symbol of all that is good in the world. God was the creator of man and kept this in control
with three mighty powers. The first power was omnipotence, which is being all-powerful. God's
second power was that of omnipresent, which is the ability to be present everywhere at the
same time. The third mighty power of God was being omniscient, which is the ability to know all
things. God used his omniscient power to play an essential role in the poem, foresee the
downfall of man, and give man free will. This free will of man is what gave man freedom from
God. God still had control of man, but man was able to do as he chose, whether it was good or
sinful. God vows,
"I formed them free, and free they must remain, / Till they enthrall themselves".
God also used this freedom of choice as a test for man, just like the angels were tested before
their downfall to Hell, even though he knew the outcome would be sin. With these great
powers, and God's holiness, he is the true representation of all that is good. The mighty powers
of God laid out the entire outcome of the poem to the reader, showing grace and virtue
overcoming all evil. The second key character introduced by Milton is The Son [CHRIST], whose
powers and abilities are used to contradict the sin and evil throughout the poem. By his
powers, God declared his son [CHRIST] to be the king of the angels in Heaven. He was mighty in
battle as he led the fight against the army of Lucifer's angels in Heaven, following them in his
thundering chariot towards the wall of Heaven till they leapt over the edge into Hell. The Son
[CHRIST] also had the power of free will but only used it as the rescuer of man and toward the
purpose of good. The reader saw the abilities of The Son [CHRIST] showed good and love for
man through the poem. In the third book of the poem, God gave his son [CHRIST] the power to
judge man's sins. The Son [CHRIST], showing his true love, charity and grace to God, offered
himself as a sacrifice for man's sins.
Throughout John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, the reader was able to see a contrast
between what is evil and what is good. Milton first introduced the reader to sin and evil in the
lead character Satan. Milton showed the reader Satan's ways of deceit, jealousy, and
destruction through various dreadful acts. Next, Milton introduced the reader to the fallen
angels and their evil ideas during their meeting in the capitol of Hell, Pandemonium. Such
characters as Mammon with his materialistic greed, Belial with his false and hollow views, the
all aggressive Moloch and his suicidal battle philosophies, and finally Beelzebub passing on the
views of Satan. The contrast to these characters came from God and The Son [CHRIST]. God,
with his powers of creation, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, was able to look
over his creations with elusive control and try to guide them toward good decisions. In addition
to God, the reader looked upon The Son [CHRIST] as a symbol of divine love of God and his
creations and his showing of true grace toward man. With the powerful character
representation by Milton, the reader is able to see the bad in evil and sin, and the good and
justification in the judgments of God and The Son.