Satan was a powerful angel who, after being thrown into hell, used his powers to deceive God's newly created beings, Adam and Eve. These characters are perceived as innocent and vulnerable creatures, who could be easily influenced. What better way to get revenge on God than to tempt His most prized possessions? Satan uses his power of deceiving rhetoric to mislead his followers. He then deceives Eve with the same kind of rhetoric. Satan's tone changes between the speech to the council and the speech to Eve. We are introduced to Satan as a heroic figure. As the poem goes on his character loses his greatness and falls to that of a creature.…
In the book of Genesis 3:1-6, the passage teaches the story of how Satan tempts Eve into causing the act that leads to the “fall of mankind”. Of this biblical account, is where John Milton gained inspiration for the idea of is work, Paradise Lost. Milton’s storyline and broad array of imagery portray the tale in a different light than that told in the Bible. While both accounts of “the fall”, are used to convey the same story and outcome, the two versions share some comparative similarities and many contrasting differences.…
In Milton’s poem it speaks of the fall of the rebel angels and the effect that it has on the history of humans. Lucifer revolts against his creator and tries to command power of everything. So Lucifer and his followers are cast out of Heaven and Satan is transformed into something hideous. Satan travels to Earth to tempt Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and this begins man suffering in history. The poem ends with a promise of the redemption of Adam’s descendants through the sacrifice of God’s Son. Compare this to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and you can view a version of God in the novel. Dr. Frankenstein acts as “God” in the story. He becomes the creator of life. At one point in the novel, Victor feels like Satan. He says, “I trod heaven in…
The situation between Eve and Satan in Paradise Lost remains illustrated in today’s society. Milton stresses on the fact that we do not always have to have some higher power to advise our life decisions. Even today, society wants us to create our own independent thought and acts, it is a topic used in everyday life, while the Church still wants us to follow the light of God. Whether we decide to think YOLO or decide to think…
Everyone, at least once in their lifetime, has been an advocate for the bad guy; whether it would be Heith Ledger, playing the Joker, verses Batman or the innocent Satan verses the tyrant God. John Milton does a fantastic job in letting his audience observe Satan in a new manner that one has not analyzed before. Milton portrays Satan as the most likable character in Paradise Lost, yet he is thought of being the foulest individual in the social realm. Satan stands above the rest of the characters in the poem, a once archangel casted out of heaven, trying to find his way in the universe. Although he is depicted as the most sentimental character of the poem, Satan is still the profound angel that society recognizes him as today. Milton’s exclusive…
The relatable affect the devil in “Paradise Lost” has on the psyche makes him a more effective villain than the three monsters in “Beowulf”. Both epic tales culminate into a battle where the rulers, God and Hrothgar, call upon the heroes, Christ and Beowulf, to defeat the villains, the devil and the monsters. Each epic merges Christian and traditional elements of the tales that include kings, heroes, villains, honor and loyalty. “Beowulf” was not available during the time Milton was writing “Paradise Lost” even so, parallels exist between the characters and the structure of the epics. The similarities between the villains reveal the timeless idea of evil. While the monsters in “Beowulf” encompass these…
While Milton’s retelling of the biblical tale of man’s origin within Paradise Lost is true to the bible, he manages to reinvent it in a slightly different manner – a manner that brings to light new questions about the roles Adam and Eve played in the fall of human kind. Speaking more specifically, his retelling of the fall of man seems to bring up questions about how gender operates within the biblical world and how it may relate to the time Milton comes from. At face value, the portrayal of Eve suggests that she is inferior and subordinate to Adam. There seems to be a stark contrast between Adam and Eve: where Adam is strong, rational, and intelligent, Eve is naïve and narcissistic. These differences between Adam…
Amidst the eternal battle between good and evil, stand two main forces: God, the good and Satan, the evil. However, if the concept of good and evil were to be removed, each of them would be considered champions of their respective parties. Consequently, each side fights for what they believe and as displayed in history, the victor determines which side was right. Paradise Lost is a poem written by John Milton that discloses the fall of man from paradise through the intervention of Satan; yet, through the Son of God, they are saved and are allowed back in to paradise. This tale that conveys the victory of the ultimate good, also displays the heroism of Satan although he faces defeat.…
Many are religiously inclines. There are those who believe that they have all of God's intentions figured, but can we justify God's actions as our regeneration? Many know that God can do many things. He has restarted humanity by drowning many, he chooses who is faithful, and God created us. We don't need people to justify his actions. But in light of art and creation, John Milton's poem Paradise Lost created a vision of what God does for our world. Although, there are misconceptions in understands God's actions. In fact, God's justification can be confused for our regeneration in ways we can't imagine.…
In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, a well-known horror, we come to gather a more religious background as we progress throughout the novel. Religion becomes apparent to us with the inclusion of a famous poem ‘Paradise Lost’. Paradise Lost was a poem written in 1667 by John Milton and was focused on Christianity and included Greek references. There is also throughout this grand poem a history about genesis, the new and Old Testament. The main story linked to paradise lost is that of which god created Adam.…
Milton was very educated in a wide range of subjects, to include philosophy and theology. It was his educated background that allowed him to respond to the earlier works of literature. Milton took the opportunity to meet other great writers of the day, writers like Galileo. He chose to focus on political and religious writings that would help the Puritan Reformation, of which he was a supporter. He had strongly held beliefs and outlooks on politics and religion and encouraged others to accept these same beliefs. It was this quality of his work that gives Milton’s work its classical authority, which can be seen when seen in the same light as earlier authors like Homer, Virgil, and Shakespeare. While Milton’s focus was on Puritan writings, he did publish a poem that was in Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio (Damrosch & Pike, 2008). It was in this poem, the English version of the epic poem, that he made references to earlier authors like Homer and Virgil, references that were included in his most famous work, Paradise Lost considered one of the most influential pieces of literature that Milton penned. Paradise Lost is an epic poem, like the Iliad and the Aeneid which tell a story about godlike heroes…
When Paradise Lost begins, the vainglorious actions of Satan have resulted in his removal from heaven and placed him on the path to exact revenge against those who have done so. Though, the reader is hardly able to experience any distaste when reading about this man who opposes the consented force of good. He is are charming, dark, fanatical and…
Milton wrote his opinion of the government and the hypocritical Cromwell at this time of distraught. In "the greatest epic of the English language" (otherwise known as Paradise Lost), he compares the relationship between the almighty and powerful God to the clash between King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell. The king is God, being the ruler of England, and Cromwell is Lucifer, being the power-hungry servant that disobeys and betrays God. This comparison would not happen without the lost paradise in England that occurred after the king was able to regain his throne in his monarch government and society.…
In Milton's “Paradise Lost”, Adam and Eve might be considered tragic "heroes" in the sense that they knowingly doom themselves to be removed from Paradise, and are thus subjected to the harsh, new world, and yet persevere with the hope for a better future. What makes their act of sin almost tragic in a way as compared to Satan, is that Satan's act was meant out of spite and hate for the God. He seeks to destroy in one day that which took six days to create. Neither Adam nor Eve intended on for anything such as this to occur, but instead hoped to achieve a greater state of understanding and being. Satan realized that he would not be able to catch both of them, so he tempted Eve when she was alone. When Eve was asked by the serpent, she replies that the one restriction placed upon her and Adam was that "the fruit of this fair tree ye shall not eat thereof, nor shall ye touch it lest ye die". When he explains to her that she would not actually 'die', but instead become such as God, it appealed to her desire to be equal to or more powerful than Adam, and so she fell. Although she, like Satan, fell because of her prideful aspirations and was condemned to be placed under her husband, she confesses her sin, and so she is able to, unlike Satan, move past her pride by admit her fault. Adam also ate of the forbidden fruit, knowing full well that was against the will of God, chose to do so anyhow due to his love for Eve thus causing him to fall as well. What makes Adam & Eve "heroic", from Milton's perspective, is their ability to admit their sin against God as being wrong, and their willingness to take responsibility for their actions. They do not walk away from God; they instead look to persevere with the hope for a…
As the hero’s journey comes near to an end every character must cross the return threshold. Both Satan in Paradise lost and Winston in Nineteen Eighty-Four manage to sabotage their own fate into the wasteland. Satan crosses the return threshold when he sabotages Eve after he ruined his own chances as God’s most highest Arcangel. During this endeavour satan finally succumbs to the shadow, which according to Carl Jung resides as the dark side of one’s inner personality. Through Satan’s malicious transgressions, God punishes him and the fallen angels in the permanent form of a serpent, while granting a chance of salvation to humanity who Satan cast potential damnation on.…