Paradise Lost Satire
Milton equips his character Satan with the ability to skillfully articulate falsehoods and heretical notions which will be omitted by non-analytical readers, emphasizing and demanding the need to dissect the carefully constructed poetry’s function in the book’s defense and support of God. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan observes his new surroundings and directs his reflection at his close ally Beelzebub after their fall and painful time spent in the lake (I. 220-240, p.217): Farewell happy Fields
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be chang’d 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. (I. 250-255, p.217)
Taken at face value, the speaker renounces his past forever with a “farewell” and is ready to move forward with the new world he now believes to possess. He solidifies his feelings of resentment and hatred towards God by declaring them as everlasting, independent of both place and time. The concluding metaphor leaves the future looking optimistic – it is up to the speaker whether he suffers or not. Though sounding confident with his declarations, the setting and audience is what mandates this confidence from the …show more content…
The use of this chant like exclamation reminds readers of similar salutations and expressions of honor and approval (Merriam-Webster) such as in the prayer “Hail Mary” or the famous chant “Hail Cesar”. Deceivingly the greeting looks welcoming and respectable. In truth, the exclamation is a mockery of Hell just as it was when used during the crucifixion of Jesus who faced the humiliating chant “Hail King of the Jews!” (English Standard Version, John 9.3). This was a statement that denounced his power and profoundness as do Satan’s words towards Hell because he knows that it does not compare to
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be chang’d 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. (I. 250-255, p.217)
Taken at face value, the speaker renounces his past forever with a “farewell” and is ready to move forward with the new world he now believes to possess. He solidifies his feelings of resentment and hatred towards God by declaring them as everlasting, independent of both place and time. The concluding metaphor leaves the future looking optimistic – it is up to the speaker whether he suffers or not. Though sounding confident with his declarations, the setting and audience is what mandates this confidence from the …show more content…
The use of this chant like exclamation reminds readers of similar salutations and expressions of honor and approval (Merriam-Webster) such as in the prayer “Hail Mary” or the famous chant “Hail Cesar”. Deceivingly the greeting looks welcoming and respectable. In truth, the exclamation is a mockery of Hell just as it was when used during the crucifixion of Jesus who faced the humiliating chant “Hail King of the Jews!” (English Standard Version, John 9.3). This was a statement that denounced his power and profoundness as do Satan’s words towards Hell because he knows that it does not compare to