From an early age we are familiarized with the abstraction of a hero. The concept of a hero is something that is not defined with any amount of ease. Children are told tales of men and women whom, despite all odds to the contrary, overcome whatever obstacle that is preventing them from reaching their ultimate goal. For a person or a force to be accredited with the term “hero,” they need to remain indomitable in an occurrence of perplexity. Historically, heroes rarely make concessions to conciliate with their adversary; in contrast however, they overcome their opponent. A heroic quality is the ability to lead and persevere to accomplish any task that may consume you. One should not assume that the task a hero is trying to accomplish can not be for the betterment of the hero themselves. The character of Satan in Paradise Lost, is often the centre of much disputation. A simple way to describe Satan in Paradise lost would be to generalize him as the antagonist. Contradictory, however Satan arguably shows a copious amount of …show more content…
It is arguable that in comparison to others who are widely accepted as heroes, Paradise Lost's Satan copes better under scrutiny. Hercules, for example, is someone who is widely accepted as a hero and described as “[t]he greatest of all heroes in Greek mythology.”[ii] When most people visualize Hercules they first think of an abnormally strong man who has the ability to save the damsel in distress by whatever means necessary. Hercules has the mindset that his work will ultimately be for the good of the world. Satan has a very similar opinion of the ultimate results of his own labour saying “[o]ut of our evil seek to bring forth good” (Milton 7). Many of Hercules' undertakings, often involve death of the enemy. No different from Satan, Hercules did things that would normally be perceived as unmoral, to achieve something that he