Revolt of Satan in Paradise Lost Book 1
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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,
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,