An Empathetic Satan? (Breanna Poole)
In the traditional sense of the word, Satan is a fallen hero. (I now that sounds like heresy, I'm so sorry.)
I'm referring to hero in the sense more of a protagonist, in that Satan is not necessarily a moral character but rather is the character that acts as our guide into this 'world'. I've read Paradise Lost going on three times now, and each time I have to look it as separate from the actual foundation of the world and the creation of Satan, as it is a retelling and not an actual account of what happened. John Milton was a devout political activist (actively taking part in a coup on the English government), so I read it more as political allegory over a work of Christian fiction.
Paradise Lost's first book is most certainly one of it's strongest, and Satan (as a character) is a large part of that. John Milton is....kinder to Satan than most authors and poets would be, not redeeming him but turning him from the get-go into a much more complex and nuanced character. He claims it is "better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" (Line 263), which marks him as ambitious and cunning, something you expect of the devil but there is still something more to him. Satan is a strategist, an alarmingly good leader, and someone who seems to empathy. He recounts the fall of Beelzebub as they lay in the lake of fire, and Satan seems to have actual empathy for what has befallen his fellow demons for his actions, but not enough to regret them.
99% sure that read as heresy, but I promise I'm not, please don't burn me alive.
I enjoyed the small detail that God was the one who allowed the demons to escape their chains, as God is the only one with the power to overcome Himself. I don't have some glorious philosophical point to make about it, I just think it shows off how smart Milton is to include this, as many writers would just assume the audience would know it was God's doing.
P.S. I commented on Elijah and Emma's posts.
I agree with you. Satan is the hero of Paradise Lost, at least from what I can see in these first two books. I have a hard time sympathizing with him in the same way I would another fallen hero, but he is written so that you will. In addition, he is portrayed to have great military-like leadership, something which is still valued to do, but would have been much more so when it was written. Thus, he is written out as the hero.
ReplyDelete(This is from Brooke)
ReplyDeleteBreanna, I agree that John Milton writes Satan in this way. He is, in the literal sense, the hero of this epic poem. I also do not mean this in the sense that he is honorable. In many ways Milton writes him in a way that makes the audience feel bad for him, like he was the victim of God’s wrongdoing, when in reality, God can do no wrong. I definitely agree that these principles are not biblically sound, but line up with a creative retelling.