Milton's Satan //Samantha T

     The way Milton depicts Satan says a lot about his theology. He shows him having the power of persuasion and having angered God enough for him to be cast out. What interests me is how Satan's power, while influential is limited. Satan has to ask those put in positions of power for help; he cannot do as he pleases. He cannot let himself out of hell, he manipulates until he gets what he wanted, but ultimately those put in place to guard the gate still are the only ones who can open it. Even once out of hell, Satan still must be lead through the abyss by Chaos that gives power over it. These gatekeeper figures are set in place presumedly by God, as he was the creator of Hell and cast its residents there himself. 

    Milton depicts Satan closely to how he is shown in the Bible, though he goes into great detail to show how from God, he has fallen. Milton has not yet shown Satan to have more power than he is allowed. Satan was created with limitations, just as all the other creatures he interacts with. They can do nothing outside what is allowed of them. This comes off a little confusing, though,  as Milton states in line 26 to show "the ways of God to men" through his poem. It seems as if Milton is trying to show that our mortal minds cannot understand why creatures created by God would choose and be allowed to fall away from him. I'm interested to see where Milton takes us when we get to the fall of man. Does Satan stay within these limitations? Do adam and eve operate within any limitations? Everything so far has an allowed function that they make their choices within. 

    -SLT

P.S. I'm commenting on Justin's and Bug's posts

Comments

  1. Emory CooperSeptember 7, 2021 at 12:29 AM

    Your notes on the limitations of Satan reminds me of the story in Job chapter one, where many of the real devil's boundaries are depicted. In verses 9-12, we see how he cannot come at Job because of God's "hedge" of protection around the man, and how, even after God allows the devil to harm Job and his family, God prohibits him first from taking Job's health (v. 12) and later his life (ch. 2, v.6). This truth should be a comfort to us, for it means that Satan is God's devil, and can do nothing to us apart from the consent of Him who makes "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose" (Romans 8:28).

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  2. Braylan StringfellowSeptember 7, 2021 at 8:35 AM

    The way Satan manipulates reminds me a lot of Loki. I am aware it’s not the first time he was used as an example but oh well. Milton does do a good job of portraying Satan very closely to how the Bible describes him but some other aspects of the story so far isn’t 100% biblically accurate. I do agree with you about how this shows his theology.

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