Paradise Lost Term paper
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Paradise Lost
By: Chris Podesfinski
E-mail: podes881@hotmail.com
John Milton divided the characters in his epic poem Paradise Lost into two
sides, one side under God representing good, and the other side under Satan
representing evil and sin. Milton first introduced the reader to the character
Satan, the representative of all evil, and his allegiance of fallen angels that
aided in his revolt against God (Milton 35). Only later did Milton introduce
the reader to all powerful God, leader and creator of all mankind (John). This
introduction of Satan first led the reader to believe acts of sin were good, just
like Eve felt in the Garden of Eden when she was enticed by Satan to eat the
fruit off of the Tree of Knowledge (Milton 255). The later introduction of The
Almighty had the readers change their feelings towards sin, as the ways of
God were introduced to them and these ways were shown to be the way to
feel and believe. This levy of good vs. evil carried on throughout the poem
with the interaction of Satan and his fallen angels with God and his son in
Heaven. The common representation of sin and evil came from the lead
character in the battle against God, Satan. His name means "enemy of God."
He was a former high angel from Heaven named Lucifer, meaning, "light
bearer" (John). Satan became jealous in Heaven of God's son and formed an
allegiance of angels to battle against God, only for God to cast them out of
Heaven into Hell (Milton 35). This did not bother Satan at first since he
became the leader in Hell rather than a servant in Heaven. Satan believed that
it was, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" ( I-l. 263). Much of
Satan's reliance on getting things accomplished came from his ability to lie and
deceive. He lied to the fallen angels about the Son and his "vice-regency" in
Heaven in order for them to follow him instead of The Son. He also
concealed his true self by hiding in the body of a serpent when presenting
himself to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Blessington 32). She would not have
been as easily tempted into sin had he not concealed his true form. In
addition, Satan showed the reader a large amount of anger and
destructiveness when he planned his revenge on God (Milton 62). Satan even
found pleasure in the pain and destruction of other people and things, "To do
aught good never will be our task, / But ever to do ill our soul delight" (qtd. in
Blessington 32). It is clear the feelings and views of Satan represented evil.
With Satan and his battle against God, he formed an allegiance of fallen
angels to help him carry out his evil goals. Satan placed his chief supporter
named Beelzebub in charge of the fallen angels, and getting them together to
form the Demonic Council to serve as an administration for Hell (John).
Milton described Beelzebub as being a " Majestic, wise statesman" (qtd. in
Bush 265) in his leadership abilities of this council. Although Satan put
Beelzebub in charge, it was not because of Beelzebub's abilities, but due to
the fact Satan was able to trick his chief supporter easily into expressing his
beliefs instead of Beelzebub's own. With Satan's ability to deceive Beelzebub
easily, he will easily mislead the Demonic Council into carrying out his evil
ideas against God in Heaven. The council held a meeting in the capital of Hell
called Pandemonium, where the reader is introduced to all of the fallen
angels, and learned their evil ideas of revenge against God and Heaven. The
first fallen angel that spoke at the meeting was Moloch, who was the
"strongest and fiercest spirit that fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair"
(Milton, II-l. 44-45). He came forth with a "suicidal battle philosophy"
(Blessington 39), promoting open war in Heaven. He was very aggressive in
nature, and did not care if God destroyed the fallen angels in the battle, as
long as they fought in revenge (Bush 258). The second fallen angel that spoke
at the meeting was the false and hollow angel named Belial. He represented
true passivity towards fighting (Blessington 40). He conceded to God's
power, realizing they would easily be defeated (John). Up next came the
"least erected spirit that fell from Heaven" (Milton I-l. 679) named Mammon,
who was characterized by greed and tangible wealth. When Mammon was in
Heaven, he desired the golden floors he walked on better than desiring the
wealth and virtue available from God who ruled over them (John). The reader
saw this same desire in his philosophy of what the angels should do in Hell,
which was to stay there and exploit its wealth rather than war in Heaven
against God (Milton 67-68). The final speaker at the meeting was Beelzebub,
who relayed the earlier thoughts of Satan, which were to go after the new
creation of God, man, rather than take the chance of fighting in Heaven
(72-73). Since these ideas were those of Satan, he quickly adjourned the
meeting, and the plans to accomplish his idea were begun (74-75). The final
two essential characters that interacted with Satan representing sin were his
daughter Sin and incestuous son Death, showing the reader the perversity in
evil. Sin was Satan's daughter, born from his head in Heaven, only to fall with
him into Hell. The poem described her as a woman, beautiful above the waist
but an evil serpent below, with Satan's Hellhounds crawling out of her
stomach. These hellhounds aided Sin in her main duty, which was to guard
the gates of Hell (John). Sin carried on an incestuous relationship with her
father, which brought forth a son named Death (Blessington 40-41). Death,
described by the poem as a threatening, shadowy figure, carried a dart as a
weapon and even threatened his father with it. Death had two specific tasks,
first to serve as Satan's jailer, then as his road builder from Heaven to
Paradise (John). With the relationship...
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