Paradise Lost is the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve, but unlike the biblical version in Genesis, 3:1-5 which takes a few minutes to read, Milton’s epic spans ten-thousand lines. Adam and Eve are meant to be the poem’s central subject, but Satan, the luminous Lucifer who was once God’s favorite, is the character who inspires awe in the reader. Milton did not intend for him to be the hero or antihero of the poem, yet the English Romantic poets William Blake, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelley certainly saw him as such. Blake thought him to be the poem’s hero in Satan’s bold assertions, and Lord Byron was drawn to Satan’s rebellious spirit—“better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” In his Defense of Poetry, Shelley observed that “Nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence of the character of Satan as expressed in Paradise Lost.”
In the opening lines, Milton tells us why he composed Paradise Lost
This initial passage proclaims Milton’s profound ambition, which was to “assert eternal providence / And justify the ways of God to man,” (I, 26) makes us think that the poem will begin in the Garden of Eden. Milton has something else in mind and it will be three books before we will meet the “grandparents” of humanity. First, we are introduced to Satan, who dominates the narrative of Books I and II. After rebelling against God’s rule in heaven (told in later books) and being utterly defeated, Satan lies “vanquished” (I, 52) in “floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire.” (I, 77)
He sees his fellow fallen angel, now a devil, Beelzebub, and tells him he neither regrets his rebellion nor laments the horrific suffering he has brought upon himself and the one-third of heaven, the angels who joined his ranks. “Yet not for those, / Nor what the potent victor in his rage / Can inflict, do I repent or change.” (I, 96) A little later in this first speech come words that inspired the Romantic poets and, frankly, so many other readers of this great poem. No force, no matter how powerful, can undermine Satan’s resolve to continue fighting against the “oppressive” foe who has demanded his subservience. In valiant words he exclaims,
Traditional Christian teaching and literature does not prepare readers for this depiction of Satan. Rather than a prince of evil or darkness, he seems to have been waging a legitimate revolt against a “…grand foe, / Who now triumphs, and in th’ excess of joy / Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heav’n.” (I, 122-124) Is God simply a tyrant and Satan an angelic freedom fighter? Satan’s third speech contains lines readers most often quoted to argue Satan is a heroic rebel. He claims Hell as is own and asserts his profound psychological freedom:
This is certainly not the singular description we have of the serpent who deceives Eve in Genesis. Here is a character who is not only undaunted by this tormenting prison but who also believes he can undo control of its effect within his mind. He continues:
To make the most of this “horrible destruction” (I, 137) within the imagination is impressive. To transform it to a kingdom over which he can reign is an astonishing act of indomitable dignity. Beelzebub, who already praised Satan, (I, 128-133) responds to this speech by reminding Satan that if he calls to his troops of fallen angels and they will be roused from their stunned condition and “they will soon resume / New courage and revive, though now they lie / Groveling and prostate on yon lake of fire.” (I, 277-280) In the rest of Book I, Satan “comforts” his fallen comrades “with hope yet of regaining Heaven” and tells them lastly of the rumor of a new world and new kind of creature to be created. The devils construct Satan’s Palace, Pandaemonium and the next section of the poem begins in Book II.
As Book II opens, the narrator presents Satan as a royal king whose resilience inspires the fallen angels and the reader:
From his throne, Satan addresses his army, assuring their defeat and banishment to Hell cannot destroy them.
His unflagging confidence energizes his army, and he proposes they debate the best way to attack Heav’n and God once more: …“and by what way, / Whether of open war or covert guile, / We now debate: who can advise, may speak.” II, 40-43 A series of speeches follow with one devil calling for “open war,” (II, 51) another for accepting their defeat, and a third suggesting they mine the mineral riches in Hell. Beelzebub steps in and argues that they should send someone in “search of this new world” (of Adam and Eve) created by God and somehow “Seduce them to our party, that their God / May prove their foe, and with repenting hand / Abolish his own work.” (II, 368-370) The devils unanimously agree and Satan volunteers to find the new creation and explore how they might be “Seduced” to the devils “party.” He flies through space, encounters two extraordinary creatures, directed by Chaos toward Eden which he reaches in Book IV.
In Book III, Milton introduces the character of God, whom readers have found rather unappealing. He looks down from heaven, sees Satan flying toward the Garden of Eden with the aim of corrupting Adam and Eve and tells his Son how Satan will succeed:
Why does God argue he is not responsible for protecting Adam and Eve from this powerful adversary? Why does he lecture that he created them free to withstand Satan’s temptation and gave them the freedom to sin. Although free will makes them “Sufficient” and “free,” he created them, and he is omniscient, omnipotence, foresees what is going to happen and could as easily prevent the suffering and death that would cascade through the generations after Adam and Eve transgress as he did Satan’s attempt to overthrow his rule. Did Milton notice that his character comes across as arbitrary, argumentative and unforgivably callous when God tells his son that he has “immutable foreseen” (III, 121) that Adam and Eve would be deceived by Satan? The full speech can be read here. (III, 80-134)
Book IV takes us back to Satan as he approaches earth. The narrator describes Satan as “bold” (IV, 13) and “fearless” (IV, 14) and defines his psychological torment he cannot escape: “The Hell within him, for within him Hell / He brings…” (IV, 20-21) Shortly afterwards, in one of the most interesting scenes in the poem, Satan evokes the reader’s pity as he poignantly laments his crime and reveals his guilt. But first, his pride and anger erupt, and he denounces the sun for its shining brilliance, since it reminds him of former brightness when he was the luminous Lucifer:
His ego cannot tolerate this new reality, but the Lucifer that has been eternally transformed by his own actions has lost the brilliance he once emitted. Suddenly, he identifies the flaws, “pride and worse ambition,” that instigated his revolt, feels a pang of guilt, blames himself for freely choosing to revolt, and recognizes he cannot escape his torment:
(The “thou” above refers to Satan himself.) How different is Satan’s language from the proud speeches in Books I and II. Here, he blames himself for his punishment and “rues” the choice he made in rebelling against God. His torment is excruciating, scorching his body and his mind. That torment makes him wonder that if he were to “submit,” would God’s forgiveness be possible. But his “Disdain,” for “that word” and his “dread of shame / Among the spirits beneath” make doing so impossible. As he wrestles with what he might do, he sinks deeper into despair:
In Satan’s despair we see the remorse that could lead to contrition and to readmission to heaven. But he does consider how repenting might restore him to his former state:
Satan concludes that his pride will never enable him to repent and therefore forgiveness will never be his. He ends his soliloquy with the resolute conviction to pursue his revenge:
We begin to see the real Satan—the arrogant and prideful angel of Death who finally admits his deep loss of God’s glory. Satan knows he is the embodiment of Hell to which his ego can never accept defeat. His resentment tells him that although he could repent and be readmitted to God’s grace, his “deadly hate” would never allow him to submit. Seeing Satan fully wrapped up in his gloating and despair, it enables us to contrast him with what we realize is God’s goodness even though we may be uncomfortable with his fatherly sternness.