Paradise Lost by John Milton (Essay Sample)

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Paradise Lost
John Milton perfects the art of poetry when he publishes Paradise Lost. As one studies the art embedded in the poem, perhaps in the English Language, it can be considered one of the greatest long poems. Paradise Lost was written in 1667 and still it is being studied even after three hundred and fifty, it is expected to provoke a significant amount of debate. Milton has focused his poem towards exploring the humankind first act of committing sin towards God through disobedience and the consequences that resulted. Milton argues that the original sin committed by Adam and Eve when they ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge led to human beings losing their home the paradise. Nevertheless, humankind was restored to its former glory of purity, when Jesus came and died for the original sin (Milton and Fowler 42). The poem touches on the core cause of humanity fall being the serpent (Satan) who rebels against God with legions of Angels. The action committed by the Serpent forces God to drive them away from Heaven to fall in Hell. Hell is perceived to be a place of utter chaos and darkness where Satan and his legion of Angels lie on the burning lake. This article will analyze whether Satan should be considered the villain or the hero at the end of paradise lost since this is the cause of the constant debates by scholars.
The scholars have engaged in discussions on determining whether Satan can be identified as the hero or villain in the poem. The scholars who view Satan as the villain are commonly referred as Anti-Satanists and present their claim by stating that Satan is too stupid to be a hero. The claim is justified by saying that Satan cannot be considered a hero because his efforts to overthrow God who is omnipotent have been rendered futile. The anti-Satanists view their counterparts as advocates of the world full of frustrations and miseries that are embedded in lies and propaganda (Fish 92). While the scholars who consider Satan as the hero tend to see Satan as epic since he has an unflinching confidence to rebel against God's monarchy. They choose to focus on Satan's ‘noble traits' for instance his loyalty in leadership, his firm conviction, splendid recklessness, and fortitude in an adversary.
Milton emphasizes on how essential Christian faith influences Paradise Lost and tries to justify the ways of God to men. God is portrayed as good while the Satan is portrayed as evil. The scope of the poem focuses on Christianity as well as the downfall and redemption of man (Milton and Fowler 52). The poem illustrates how a man was separated from God because of the original sin but later was offered the chance of redemption when Christ was sent, and through his incarnation, death on the cross, and resurrection man was redeemed to their initial state of purity.
Before the downfall of humankind, God provides a paradise for him. However, man falls into Satan fallacy and shows disobedience to God and in doing so humankind is expelled from Eden. The fall of humankind as explained in the poem, it could be referred as a fortune fall meaning that even if it is a disadvantage for humanity in the beginning, in the end, the results favors the humankind (Jahlmar 271). However, the fall does not create a better life for humankind and does not benefit humankind. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of knowledge, the serpent misguided them that they will receive knowledge similar to God, but humankind was not provided greater knowledge of God mercies. Therefore, this illustrates that Satan did not cause the fall to benefit the human beings entirely. The fall was used to show the consequences of disobedience and the necessity of obedience to God by human beings.
Paradise Lost illustrates the villain of Satan through the fall of humankind, but in other instances, Satan is portrayed as a hero. Satan is considered a hero for causing the fall of humankind because God glorifies Himself through offering humans redemption. In another perspective, the fall of humankind was predicted, and it was necessary for it to happen to allow greater things to occur. This is to show that without the fall, Jesus Christ would not have offered the humans Salvation; it is through salvation that humankind experience an unprecedented level of happiness. Through the fall, man is granted the opportunity to experience love and mercy that God portrays for their redemption. When humankind re-establishes the obedience to God, they receive redemption (Kraft et al 1125). While God punishes the disobedient human beings, the ones who remain obedient to Him they are offered redemption. The individuals perceiving Satan as a hero argue that the fall of humankind was beneficial because if Satan was not brave enough to cause it, humans could not have experienced the true extent of God’s mercy and love.
In Paradise Lost, Satan is portrayed as an interesting character; he is described as a hero, but they do not make him a hero but rather a villain. Milton excellent poetry styles describe Satan as a hero in Book I and II. Satan is presented as being great, and this draws the readers to be interested in the exaggerated state of Satan. However, the idea of Satan being a hero in the poem is widespread. Despite being thrown into the dark pit of Hell where there is a lake of fire, Satan still manages to rise and deliver his heroic speeches challenging God. Satan gives hopes to his legion of angels on how they can transform hell into heaven (Joakim 52). The way Satan is described portrays him as a Promethean hero who is putting himself to challenge the monarchy of God. Satan comforts his legions of angels with a ray of hope that they are going to regain heaven, but he ascertains them that a new world with new kind of creatures is being created. Satan calls for meeting with his grand council and goes ahead to create chaos where he finds earth. The first reading of the scenes, Satan is described as an emphatic character.
The presentation of Satan in the poem maintains the interest of the reader to some extent. Milton has spent some quality time and energy on the development and description of Satan to ensure the readers feels sympathy towards the character. Regardless of how epic Milton tries to present Satan in the poem, the chief demon cannot be granted the opportunity to be the hero. To the Anti-Satanists, Milton included considers Satan an adversary who commits an action that is against God basic laws, and that puts the nature of the universe in jeopardy. Satan is focused on destroying the hierarchy of heaven with the hopes of taking over the power. He commits the act of tyranny to get what he wants instead of what God wants for him. Satan can be described as an egoist because his interests turn on his personal desires (Milton and Fowler 57). When Adam is speaking to angel Raphael, he tends to speak multiple subjects without mentioning his desire, unlike Satan who every time focuses on what will happen to him. When an individual rebels against tyranny in an attempt to correct the wrong or free the unfortunate, he is considered a true Promethean hero. However, if Satan had been considered a Promethean and be granted an opportunity of becoming one, he would have stolen the fire to warm himself while the humankind perished.
As the poem progresses, Milton attitude towards Satan is manifested especially the way the character is degraded. When the book starts in Satan is magnificent even admirable, but when it reaches book four, Satan is changed. As the poem progresses, the motives of Satan changes too, and he wishes to continue with his tyranny against God. The fight for his freedom becomes glory and recognized (Johnson 147). When Satan tempts Adam and Eve to sin against God, he aimed at disrupting God’s plan for humankind. Satan acted the way he did to impress his legions of angels in hell not because he desired to help the humankind.
Milton objective is to justify the fall of humankind and how God plan was to redeem them eventually from their original sin. The redemption and salvation of the humankind had to be accompanied by a punishment of the sinners. Milton tries to show how God is right to punish those who continue to disobey him and His treatment to humankind even after their fall. As noted earlier, the prime cause of humankind fall is their disobedience to God when they opted to listen to what the serpent said. Eve disobedience is her passion for trying and fighting what is right and wrong while Adam too is guilty of the same violation since his dread of loneliness convinced him towards sharing the fruit hence sharing Eve fate (Werblowsky). A man is considered noble in nature, but he is gullible and has to exercise the power of free will to choose whether the action is morally upright or wrong. When a man commits a certain action, he is responsible for the consequences.
Milton is not an advocate of Calvinism according to which God has the power over everything, and the fate of man is decided even before he is born. Milton being a champion of humanity pins his faith upon freedom and adventure of humans. Therefore, Milton believes that God has all the right to expose Adam and Eve to the earthly misfortunes after their sin because it portrays humans as the supreme beings. The purpose of Paradise Lost according to Milton perception is to prove that Satan is a villain and try to justify the actions of God to men.
In Paradise Lost, Satan takes a lot of shapes with the aim of deceptions. He keeps on shape shifting, and this causes a ...