If
Milton wrote this book without the unending sentences and copious amounts of
allusions, I would enjoy reading it more. Alas, this is not true and so I battle my
way through the text, trying to understanding what is happening. I've enjoyed
reading about Satan in Book One because he’s not a divine figurehead authors
try to pick apart anymore. There seems to be a stigma attached to Satan/
Lucifer stamping him a forever-evil being, scaring away some writers.
Do
I think Satan is a completely diabolical fallen angel turned ruler of hell?
Sure. Do I think he has his reasons for being that way? Of course. I am always
one to root for the bad guy of a film or book and Satan from Paradise Lost is no exception. He
presents an interesting divine figure for humans to judge based on his story.
Everyone knows he fell from heaven after disobeying Gods orders and raising an
army against him. Yet, do people understand why Satan acted that way?
In
previous blog post, I mentioned how Satan was a kid with parental issues. I
still believe this is true, but I won’t say the blame solely lies on Satan. I
feel God is also guilty in regards to how he handled Satan’s rebellion. Once
Satan fell, he had no more qualms against being bad because he was his own
keeper. When he fell, Satan gained freedom to do whatever he wanted within his
power range.
He
essentially was a kid set free inside a candy store. Satan said it best in Paradise Lost with its, “Better to reign
in Hell than serve in Heaven” (ll.261-263). While Hell may be miserably hot,
torturous and filled with unending misery, Satan is free. The angels who fell
with him are also free. They live in this grand palace named Pandemonium
without rules. There is no more following orders from God or always having to
be virtuous.
This
being said, I find I still wonder if Satan is truly pleased on the inside with
what he has done. While he was unable to dethrone God, he led a massive
uprising that ended with him a ruler of his own domain. Satan owns the sentencing
fist and leads whatever crafty mischief he desires. Yet, does he tire of these repetitious
activities and wish for something more? I’m not saying he would return to
heaven, but maybe just stop being for a while.
Humans
have been obsessed recently with the idea of vampires and immortality, but I wonder
how long we could endure that. I would think after a couple thousand years,
life would become monotonous and boring. It’s why I wonder if Satan wishes he
could go on vacation from everything for a long time. Then again, I might be very
wrong and Satan is just a sadistic bastard who loves to watch people stub their
toes on a doorjamb. I mean, seriously, how many times is enough dude?
YESSSSS TO THE FIRST SENTENCE!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't really thought about whether I was pro-satan until I read through the blogs and now I'm thinking I just might be. I was frustrated at first. How could I be sympathetic when satan was an angel who thought he could take over for god? I was nodding along as the punishment was doled out. But now.... I'm thinking, make the most of what you have. I hated the line about it being better to rule in hell than serve in heaven at first, but u can definitely relate to it now. Satan screwed up and he knows it. Sure he could have begged for mercy and maybe have been put back in his place and continued on, but he obviously wanted a change if he was trying to overthrow god in the first place. In a way, he's succeeded. He's landed himself a throne almost as powerful as god and in his mind, he's going to combat god and destroy everything he tries to do. Now I see him more as saying, I didn't really get my way, but things sort of worked out and now I'm going to flourish in my new environment. The only comparison I can think of off the top of my head is college. I got into my dream school and my financial aid fell through. Instead of going to that school and being in debt and miserable for life, I came to Hood and although it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it worked for me 100% into my extra curricular activities and classes because I want to make the most out if my time in college and figure out
Why I ended up here and what exactly it means. I'm going to make sure I stand out on campus by putting in tons of effort so I can thrive here and make this my dream school because I couldn't actually go to my dream school.
DeleteI definitely agree that it's good to see Satan more humanized. He has reasons for doing everything he does, whether it's "evil" or not. It's not necessarily evil to him. Regardless, this makes him a much better character and far more well-rounded.
ReplyDelete