I'm glad we don't read the rest of Paradise Lost, because for now Satan is too awesome.

So on a real note, we’re not reading past book 2 of Paradise Lost, so I feel alright in saying that Satan is awesome (in past and present definitions of the word.) It’s cool that he might not be a “nice” or “admirable” character per say, but it’s always the dangerous or manipulative characters that make a story appealing. If we didn't get this perspective of/by Satan, we would essentially just be reading the bible. Which is by no means unnecessary since there are infinite biblical allusions all throughout literature, but it certainly wouldn't be as compelling.

I think what makes him so cool is Milton’s influence of free will on the character. He explains himself as “weak [and] miserable” (Book 1, ll. 157) as a fallen angel who has failed in battle with a ruler who “Put forth and full but still His strength concealed” (Book 1, ll. 641.) This demonstrates Satan as the one who, in his own words, was tempted, thereby making us able to sympathize with him in the same way that we should have been able to sympathize with Faustus. He blames this temptation for his downfall, which addresses why his role is temptation of sin. Circling back to free will, Satan’s fall doesn't stop him from doing what he wants to do. He will make his heaven out of his hell. Even if we know the kind of character Satan will turn out to be, for now, we can actually look up to him for how he lives his life. He fought for what he wanted, ended up eternally damned, and said look let’s make the best of it even though he’s been beaten down (literally, down, for nine days.) And that’s fairly impressive to me.

Satan, Satan, Satan.

I was not expecting this view of Satan. He is said to be able to “seduce” man in line 219, and appeals to us as a somewhat relatable character. Satan’s separation from God reminds me of the American Revolution, since God demands full loyalty. I almost want to join him—almost. Satan explains that God does not show off the extent of his power, so Satan and his buddies rebelled, unaware of what they were up against (starting at line 637). Now that Satan is has been banished into Chaos and Hell, Milton’s word choice is suggestive of Satan’s ability to lure in new followers. Satan is compared to Etna, a volcanic mountain, meaning that Satan erupts with uncontrollable passion (and as we said in our group today, volcanoes can be phallic!) So it makes sense that he has such a large army, and life down there doesn't seem so bad…

So why should Satan repent? He has power now! Around line 260, Satan clarifies his priorities—being able to be the ruler in Hell is way better than God’s servant in Heaven. Even if this means he is further damning himself, and actually bringing forth salvation for humanity… I think he still doesn’t know about that part yet... Anyway, if being damned means being far away from God (who seems to practice humbleness, mercy, fairness, etc.), and Satan now has control of his own life, then I don’t know why he would ever give that up just to do the right thing.

Satan is definitely large, still pretty AWEful… and sexy! So here is a picture of what I was imagining all day. So for my fellow Adventure Time fans, enjoy.

Hell and Satan

So I Milton has wonderful nice very descriptive writing and its so hard to focus when reading this book... I mean poem. So lets talk about the devil. In most people's heads, the devil is this big olé monster that's red with horns. But he's really an angel who has fallen from heaven and his biggest flaw is his selfishness. He has baleful eyes and his situation is just not good. "He is lay vanquished rolling in the fiery gulf confounded though immortal. Both of lost happiness and lasting pain torments him....a dungeon horrible on all sides round as one great furnace flamed yet from those flames no light but rather darkness visible served only to discover sights of woe... where peace and rest can never dwell, hope never comes..." So in Hell, its dark, dark as hell, lol get it. But its dark and hot as a furnace. There's no happiness and only pain. The only thing that comes is torture without end! Now with this description of Hell, I can't help but think back to Faustus, at first not really thinking what hell would be like and then thinking that there may be an end to it until Mephistopheles told him other wise. OMG. I know its HELL and all, but this sounds so horrible. People should REPENT REPENT REPENT. PUHLEASE. Plus I kept thinking how misery loves company. That is how I really see this whole situation. He can sugar coat it all he wants, but honestly, who wants to go to hell by themselves? Or would you rather have someone to keep you company while you are getting tortured for an eternity? Because I'm selfish and I want some company. Why does he (Satan) choose to take on all these different forms? Like why does he choose a serpent, a cherub, a toad etc????

"A heaven of hell, a hell of heaven"

Last class we discussed how Milton introduces Book I with a complete summary of what this poem is all about. Adam and the Garden of Eden. So I picked back up with the lake scene when we are introduced to Satan. The way Milton describes Satan is pretty clear that he will be the protagonist in this work. Satan is chained down to a fiery lake of hell surrounded by his "people". His whole reasoning for being down in hell is because he thought he was equal to God (quite stupid if you ask me). However, as I've noticed the direct word "God" hasn’t been used when Milton has referred to Hell and Satan.  

My question is, are we as readers supposed to feel sympathetic to Satan? It seems as though that’s how Milton wants us to feel. We are presented with all Satan's frustrations. He even tells his "people/army" that they were all tricked and it was until they were at battle that God was there for them (something like that). If they would have been shown God's true acts of kindness from the beginning, they wouldn't have rebelled and declared war. ( If I'm reading this correctly)  

What really kills me is that rather Satan and his men repenting for their sins, Satan is making his men strong. "A heaven of hell, a hell of heaven".  So Satan chooses 12 of his "close" friends to mimic the 12 disciples. A lot of things mimic Heaven, and are the reverse of each other. The most known characteristic of hell is that it is dark- whereas heaven is full of light.  

I thought Hell was punishment for turning away from good? Instead of Satan learning his lesson, he becomes stubborn and more proud. Heaven = the good, and you move toward God. Hell= the bad, and you move away from God. However now, Satan has become a creation of himself and has turned away from God. 

Better to Reign in Hell

Paradise Lost is a bible fan fiction.  Milton is writing the story of creation from Satan's point of view.  This is interesting because all biblical passages are written for God.  Is Milton writing for God?  The alternative is worrisome.  If Milton is writing something from Satan's point of view, what is his goal?  What word is he preaching? 

In the bible, Satan is set up to be a mastermind of evil, plotting against God at every turn.  However, in Paradise Lost, Satan is set up to be God's rebellious teenager who is grounded for "all of eternity" and instead of serving his punishment, chooses to disobey God through petty acts of sin, in typical teenage rebellion fashion. "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" is such a typical rebellious line.  He cannot think of asking for forgiveness to regain his place in heaven.  Will we ever reach a time when the timeout ends?  What will happen first?  Armageddon, or the end of the timeout? 

I feel though, the Satan is contrasted with Adam.  When Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden of Eden, they chose to repent, and by being faithful they will one day regain their place in heaven.  This is similar to Dr. Faustus in that Faustus could repent at any time and gain his place in Heaven.  Can Satan do this?  Could he and all the fallen Angels regain their place in heaven by repenting for their sins?  

Paradise Lost or Found... Also what's up with Satan?

I figured that I would start my post with this lovely picture.

I'm not sure if I sympathize with Satan or not. Yes, I feel bad that he was banned from Heaven but it was his fault. He turned against God and even though banishment is a pretty extreme punishment, I can understand why it was necessary given what had happened. I found it interesting that Milton felt the need to specify that the fall from Heaven into Hell took 9 days and nights.  To me that alone shows how much thought Milton put into this piece of literature.

I do sympathize with the angels that fell with Lucifer. Lucifer lost the battle against God and his followers.So the angels such as Mephistopheles picked the wrong side. I guess in some ways they deserve the same punishment for the same crime only they did not lead. 

As a history major, I really enjoyed talking about Puritanism during class last Thursday. Religion was a big part of life for society at that time.England was going through a time of religious change. A few years ago I memorized the order of the British rulers after the Tudor Dynasty ended, (James I, Charles I, Olive Cromwell (when Milton was writing Paradise Lost), Charles II, James II, and William and Mary) in case anyone was wondering.

 I find it interesting that predestination  misconstrued in public memory. Milton believed that God could predict people's actions from the time they were born. But people have free-will, which I've noticed is a reoccurring theme in this course. I am really curious to see where Milton goes with this theme throughout book II and how big a role free-will plays. 

Even Satan Gets the Blues Sometimes

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?

I think reading Paradise Lost would be easier if any (or preferably all) of the dialogue was in quotes.  Shorter sentences would be nice as well but I suppose that might be asking too much. Basic quotation marks would be really helpful for knowing when characters end their speeches. At some point it tends to say something along the lines of "so spake" or "h' Arch-Fiend replied" and that makes finding the start of speech a bit easier. They just are so wordy (I mean so far that's mostly all Satan) that it can be hard to figure out where they stop speaking. 

That being said  I do really like this translation or update or edition or whatever the proper term is for it. Not only are the notes pretty helpful but the words themselves are easier to process (as many of them as there may be). Just based on that factor this has been the easiest text for me to read up until this point in the semester. So thanks to whoever did the editing. I do think it's interesting how some sentences are ten-plus lines long while others are seven words long. I know a variation in sentence structure makes the reading more interesting but that is one hell of a variation. 

There was a  old man I grew up with, named Guy Waterman, who died when I was six. Guy was a professional jazz pianist , a speech writer for three presidents (including Nixon), and the author of four books. This may seem like a really weird tangent but Guy was a huge Milton fan with obsessive compulsive tendencies. So Guy memorized Paradise Lost. Not just a few lines, not just Book I, but the entirety of Paradise Lost.  In terms of sheer accomplishment I put Guy pretty high up on the list of bad-asses. I imagine the list of people who memorized Paradise Lost consists of Milton, Guy, and a few others who really need to find another source of amusement. 

But whatever, tangent aside. I find myself really liking Satan. Not because he's any pillar of society, I think it's pretty clear that he's not, but because he's pretty optimistic about this hell thing. Like Dr. MB said in class, "Satan's a glass half full kind of guy." And maybe it's because he's got it better than anyone else who fell with him, but I like his optimism. I'm not sure if the other devils/demons/fallen angels are quite such big fans of the "Better to reign in hell than to serve in Heaven" theme but that's probably just because they're stuck serving in Heaven and Hell. I think it will be interesting to see how everything pans out.