![]() One may choose to read this as the narrator's sardonic comment on Satan creating 'a hell of heaven', but this mental extension of the physical torment of hell as well as trapping him, also in a way represents Satan's freedom: this is a hell of Satan's own choosing and creation, caused 'in him' by his hate and envy of everything good. When Satan comes into Eden, he is tormented by 'the hot hell that always in him burns' (IX.467). But in hell, Satan is sovereign and free from having to worship the Son. We may indeed argue that he (Satan, not Paul) is deluding himself when he preaches 'the mind is its own place, and in itself | Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven' (I.254) - this is a clear case of sour grapes Satan is exiled from heaven and pines for lost joys. ![]() Satan was defeated but not defeated, or to draw a slightly blasphemous parallel to Saint Paul, he was 'perplexed, but not in despair cast down, but not destroyed' (II Corinthians, 4.8-9). Satan may be quite useless when it comes to fighting the ten thousand thunders of Christ's fury, but in his will he is free and in his mind he is supreme: 'What though the field be lost? | All is not lost the unconquerable will' (I.105). ![]() The allure of free will is where the attractiveness and power of Satan's character lies. Evil is rather something chosen, acting through free will in conscious opposition to God's will. Augustine's idea that evil is not an essential attribute, something existing in itself, independent and exclusive from that which is good. We are constantly reminded by the 'bright angel' motif that Satan was created by God, but then opposed him a failed creation, if you like. We are never allowed to forget that he was once a glorious angel of God, good rather than evil. He is defined only by his opposition and relation to God and is often presented with reference to his former beauty: 'the excess | Of glory obscured' (I.593). In fact, he is first described to us in Paradise Lost as 'the arch-enemy, | And thence in heaven called Satan' (I.81). 'Lucifer' means 'light-bringer' in Latin, which is not far away from Shakespeare's 'bright Angel', but 'Satan' means 'the adversary' in Hebrew. Satan was defeated by the Son and cast into Hell with all the other rebel angels. Satan persuaded a third of the angels to rebel with him, and declared war on God. Satan used to be one of the most important of God's angels, but rebelled when God declared the Son to be above all the angels in glory. But looking at this famous quote gives us a number of interesting ways of thinking about Satan's character in Paradise Lost. ![]() ![]() Romeo and Juliet may be the last place you would look for a literary inspiration for Satan, and I don't think it was one for Milton (we can't completely rule out the possibility, but I think we can safely agree it is considerably less likely than England winning the World Cup). ~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II.ii.26 BY NICHOLAS ZENG 'O, speak again, bright angel!' ![]()
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