What Makes Satan Such An Interesting Character In Paradise Lost?

What Makes Satan Such An Interesting Character in Paradise Lost?

Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost is one of the most controversial and critically discussed characters ever developed in the English language. In his text, Milton provides a new perspective on an old and already highly infamous biblical character, and for this reason Satan is of great interest to readers and critics alike. Satan is a multi-faced character, who moves in role and function frequently throughout the text's twelve books, whether he is the archangel upon high, the martial prince of hell or the deceitful serpentine corrupter of man, Satan, as John Demaray argues is a: "pseudo-hero who wears a succession of heroic masks, shifting from one heroic formula to another as expediency dictates". However, before proceeding with a discussion of Satan's portrayal in Paradise Lost it would perhaps be prudent to arrive at some satisfactory conclusion as to what exactly it means to find a character "interesting". In the Oxford English Dictionary, "interest" is described as: "A feeling of concern for, or curiosity about a certain thing". Therefore, for a readership to be truly "interested" in Satan, we must simultaneously find his character both concerning and thought provoking, and it would seem that this effect on the reader in achieved by Milton in a number of different ways. The first interesting aspect of Satan can be viewed in his power as a poetic force in Paradise Lost. In a lecture on Satan and God in Paradise Lost, David Hopkins stated that: "Paradise Lost is often viewed away from poetry, yet much of what makes Satan remarkable lies in his ability to use, manipulate and produce incredible language." It would appear that Satan as a character in the text is blessed with a poetic vitality that one simply cannot ignore, especially when we compare his language to that of other depictions of archfiends and satanic characters in literature. However, before looking closer at Satan's poetic worth we must also note that, unlike traditional depictions of Satan, Milton does not provide us with a grotesque physical embodiment, as he creates interest about his character by giving him an intense, angelic beauty and vast physical proportions. Indeed, Milton seems intent on providing us with a Satan who does not lose the "original brightness" (1.592) of the archangels. In Book One, we see Satan "above the rest" (591) with a form that does not appear anything less than an "archangel ruined" (593). These details are remarkable and extremely interesting to a reader who would have expected a more traditional set of adjectives to describe a satanic figure. This "traditional" approach can be seen in characters such as Christopher Marlowe's Lucifer in Doctor Faustus, a play which was published some 63 years earlier than Paradise Lost. While Lucifer and Satan cannot be viewed as entirely the same character, both represent the archfiend, however their physical descri ptions differ hugely. When Faustus first views Lucifer, he is alarmed and repulsed by Lucifer's grotesque outward appearance, crying: "O, Who are thou that look'st so terrible?" (5.404). Milton's descri ption also stands in opposition to Biblical portrayals of Satan, which again are similar to Marlowe's envisaging of a great, appalling fiend of fierce, monstrous appearance. In the book of Revelations Satan is described as "a great dragon" and "a vast serpent", (Revelations 12:9) which, while retaining the vast proportions of Milton's Satan, does not include any of the more beautiful, angelic aspects. By providing these beautiful aspects to Satan's appearance, Milton moves away from convention and therefore allows his Satan the physical gloriousness to match his language and create a character far more eloquent and deliberately impressive than his predecessors. Examples of Satan's lyrical skill and eloquence that match his former status as an archangel can be found across the text, as Satan adapts and transforms his language to suit his situations. A perfect example of this adaptability can be found in Book 9, where Satan, in tempting Eve in Eden, evokes and mimics some of the tropes of the courtly love tradition, while also using logic to simultaneously flatter Eve and make her doubt that which God has told her. The way in which the flattery initially begins is through an aggrandising of Eve's status. Satan here calls her "Empress of the fair world" (9.568) and "Queen of this Universe" (9.684), and while these statements are of course to some extent true, the ability on Satan's part to introduce a post- lapsarian human hierarchy into a world with only two humans in it is impressive, and we see that his words "made their way into Eve's heart" (9.550). Therefore, when Satan gets to the crux of his argument and persuades Eve to eat the fruit, her powers of resistance have already been limited by Satan who, by lending Eve titles of power has in fact created the illusion of his own inferiority, calling Eve "queen" while retaining full control. Satan's rhetorical power is undoubtedly one of the most interesting aspects of his character, yet one would expect him to be capable of the persuasion of Eve given her inferior status as a mortal being, impressive though it is. The real interest in his rhetoric in my mind lies in his ability to speak and manipulate language like a political leader, determined not to fail. David Loewenstein claims that: "While Milton's Satan is indeed theologically perverse, the poem brilliantly enables us to feel his power and appeal, he is splendid in defeat and has a fierce determination not to be overcome". This determination comes through in Book 1 when Satan, expelled from heaven, decides to rule in hell instead. Line 255 of the book sees Satan states that one can: "Make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n". This is a chiasmus (a tool often used in political rhetoric) and shows the impressive rhetorical power Milton lends to Satan, who encourages his reader to recognise the adaptable and exciting nature of Satan's language. This ability, combined with Satan's extraordinary courage all galvanise our impression of Satan, especially in the earlier books of Paradise Lost, as a martial hero and fearless political leader. No greater example of Satan's bravery can be found than in his flight to hell, where he volunteers himself to undertake the journey alone, and then, when faced with all manner of hellish scenes, remains "undaunted" (2.677). In his exchanges in hell, Milton is keen to provide Satan with supportive adjectives that augment his status as the brave quasi-hero, as he uses words such as "disdainful" (680), "fearless" (721) and "unterrified" (708), these adjectives, when located in the "universe of death" (622) that Milton so vividly portrays are key to Satan's status as a martial hero and brave leader, and with his ability to manipulate language accordingly, as well as his exceptional physical stature, readers cannot help but be interested and admiring of Satan, even if his intentions are fuelled by a need for revenge. There is, however, another key element to Satan's characterisation which makes him extremely interesting to readers, and that is his more human, tragic aspects, which place him alongside both classical epic heroes and tragic protagonists. While we have seen that Satan has some heroic aspects to his character, he is also inflected with a great suffering as a fallen angel that pre-empts the post-lapsarian fall of humanity. Even though Satan's lust for revenge is the cause of Adam and Eve's exile, in many ways he is their blueprint, and does to mankind what has already been done to him, as Eve replicates what Satan did and "Doubts God's empire" (1.115). In this respect, David Reid explains eloquently that: "Satan is a supernatural being who suffers as a human creature", and in Book 3 we see Satan proclaim that he will "stumble on and deeper fall" (3.201) in a pattern of repeating and increasing sinfulness that humanises him greatly, as suffering on earth is fundamental to a much of Christian doctrine. In his text: Hero or Fool: A Study of Milton's Satan, George Rostrover Hamilton argues against C.S. Lewis' statement that Satan's character is built merely on "lies and propaganda". I believe that, in order for Satan to be a truly interesting character we must reject Lewis' assertion and have some "feeling of concern" for him and what he might do. Perhaps the greatest example in Paradise Lost of Satan's personal, human like condition can be seen in his soliloquy upon Mount Niphates, where he views Eden for the first time, as an outsider. Indeed, K. G. Hamilton argues that "the tragic in Paradise Lost lives through Satan", and that the Niphates soliloquy is the most tragic in the whole text. Here, we see Satan as a conflicted character, too proud and hate filled to turn back, yet rueing the corruption he has to bring to Eden. Perhaps the most striking line is: "To do what else though damned I should abhor" (4.392). This line shows that, while Satan knows he must commit to his task and fall further, he is disgusted by the prospect of ruining Eden, whose beauty serves to simultaneously move and torture his fallen self. Hamilton argues that the fact that Satan is capable of lapsing into evil yet also seems to have a clear choice is what: "makes his character so deeply tragic", as Milton reimagines a Satan who is not purely evil. Tragedy, for Aristotle, was the seizing upon suffering in order to bring joy out of existence, yet for Satan there is no such hope of a joyful existence, and the inflicting of suffering upon Adam and Eve he knows will do nothing to quash the pain of his alienation from heaven. This aspect of his character makes Satan's suffering over and above that of the humans he corrupts, because the pain he feels is similar, yet simultaneously worse than that of classical tragic protagonists, as there could be no joy to follow his suffering, even for the reader who knows that Satan is damned for eternity. The idea of Milton's Satan going "over and above" classical tragic and epic protagonists is fundamental to our interest with him as a character, as Milton presents him as an archetype to the human protagonists who followed him. John Steadman argues that this intention of Milton to supersede the classics was typical of the Renaissance, which held the belief that: "Classical civilization could provide the rules and principles of the arts, but not their final cause due to the classical lack of Christianity". By locating his "tragic protagonist" in a Christian world, Milton's Satan can be viewed as similar to classical, human heroes such as Achilles and Odysseus, yet above them in power and tragic force due to the added alienation from God, and Paradise Lost's status as the "original" tragic and epic text. In many ways, one could argue that Satan's Mount Niphates speech is in fact a monologue on the issue and recurrent theme of Satan's hubris, and Raphael Werblowsky argues that in this speech Satan is "representative of the ever present nightmare of Greek tragedy". Therefore, one can see that the Niphates soliloquy simultaneously combines two important elements of Satan's characterisation which the reader finds interesting: on one hand we see the humanising aspects of Satan's grief and despair, and on the other we see the tragedy in Satan's character shine through, linking him with other classical protagonists of old. The links with classical epic heroes do not however end there, as Satan's mission to corrupt Eden is born from a traditional "siege" motif, which was a common trope of the classical epic. The most obvious example of the siege tradition is in the Iliad, where Eden can be seen to mimic Troy in some ways as the citadel in need of invasion. In this respect Satan, like Odysseus, becomes the expert in what Steadman describes as the "ignoble disguise" and we are left as readers to see similarities between Satan's use of disguise and the story of the Trojan horse. Hurt by the sight of Adam and Eve "Imparadised in one another's arms" (4.506), the vainglorious Satan uses a wily cunning that is necessary to many epic heroes as he slips into Eden twice in disguise, ultimately succeeding in his goal to corrupt and vanquish the fortress of Eden. Loewenstein also points out that Satan proves to be similar to Achilles in many ways with his "pride, rage and vengefulness". Much like Achilles, there is a dichotomy between Satan's private and public self, revealed to us by Milton many times in the poem. The first good example of this is in Book One, where we are told: "So Spake th' apostate Angel, though in pain, Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair." (1.125-6). This shows that, like Achilles brooding upon his fate while leading in battle, Milton projects Satan as a powerful and wilful leader of fallen angels, while simultaneously revealing his tormented inner self, which provides a very human inconsistency between outward display and inner despair, while also drawing Satan closer to classical epic heroes. What is therefore interesting about Satan in Paradise Lost is his multifaceted characterisation. Milton once famously spoke of his wish to write something "yet unattempted", and in his Satan he created a character hugely different and entirely reimagined from all other previous Satanic portrayals, here we see the archfiend reimagined, humanised and more appealing, yet at the same time destructive and vindictive. Milton's poem, and his Satan, are interesting as they allow us to appreciate Satan's individualism and at times his beauty, while also showing us the destructive, hubristic motives which fuel his behaviour. Stanley Fish claims that critical debate about Paradise Lost can ultimately be separated into "Satanists and Anti- Satanists", and I believe this detail of controversy surrounding Milton's reimagined Satan is fundamental to his classification as an interesting character. One of the most frequent patterns of imagery in Paradise Lost is the light/ dark opposition, and in Satan we have the traditional embodiment of darkness and evil, made to look human and even comparable to protagonists at the heart of western literature, making Satan simultaneously a problematic yet undeniably interesting character to all readers of Paradise Lost, whether they believe Milton's Satan to be impious or tragically brilliant.