Milton: Paradise Lost

Prof. Aaron Streiter

Midterm Essay
Allen Gurfel
April 12, 2015

A proud fool digs his grave

Miltons own words capture Satans downward trajectory best:

Satan, stirred up with envy, aspires to set himself in glory above his
peers, and is hurled headlong from the ethereal sky with hideous ruin
. down to bottomless perdition (I. 36 47). Satan, prideful and selfworshiping, falls and continues to fall, heaping on himself damnation
(I. 215). He is not a hero but a prideful liar and a fool, set out to do only
evil.

In Book I, Satan, although defeated, is presented as retaining

some degree of majesty. He lays on the burning lake stretched out
huge (I. 208), of monstrous size and liable to be mistaken for an
island (I. 205). [M]oving toward the shore, his ponderous shield .
hung on his shoulders like the moon (I. 284 288) and his spear,
equal which the tallest pine, appeared but a wand (I. 292 294).

He is a vanquished general, but a general nonetheless. A great

commander (I. 358), the superior fiend (I. 282) rallies his fallen
comrades. [H]e above the rest in shape and gesture proudly eminent
stood like a tower; his form had yet not lost all her original brightness
(I. 589 591). He stood as when the sun new risen (I. 594). Rather,
he stood as when the sun new risen looks through the horizontal
misty air shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon in dim eclipse
(I. 594 596). Satan, who had been of the first, if not the first
archangel, great in power, in favor and preeminence (V. 659 661),
was now as far removed from God and light of heaven as from the
centre thrice to the utmost pole (I. 74), condemned by his own
obdurate pride and steadfast hate to Hell, a dungeon horrible .
where peace and rest can never dwell, but torture without end (I. 58
66).

This fall is bad enough, but it only gets worse. Satan

mutates.from an awe-inspiring fallen angel.into a soliloquizing
Shakespearean Iago figure disguised as a cormorant, then into an ugly
toad crouched by Eves ear as she sleeps.and finally into a hissing,
speechless serpent on whose head the Son will tread in final triumph at
the end of days.1 Or, as C.S. Lewis put it: From hero to general, from
1 Reisner, Noam (2011-04-18). John Milton's 'Paradise Lost': A Reading
Guide (Reading Guides to Long Poems) (p. 55). Edinburgh University
Press.

general to politician, from politician to secret service agent, and thence

to a thing that peers in at bedroom or bathroom windows, and thence
to a toad, and finally to a snake such is the progress of Satan.2

This physical and moral degradation is the direct result of Satans

arrogance and stupidity. In Heaven he undertakes a rebellion against
God. Abdiel confronts him and Satan responds: That we were formed
then sayst thou? and the work Of secondary hands, by task
transferred From Father to his son? strange point and new! (V. 853
855). Here Satan denies what is obvious to Abdiel, what even human
Adam immediately intuits: his creation by God. He makes a
characteristically ridiculous argument. Uneasily, he then throws out
the idea that 'fatal course' really produced him, and finally, .the
theory that he sprouted from the soil like a vegetable. Thus, in twenty
lines, the being too proud to admit derivation from God has come to
rejoice in believing that he 'just grew' like Topsy or a turnip.3 All at
once Satan attains the greatest heights of idiocy and obdurate pride.
He sets out to do the impossible to challenge omnipotent God.

2 Louis, C.S (1942). A Preface to Paradise Lost (p. 99). Oxford

University Press.
3 Louis, C.S (1942). A Preface to Paradise Lost (p. 198). Oxford
University Press.

Defeated and banished from Heaven, in his willful blindness Satan

seems to have learned nothing. Beelzebub, Satans second in
command, makes the obvious point: leader of those armies bright,
which but the omnipotent none could have foiled (I. 272 273). And
again: But what if he our conqueror (whom I now of force believe
almighty, since no less than such could have oerpowered such force
as ours) have left us this our spirit and strength entire strongly to
suffer (I. 142 147). This is echoed by both Belial and Mammon in
Book II: respectively, fate inevitable subdues us, and omnipotent
decree the victors will (II. 197 199) and either to disenthrone the
king of heaven we war . or to regain our own right lost . the former
vain as vain the latter . unless heavens lord supreme we
overpower (II. 229 237). Yet Satan delusionally insists that God,
from the terror of this [Satans] arm so late doubted his empire (I.
114), imagining that by force or guile he can wage eternal war
irreconcilable (I. 121). The narrator immediately undermines Satan
Satan is merely Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair (I. 127)
and spells things out:
nor ever thence
Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will
And high permission of all-ruling heaven
Left him at large to his own dark designs,
That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
Evil to others, and enraged might see
How all his malice served but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown

On man by him seduced, but on himself

Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance poured.
(I. 210 220)
It is clear, then, that Satan falls doublyfirst from Heaven and
then still furtherand that his own foolish pride is to blame. It remains
now only to show that he is not heroic but evil.

That Satan is evil should be obvious because he tells us so

himself. To do aught good never will be our task, but ever to do ill our
sole delight . If then his providence out of our evil seek to bring forth
good our labor must be to pervert that end, and out of good still to find
means of evil (I. 159 166). If that isnt enough theres also the
nontrivial matter of his plot to seduce Eve, the first woman, and
thereby introduce Sin and Death into the world. Essentially the plan is
to murder every member of a new race, which has done him no harm,
in order to annoy God. If thats not evil, nothing is.

Is there anything that justifies Satan in his murderous plot? Is

there anything that recommends him as a hero? Some readers might
admire Satans courage and determination. But violence and rebellion
stemming from excessive pride and stupidity do not make courage.
Similarly, determination in service of idiotic, futile spite is nothing but
childish obstinacy. It would be laughable if it werent so serious a
matter.

Other readers might agree with Satan that it is better to reign in

hell, than serve in heaven (I. 263). This would entail that Satans
rebellion is just, that he is correct when he accuses God of tyranny in
heaven, that unacceptable, though in heaven, [the fallen angels]
state of splendid vassalage (II. 251 252). First, even if that were
true, it would not justify an attack on Adam and Eve. Second, the text
explicitly rejects the above position. Abdiel points out Satan hypocrisy:
ingrate in place thyself so high above thy peers. Canst thou with
impious obloquy condemn the just decree of God (V. 811 814). In his
rebellion, presumably against arbitrary hierarchy, Satan has set himself
up over all his peers. And on what basis exactly? Whatever standard
might place Satan above his equals would, without a doubt, place
God above Satan. Moreover, the reality is the opposite of what Satan
believes. In accepting the laws of the Son all are more illustrious
made . all honor to him done returns our own (V. 842 - 445). Satan,
who fancies himself self-begot, self-raised (V. 860), is in fact selftempted, self-depraved (III. 130), self-deluded but his one moment
of clarity is perhaps the best rebuttal of all:
Till pride and worse ambition threw me down
Warring in heaven against heavens matchless king:
Ah wherefore! he deserved no such return
From me, whom he created what I was
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.
What could be less than to afford him praise,

The easiest recompense, and pay him thanks,

How due! Yet all his good proved ill in me,
And wrought but malice; lifted up so high
I sdained subjection, and thought one step higher
Would set me highest, and in a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude,
So burdensome still paying, still to owe;
Forgetful what from him I still received,
.but other powers as great
Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within
Or from without, to all temptations armed.
Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand?
Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,
But heavens free love dealt equally to all?
(IV. 24 68)
In this passage Satan comes to see his own error. Whatever thanks he
might have given God, the balance could never be settled for it is by
God alone that he exists at all. Satan was offered both paradise and
freedom; he misused his freedom, enslaved himself in the shackles of
fiery pride and passion, blinded himself to all good, and lost paradise
by his own actions.
.against his thy will
Chose freely what it now so justly rues.
Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;
And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threatening to devour me opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
(IV. 71 78)
And devour him it will after all, such is the progress of Satan.
It is certainly true that the descent, instigated by pride, away from God
and reason toward evil and sin is itself hell myself am hell,
infinite wrath, and infinite despair and Satan sees this clearly

above. But the crucial function of this run of soliloquizing is to establish

one thing beyond the shadow of any doubt: that Satan falls in full
knowledge. Of the respective falls of the devils and the first humans
Milton writes that the first sort by their own suggestion fell, selftempted, self-depraved: man falls deceived, by the other first: man
therefore shall find grace, the other none (III. 129 133). The
soliloquizing passage unequivocally removes any excuse of ignorance
or deception one might offer in Satans defense. Illustrating the depth
of Satans foolishness and the explicit and intentional nature of the
choice that condemns him, Milton has Satan wonder, is there no
place, left for repentance, none for pardon left? (IV. 80 81).
Contradicting his own recent claims about the freedom of his will,
Satan (unlike Adam and Eve) rejects repentence:
But say I could repent and could obtain
By act of grace my former state; how soon
Would height recall high thoughts, how soon unsay
What feigned submission swore: ease would recant
Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
For never can true reconcilement grow
Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse,
And heavier fall
(IV. 93 101)
First he proclaims his will free; next he judges that another
heavier fall would be only all too inevitable. This is incredible
stupidity. But even worse: he is fully aware of the cause of his trouble,
pride disdain forbids me [from repentence], and my dread of

shame (IV. 83) and boasting I could subdue the omnipotent. Ay me,
they little know how dearly I abide that boast so vain, under what
torments inwardly I groan (IV. 86 89) and yet again he allows
pride to triumph. The prideful liar has become so adept that he fools
even himself, just as when in foolish blinding arrogance he trusted
himself to equal God in power (VI. 344). And thus lower still [Satan]
falls, only supreme in misery (IV. 91 92) as he repeats that silly,
futile aspiration: Divided empire with heavens king I hold by thee,
and more than half perhaps will reign (IV. 111 112). So farewell
hope, and with hope farewell fear, farewell remorse: all good to me is
lost. In a wish that is really its own fulfillment our so-called hero
intones, Evil be thou my good (IV. 108 110). In stupidity, evil, and
pride, Satan condemns himself with another nail in the coffin. Nothing
will follow but misery, despair, sin, and death.

Some hero.