paradise lost
The argument over who is the true protagonist of Paradise Lost, has been brewing for centuries. One would gather that Milton, a Puritan, would have no problem casting God as the hero, and Satan as the antagonist. But looking back in history, Milton saw that most epic heroes had conflicts that prevented them from accomplishing their goals. God and his Son have no conflict, and Adam's story doesn't really begin until the Fall of Man. Therefore, Milton was forced to select Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost because he adheres to the guidelines of epic poetry set by Homer, Vergil and others. There many examples of how Milton uses and edits the tradition of these previous epics in the formation of the Devil as a hero. One of the most basic examples of heroism in epic poetry is the exhortation of the leader to his followers. In The Odyssey, Homer lets Odysseus give a speech that would convince anyone they could survive the journey to the Strait of Messina, "Then we die with our eyes open , if we are going to die, or know what death we baffle if we can.(ln.1243-1245)" After passing the Sirens, the ship approaches the Strait, and the crew sees the twin terrors of Scylla and Charybdis, they are mortified. Odysseus again lifts their sp
Milton has given you Satan in the tradition of the epic hero. Even though he knows Satan is not the "good-guy", he does possess some of the qualities of a hero. Odysseus' obstacles can be traced back to a mistake he made when he blinded Polyphemos and let his pride get the best of him, announcing to the Cyclops his real name. This allowed Poseidon to enact Polyphemos' wrath on Odysseus, vowing that he Beelzebub, perhaps showing signs of little faith in his leader (like Odysseus' crew), raises some important questions. Satan will do before he actually does it. This is where Milton's poetic side and his religious side clash. It creates a hypocritical division because Milton wants to show that God is All-Knowing(Satan is just hunk of mass with no free will) and that Satan is our epic hero(Satan is head the rebel angels). Satan also loses because of the fact that 1)due to his trickery he would be a snake forever and 2)The Son was going to come down to earth and die to save Adam & Eve, so that Satan's action would be eliminated. Unlike most epic heroes, Satan does not necessarily come out on top at the end of his journey/quest. This is where many are quick to judge and point out that since Satan losses, he can not be an epic hero. Milton intended for Satan to lose, after all, the epic is based on the Bible and is meant to "justify the ways of God to man.(26)" Milton was merely explaining that Satan both won and lost. He won in the hero sense by completing his task of corrupting Adam & Eve, which allowed Sin and Death to enter the world. But he lost in more ways than one. One of Milton's central themes is that God knows what Satan can be said to have the same flaw as Odysseus. He, in part, is the cause of his own demise. Had Satan served God willfully, the war never would have raged in Heaven, and Satan and his Army never would've been thrown in the fiery pits of Hell. However, without that action Satan would not be a hero. His being in Hell leads to him realize his purpose, to corrupt the new type of being God has created on Earth. Satan's journey can be said to be some of Milton's most "original" piece of writing, because nobody had ever written about Satan's journey so intricately as Milton. To quote Isabel MacCaffrey,
Some common words found in the essay are:
Paradise Lost, Odysseus Tell, Heaven258-263 Beelzebub, Satan Christian, Hell Satan, Heav'n106-109116-124 Beelzebub, Scylla Charybdis, Hell Fire, Gods Empyreal, God All-KnowingSatan, paradise lost, fallen angels, angels satan, epic hero, satan hero, epic poetry, clan satan, hero satan, milton's original, adam eve,
Approximate Word count = 1573
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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