Character Sketch of Satan in Paradise Lost

📃Table of Contents:-

1) Introduction: Satan. 2) Character Sketch of Satan.     2.1) Satan a leader.     2.2) Satan as an Rebellious     2.3) Satan's Strong Will.     2.4) Satan's pride and jealousy.     2.5) Satan as a heroic figure.     2.6) flaw in Satan's character. 3) Read More in English Literature.

John Milton
Profile
Born	9 Dec 1908, London
Died	8 nov 1674, London
Profession	Civil servant, poet
Era	Restoration, Renaissance
Notable works	Paradise Lost, Areopagitica, Lycidas
Language	English, French, Latin, Spanish, Italian Hebrew, Greek etc.

📄 Introduction : Satan :-

Amongst all the fictional characters in English literature, that of Milton's Satan remains the most striking and disputable. Satan is at once most exalted and depraved being. Many readers as well as critics feel that he is the real hero of paradise lost. This assessment comes on the argument of his strong will which overpowers the doubts and fears in order to achieve his goal. 

In the words of Valerie L. Garnish, "Satan is proud, valiant, a leader who knows how to use psychological insights and all the arts of rhetoric to gain his ends. He is ingenuous... and never acknowledges final defeat." For these characteristics Satan is hailed as the true hero of the epic Paradise Lost by his admirers. However, those who speak against Satan expose the betrayal and hypocrisy of Satan and maintain that Milton never intended to portray Satan as the hero of the Paradise Lost.

Paradise Lost
Created by	John Milton
First published	1667
Genre	Epic Poetry
Characters	Satan, Adam, Eve, God, Son of God, Raphael etc.
Followed by	Paradise regained
Volumes	10 books (original)
Theme	Fall of Man

✒️Character Sketch of Satan :-

Satan, being extremely complex character, his evaluation from one stand point can't be correct. Yet he is a majestic character, not afraid of being damned eternally; and naturally remains unafraid of any threat or disaster.

Satan's character can be discussed under following heads:

1) Satan a leader.

2) Satan as an Rebellious

3) Satan's Strong Will.

4) Satan's pride and jealousy.

5) Satan as a heroic figure.

6) flaw in Satan's character.

Let's have a detailed look of these characteristics of Satan's character:

1) Satan a leader :-

Satan's leadership qualities make him stand out across the  poem as a real leader. He engages in a questioning voyage and a struggle against the opposing forces. He is a good rhetorician and has manipulation qualities. He turns the one third army of angels towards his side. 

Satan even encourages them to stand against the opposite force even after their fall. He fills up fallen angels with new energy and hope, as is evident from these lines-

"Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable,

doing or suffering: but of this be sure,

To do ought good never be our task,

But ever to do ill our sole delight".

2) Satan as an Rebellious :-

Satan starts rebellion against the proclamation that henceforth everyone should worship Messiah. Milton honours Satan as an archangel. This shows Satan's pre-eminence over the rest of the angels. However, the proclamation undermines his position. Unable to digest this command, Satan makes this injustice a pretext to draw away a third of the angels to his side. 

Satan rebels against the almighty for he believes all angels are in every way equal to the Messiah. They are also the self begotten like Messiah and not created. This exhibits his leadership qualities.

Satan also desires to equal the Omnipotent. not only he refuses submission to the Messiah, he also strives to dethrone the almighty. He is a true rebellious character.

3) Satan's Strong Will :-

Satan is adamant on his goal. His strong will never lets him yield to  the almighty. The lines which he said are the perfect example-

"What though field be lost?

All is not lost, the unconquerable will,

All study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yeild".

4) Satan's pride and jealousy:-

Satan's tragic flaw is his pride. His ambition has nothing to do with his desire for praise rather his over superfluous self-esteem. When his pride is injured after the proclamation, he turns rebellious and awaken in the angels a sense of injured pride. In his first grand speech to Beelzebub, his defiance of God manifests his egoistic pride, false conception of freedom and Alienation from all good. He is an embodiment of the spirit of pride and ambition.

In his Doctor Faustus, Marlowe also comments on Satan's pride through the conversion between Faustus and Mephistophiles :

Faustus : How comes it, then, that he is prince of devil's?
Meph : O, by aspiring pride and insolence;
              For which God threw him from the face of heaven.

 

Milton emphasises another defect in Satan's character, his jealousy. After being thrown out of heaven he becomes jealous of man. This jealousy accounts for his attempts to seduce Eve. Hence he attempts to spite the almighty who has created Adam and Eve.

Related Links
Important Questions
Indian English Literature	Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy
American Literature	Emerson: Self Reliance
British Literature	Shakespeare : King Lear
Linguistics	Sources of Sublime by Longinus

5) Satan as a heroic figure:-

Milton deliberately makes Satan look heroic. Satan's confident that he could overthrow the god exhibits his vanity and self conceit. Despite reverses he doesn't leave the evil path.

Sir Walter Raleigh writes, "Satan's very situation as  the fearless antagonist of omnipotence makes him either a fool or hero, and Milton is far indeed from permitting us to think him a fool".

Satan is hailed as a hero of paradise lost because of multiple reasons, such as:-

a) his strong will,

b) his early introduction in the book,

c) his speeches being rhetorical,

d) struggle against opposing forces.

These characteristics make Satan seem heroic but not a true hero. This qualities are nothing but his self delusion. Milton never admires him as is apparent from his comments to show us the vanity beneath the surface glamour.

John T. Shawcross says, the people who take Satan as the hero of the Paradise Lost do not carefully read the first two books of the Epic and the speeches of Satan contained in these books. 

He writes, "Satan is a liar, self deceiver from the beginning; he warps ideas and colours opinion by pejorative language; he shows in temperance, illogicality, wrath and deceit".

6) flaw in Satan's character :-

The great defect in Satan's character is his over- weaning pride. Milton depicts Satan as an embodiment of over self esteem and vanity. There are some good points in his pride but this pride becomes the cause of his final overthrow.

Thus much can be written about the Milton's strong characterization of Satan who is one of the supreme figure in the world of English literature.

💡Read More in English Literature :-

1. Rape of the lock as an Mock-Epic.
2. Paradise Lost as an Epic.
3. Character Sketch of Satan in Paradise Lost.
4. Rape of the lock as a social satire.
5. Character Sketch of Maya in Cry The Peacock