James Bantugan

Mrs. Bradley
AP English 12
6 December 2016
Paradise Lost Satans Transformations
When God created Heaven and the hosts of angels, he made Lucifer the most beautiful
angel of them all to serve Him at His right side. However, Lucifers pride and jealousy led him to
start an angel rebellion against God in which his defeat ultimately casted all the demons to Hell.
In Paradise Lost, by John Milton, Satan undergoes multiple transformations from a beautiful
angel to a disgusting creature of the Earth in order to tempt humanity to sin. The transformations
are divided into three different sections that symbolize an important part of his fall from Gods
grace.
Satan starts his devolution when he arrived on Earth from his journey from Hell. He sees
Archangel Uriel guarding the Garden of Eden from a hilltop. He first transforms into a cherub, a
lower ranking angel, in order to fool Uriel to allow him into the garden. This initial
transformation symbolizes his fall in rank from an archangel to a lowly cherubim. Uriel notices,
however, Satans distorted cherubim face and suspects that he might be a fallen angel. He
delivers this information to Archangel Michael who plans to do a sweep of the garden in order to
find the intruder. Knowing that his disguise is compromised, Satan turns into a cormorant and
surveys the garden from the Tree of Life. This is symbolic because he is no longer an angel but a
flying creature of the sky. It might also symbolize his freedom from his servitude to God. From
his observation, he spots Gods first man and begins to undergo a new set of transformations.

Satans descent continues with his degradation from an animal of the sky to a beast of the
land. His next transformation is a lion which is symbolic in two ways. First, the lion is a predator
in which he symbolically preys on humanity. Second, lions are considered to be majestic animals
who rule the animal kingdom. As Satan continues to stalk man, he then transforms into a tiger.
This is still symbolic in which hes still a predator but is less noble than a lion. This animal is
considered to be more ferocious which symbolizes Satans increased aggressiveness against his
human prey.
Satan undergoes the final transformations that symbolize who he has become after his
fall. When Adam and Eve were sleeping, Satan transformed into a toad and whispered thoughts
of eating from the Tree of Knowledge into Eves ear. The next day when she awakes, she had a
faint feeling of eating the fruit of that tree. When Rafael descended to talk to both of them, Eve
left to wander around the garden. Satan took this opportunity and possessed a serpent. As
proclaimed in the Bible, Satan convinced Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Both
creatures in this set are physically and symbolically disgusting and deceitful. Toads and snakes
are creatures of the Earth and are despised for their filthiness and lies. These symbolize Satans
final transformation in which he is covered in the dirtiness of corruption and sin.
Through a series of six transformations, Satan symbolically transitions himself from a
beautiful archangel to a vile serpent. The transformations of a cherub and cormorant symbolize
that as Satan is falling from Grace, he is still a heavenly being of the sky. As he began plotting
against man, he turned into a lion and tiger which symbolize that he is now a creature of the land
and that he preys on humanity. Lastly, he transforms into a toad and serpent which ultimately
symbolize how appalling and disgusting he has become.
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