SATAN’S CHARACTER

In writing Paradise Lost, Milton was, indeed, borrowing heavily from the classical tradition and convention. But although he was
indebted to Homer and Virgil in following both the Primary and Secondary Epic conventions, he transferred all the previous practices into a
new one creating his own model. This is so because Milton knew that his theme, proposition and his scale – all were not only novel and grand,
but also unattempted so far. As Milton was re-creating a Biblical theme and his characters were God, Adam and Eve, and indeed, the fallen
Angels, the Epic demanded character-creation on a grand scale too.
Although, we know that Aristotle was talking of the “Dramatic” manner in tragedy, and the “Narrative” mode in Epic, Milton was
writing an Epic which has all the major features of a grand drama. Thus, Milton was blending the Narrative and the Dramatic techniques to
create a Divine Epic which yet had all the human elements raised to a superhuman level. His dramatis personae are God, the Sun, and the
Good Angels; Satan and the other rebel angels; Adam and Eve, the allegorical Sin and Death – Superhuman idealized figures who become
human only when they sin. The poet, therefore, was turning an archetypal myth of Nature and the destiny of man against a cosmic
background. In its thematic design, Paradise Lost presents a Christian tragicomedy – a tragic reading of human experience which ends with a
mixture of sadness, faith and hope.
Satan, in popular belief, was the Chief of the rebel, and later on, the fallen angels. Before his fall, Satan or Lucifer was as great as
Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, but he is exalted much above these in Milton. We have Satan’s reference and description in the English “Faust-
book” and Heywood’s “Hierarchies” where Satan is given an extraordinary emphasis and priority over the other angels. Milton, therefore,
wholly re-creates the character of Satan. Rather, he borrowed it from the tradition and recreated it to suit his purposes. Pride, the first of the
Seven Deadly Sins, is the prime cause of Satan’s downfall, and this contention has been maintained throughout Paradise Lost. Milton portrays
Satan as an embodiment of the spirit of pride and ambition and by “ambition” Milton doesn’t refer to the honourable ambition or self-
esteem, but the lust for power. Satan’s ambition and pride works like a poison in his character which destroys all that is good in him.
Satan has much of the good qualities of a true hero – both noble and attractive. The overpowering, masterly leader whom we meet
in the first two books of Paradise Lost is certainly developed by Milton himself. In the Bible we have the reference to Satan, but there we have
nothing of the character of Satan whom we see in Paradise Lost. To make Satan wholly evil in the beginning would have been too simplistic.
Milton, therefore, begins with Satan as a heroic figure with all the qualities of a true leader. In the process of the thematic development, Satan
gradually degenerates into an absolutely fallen and devastated character. The universal struggle between Good and Evil which is eternalized in
the Biblical tradition has been internalized in the character of Satan. Even the pride that causes his fall is not without strength of its own, for it
gives him the courage and boldness to face all the troubles. The place which he finds himself in, where there is “No light, but rather darkness
visible” – is a place good enough for his revolt. Satan himself is looking back to the happy fields of heaven; he suffers an undesirable agony of
his fall from heaven, and realizes the catastrophe he is already in. Yet, what saves him from utter destruction and vanquishment is his
boldness, courage and pride. As the leader he is the first to recover from the stupor and texture of Hell Fire. It is not only himself that he saves,
but his entire crew that he leads to overcome the present state of infliction and suffering. However, it is again his pride that derives him
onwards towards another fall ever greater than the earlier. If the earlier fall was a physical one, and a result of God’s punishment, the later fall
becomes moral and ethical, caused by himself. If at any moment he is inclined to submit or repent, his egotism resists him from all
compunction and retreat. He is still able to shed tears, as he is moved by the sight of his huge army, ready for his command. But as he himself
says, to bow and bend or to shed tears is a mark of weakness, and therefore, he will not submit. Milton continually projects Satan’s unbending
pride and egotism as both parallel and a foil against the unchallenged greatness and strength of God. The word “pride” has been used by
Milton on numberless occasions and it runs through the arteries of Satan, giving him both strength and pain. The Lake of Fire is an
externalization of the fire that burns in the heart of Satan. Hell, therefore, in Paradise Lost becomes more a spiritual than a physical one.
The question however is – if Milton’s objective is to “Justify the ways of God……..”, then logically Satan shouldn’t have the heroic
magnificence that he is shown to have in the earlier books. Satan, instead of being a complete negative and black character, becomes almost a
tragic hero and a great figure in world literature with his marvellous verbal powers. Milton possibly has two reasons to project the character of
Satan thus. First, as a Post-Renaissance poet and also as a Republican, Milton had a strong voice of democracy against all authoritarianism.
Thus, although a Puritan and a devout Christian, Milton’s pent up voice of republicanism got expression through Satan’s character. Second,
Satan’s character has to be understood in its totality in order that Milton could show Satan’s fall – he had to show Satan with his magnificence
in the earlier parts. In the beginning, Satan is not completely fallen, and he still retains the magnificence and grandeur of the heroes of
Classical Epics. But Milton always shows him as a distorted and perverted version of those heroes. Both the greatness and the evil thus
become juxtaposed against each other, and this is Satan’s uniqueness. Satan’s fall from his grandeur, both physically and spiritually, is
paralleled with the falling curve of his verbal powers. From a great orator in the earlier books, he becomes only a serpent with his speeches
turning into mere hisses in the later books. Thus, instead of showing Satan as an already fallen character, Milton traces the following in Satan’s
character from the grand to the mean, from glory to perversion, and from the angelic to the diabolic as a result of his “Hubris”. Satan’s power
of rebellion and his capability to overcome his fallen state and to lead his army is really great and glorious. But later we find his greatness is
‘pseudo’, and nullified by blemishes. Satan’s vaunting heroism is a portrait by Milton as a contrast to the true heroism of Adam and Eve. The
original parents of mankind, though guilty and fallen, are repentant, and are therefore both saved and illuminated.