Character of Satan

The the Tempter of the first defy is a address of great power and one with some admirable qualities, not the least of which is his determination not to grant in to his enemies. Waldock (1966) notes the way Satan is characterized in the first big and that the rebellion is carefully developed so it seems credible plain guaninegh Satan and his forces are vastly outnumbered, a incident held back until late in the work in much(prenominal) a way as to create an image of cogency and "possibility" for the rebels that the truth would dissipate. Death states that the rebels are actually outnumbered dickens to one:

Art though that Traitor Angel, art thou he.

Who first broke peace in Heav'n and Faith, till then

Unbrok'n, and in proud rebellious Arms

Drew after him the third authority of Heav'ns Sons. . . ? ( promised land Lost, Book II, p. 689).

Waldock states: "The impression carefully built up in book I and confirmed in Book II, is that the rebellion (in the eyes, of course, of the rebels) was a thoroughly rational undertaking, with a fair competitiveness chance of success" (p. 66).

Satan is, as might be stomached, a liar and often makes statements that are suspect. Waldock says that Milton does not expect us to remind ourselves again and again that Satan is a liar and thus a less ad

To be infring'd, our freedom and our being

Tillyard (1966) sees the Satan of the first epic as very different from the Satan of promised land Regained and as a stronger character than the later incarnation: "The earlier Satan, though at times subject to despair, hate, and other passions, gives the impression of having as strong a self-control as Milton himself" (p. 263). Tillyard says that the Satan of Paradise Lost "would never have resorted to such a phase of allurements as did the Satan of Paradise Regained; he would have staked everything on the utmost he could devise and have accepted his charge with restraint" (p. 263). Tillyard sees the "second" Satan as weaker as healthful as more human and very clever.

Tillyard says he is in fact too clever and "cannot stay content with a clear single issue, tho must ever be advancing secondary reasons to persuade Christ to act in a certain way" (pp. 263-264).

mirable character than he seems: "We tactile sensation the element of bravado in the language; we know that in such circumstances we cannot look for strict accuracy; we do not take the word of these defeated ones for a abruptly literal report of fact. But the drift of their talk cannot but affect us, and it is meant to affect us" (p. 67). As a account poet, then, Milton has given himself the job of creating a certain sense of character that makes us forget Satan's reality as an evil and as embodying everything that is not admirable in Christian doctrine, as comfortably as giving this character a power he cannot possibly possess against an antagonist who is Omnipotent: ". . . until such time, at least, as he has his poem properly moving and Satan securely established in our imaginations as a comely Antagonist of Heaven" (p. 67).

For this ill news I bring, the Womans seed

Waldock, A. J. A. (1966). Paradise lost and its critics. Cambridge at the University Press.

(Paradise Regained, Book I, pp. 150-155)

Must bide the stroak of that abundant threatn'd wound,

All his sol
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