Paradise Lost

:For the UK Goth metal band, see Paradise Lost (band).

Main characters

Satan

Satan is viewed by some critics as the hero of the story, since he struggles to overcome his own doubts and weaknesses and accomplishes his goal of corrupting mankind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The ridiculous Devil of the Middle Ages, a horned enchanter, a dirty jester, a petty and mischievous ape, band-leader to a rabble of old women, has become a giant and a hero.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Though feebler in force, he remains superior in nobility, since he prefers suffering independence to happy servility, and welcomes his defeat and his torments as a glory, a liberty, and a joy."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Satan is a main protagonist and there is a point to emulating or celebrating him like a true hero. Satan is the most intriguing and compelling of the characters, mainly for his complexity and subtlety. In these regards, he is similar to the character of Iago in Shakespeare's Othello. Another current critic believes that Satan's role as the hero mimics Achilles's injured merit, Odysseus's wiles and craft, and Aeneas's journey to find a new homeland. Others claim that Milton personifies in Satan the spirit of the English Revolution; that Milton's Satan represents the honor and independence of the nation asserted in the face of an incapable government.

Related Topics:
Satan - Iago - Othello - Achilles - Odysseus - Aeneas

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First known as Lucifer, he was a proud angel who failed to think of himself as equal to the other angels. The day God pronounces the Son as his successor in power, Lucifer rebels out of envy, taking with him a third of all the population of angels in Heaven. He is extremely proud and confident that he can overthrow God; his speeches are always fraudulent and deceitful. He assumes many forms during the story, which are reflective of his moral and rational degradation. First, he is a fallen angel of enormous stature; then a humble cherub; a cormorant; a toad; and finally, a snake. He is a picture of incessant intellectual activity without the ability to think morally.

Related Topics:
Lucifer - Angels - God - Heaven - Fallen angel - Cherub - Cormorant - Toad - Snake

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam and Eve

Adam is strong, intelligent and rational, made for contemplation and valor, and before the fall, as perfect as a human being could be. He is flawed however, and at times indulges in rash and irrational attitudes. His pure reason and intellect are lost as a result of the fall, Man never being able again to converse with angels as near-equal (as he did with Raphael) but forever one-sided (as he did with Michael after the fall). His weakness is his love for Eve. He confides to Raphael that his attraction to her is almost overwhelming – something that Adam's reason is unable to overcome. After Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge, he decides to do the same, realizing that if she is doomed, he must follow her into doom as to not lose her - even if that means disobeying God.

Related Topics:
Adam - Reason - Angels - Raphael - Michael - Tree of Knowledge

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eve is the mother of all mankind, inferior to Adam, considered to be closer to God, made for softness and "sweet attractive Grace". She only surpasses him in beauty, beauty as such she even falls in love with her own image upon seeing her reflection in a body of water (a reference to the Greek myth of Narcissus). It is her vanity that Satan taps into in order to persuade her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, through flattery. Eve is clearly intelligent but unlike Adam she is not eager to learn, being absent from Adam and Raphael's conversation in Book VIII, and Adam's visions presented by Michael in Books XI and XII. Eve does not feel it is her place to seek knowledge independently, as she prefers to have Adam teach her later. The one instance in which she deviates from this passiveness is when she goes out on her own and ends up seizing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

Related Topics:
Eve - Greek myth - Narcissus - Tree of Knowledge

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is wrong, however, to think that Milton is denigrating women through his depiction of Eve. Through Eve, he explores the role of women in his society and the positive and important role they could offer in the divine union of marriage. At the end of the poem, after exposing their strengths and weaknesses, Adam and Eve emerge as a powerful unit, complementary in each other – not only to the reader, but to themselves. The fall serves a purpose of self-discovery, the Fortunate Fall, or felix culpa.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

God

Milton's God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, which means that He has foreknowledge of further events, but does not predestinate – which would negate the whole idea of free will. The problem with interpreting the character of God in Paradise Lost is that he is more of a personification of abstract ideas than a real character. It is wrong to think of Him as a kindly old man or as a human father as He is ultimately unidentifiable. He is the embodiment of pure reason. He allows evils to occur, but to make good out of evil.

Related Topics:
God - Predestinate - Free will

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Son

The Son is the manifestation of God in action, the physical connection between God the Father and his creation, together forming a complete and perfect God. He personifies love and compassion and volunteers to die for humankind in order to redeem them, showing his dedication and selflessness. Through his human form the Son will be descended from Adam, through whom all men died, but He will be a second Adam, by whom all men shall be saved. In Judgment Day, the Son will appear in the sky and have dead summoned from every corner of the world, sentence the sinners into Hell. Adam's final vision in Book XII is of the Son's sacrifice as Jesus.

Related Topics:
God - Judgment Day - Jesus

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~