In his fearless defiance, steady determination and protestant spirit, he stands out heroically as Aeschylus’s Prometheus or Euripedes’s Medea. Yet, he remains a grand epical personality and such a personality is seldom found elsewhere. With evil passions in which good lingers. Thus Milton presents Satan as a mixed character. Of course, Satan is the evil personified, and can never be the ideal of a. Milton’s own love for liberty and hate for tyranny are particularly evident in his representation of Satan’s character. In fact, Satan seems to have a self-projection of the poet himself. Milton’s delineation of Satan’s character bears much his instinctive sympathy for his rebellious and uncompromising spirit. Nevertheless, he is practical and prudent in his measure and proposes to wage an uncompromising war against God, by force or guile, according to the exigency of the situation. His heroic spirit, of course, is not definitely ready to surrender to any threat or tyranny. But in his opposition to Him, he does not plan recklessly. This is the cause of his staunch opposition to God. He is haunted with the sense of his injured merit. His declaration in unequivocal and echoes his courage and determination.Īll is not lost the unconquerable will …….”

He is, no doubt, overthrown and expelled, but he admits no defeat, allows no despair to overwhelm him, but rather plans to work, with a steady desire, to avenge what he considers God’s injustice and tyranny to his followers and himself. He stands out resolutely in his opposition to God. He is here an inspiring hero, and not a notorious villain.Īlong with his spirit of liberty, Satan possesses a steady determination. Satan’s voice here is against tyranny and oppression and there is nothing evil or villainous in it. “Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.” He champions liberty, denounces slavery and prefers to reign in hell than to servility in heaven. What, however, specifically characterizes Satan is his firm opposition to all forms of domination and subjugation. Satan’s speech rousing his followers is profoundly ironical. As an effective leader, he inspires his fallen followers to rise from their state of stupor. Satan’s leadership comes out here, revealing his authority and position among the fallen angels. He does not stoop low to think himself inferior to God or to submit to His authority.

He is no timid or cowardly personality, but one who bears a titanic energy and a gigantic will-power. Milton’s Satan, as already noted, is a villain-hero, and as such, he derives pity and admiration even in his failing and never appears totally despicable, like Edmund, Goneril, or Regan (in King Lear). This is truly befitting to a grand tragic hero. He does not approve Beelzebub’s despondent views and give out a clarion call of inspiration: He stands, even after his tragic defeat and fall in hell, like a tower, with a firm determination to retaliate, and not to yield to any pressure or to surrender helplessly to despair. Something sublime and spirited still shines in him and he exhibits this in his heroic words and resolute spirit. Satan is one of the highest angles in Heaven and the nobility of his station remains even after his humiliating fall among the fallen angels. Satan is definitely an evil force, yet, in Milton’s representation, he is invested with the grandeur of a tragic hero, of course, like a villain-hero, like Macbeth, or a villain-heroine like Medea. Of course, Milton’s intention in Paradise Lost is not to idealize Satan but his sole project is to disturb and annoy God in whatever way he can. Valour, spirit, determination and the power to inspirit and persuade are all the virtues of Satan, and these are all the qualities of a grand tragic hero. In fact, in his conception of the tragic character, Milton is found to have invested the arch-fiend with a heroic grandeur, which exclusively belongs to a typical hero of a classical tragedy. Had he actually written such a drama, he might have made Satan his tragic hero. It is to be noted in this connection that Milton‘s original plan was to write a tragedy on the theme of Paradise Lost. His powerful speeches, five in number, form the assets of the opening Book, and they serve to bear out some typical traits of his character- his iron determination, efficient leadership, heroic spirit and commanding personality.

His fall, humiliation and resolve to wage an uncompromising war against God are presented in the Book. The opening Book presents Satan as the central figure. He is like the villain-heroes Marlowe and Shakespeare, ambitious, revengeful, boastful, deceitful cunning and melancholic. He is a plotter (the etymological meaning of ‘Satan’). From the beginning, Satan is presented as a villain-hero.

Paradise lost figure