Milton’s portrayal of Satan in the first two Books of "Paradise Lost".

Milton’s portrayal of Satan in the first two Books of 'Paradise Lost'.

Satan, before fall, was called Lucifer and was far superior to all other angels in shape, pomp, authority, worthiness and dwelling. His pride was responsible for his fallen state. Milton accepted the image of Satan as conceived by the ethnologists and depicted Satan as an embodiment of the spirit of pride and ambition in ‘Paradise Lost’. This ambition is the fevered lust for power, which sprang from self-exaltation; This pride and egotism vitiate all that is noble and good in him. He declares to his followers that they might have lost Heaven, but still possesses the unconquerable will, courage never to submit or yield. This is heroic quality. He is also presented by the poet as a noble rebel and acts as poet’s mouthpiece. Milton’s republican fervor and his Fustian sense of freedom are reflected in Satan.

Satan’s firm conviction is that it is better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. He succeeds in achieving unanimity among his followers about this. In Hell, he cherishes the desire of being the leader and gives a call to his legions “to Arise, awake, or be for ever fallen”. Like an able leader, he intelligently tells his legions that Heaven is not at all lost, because “The mind its own place; it can make a Hell of Heaven and Heaven of Hell”.

Thus Satan with his heroic qualities as presented in Book I makes most readers feel that he is the real hero of "Paradise Lost".

     

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