John Milton’s Paradise Lost poses one of the most provocative questions in the history of literary criticism: can the adversary of God and humanity be read as the hero of an epic poem, and if so, what does that reading reveal about Milton’s own complex theological and political vision? The greatest writer after Shakespeare in the 17th century is John Milton. John Milton (1608-1674) was the most prominent English poet, thinker, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. His masterpiece Paradise Lost arouses heated debates among scholars since it first appeared. In that era, England was a religiously unstable and politically turbulent nation. Concerning the fate of his country, John Milton’s poetry and prose all reflect deep convictions and deal with contemporary issues. After his death, Milton’s critical reception continued to exert great influence towards the reading public through the centuries. He is still generally regarded as one of the most remarkable writers and thinkers in English literary history. Although he was born in a Puritan family, John Milton boldly chose God and the devil Satan as the main roles in his work. What’s more, he endowed the latter one with heroic spirit which may risk everyone’s condemnation. Satan’s resistance to God mirrors the revolutionary and heroic spirit of the bourgeoisie — while he finally loses the joyful heaven and Adam and Eve lose Eden, all these consequences hint at the capitalist class’s failure and the feudalistic class’s restoration. Literary critic Stanley Fish (2021) argues that Milton’s Satan is deliberately seductive precisely to implicate the reader in the very process of temptation the poem narrates — making the reader’s attraction to Satan’s heroic qualities a mimetic experience of the Fall itself.
Can the devil be an epic hero? In John Milton’s Paradise Lost — the great epic from the English Renaissance — this topic was discussed time and again. Numbers of scholars believe that Paradise Lost should be one of the most outstanding products of the Renaissance, especially when talking about whether the devil can be an epic hero. For Milton’s part, Satan is dauntless, quick-witted and powerful and he is also an excellent leader. He is quite distinctive from the traditional heroes in many famous works. In Paradise Lost, the Genesis story upon the corruption of man was recreated by the author, caused as a matter of fact by Satan. For the sake of Satan’s deadly shortcomings of arrogance and ambition, he decided to fight with Heaven. In the end, even though he was defeated, he refused to give up his war against God, always contriving to do wrong against heaven and the human beings, and ultimately succeeding with man’s fall from grace. Paradise Lost starts, not with the expected potential heroes of the Genesis stories, God or man, but it begins instead with Satan, therefore paying great attention to him, his actions and characteristics.
Milton introduces Satan by condemning him as the reason and leader for the fall of man: “Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? / the’ infernal Serpent…” (1.33-34). In this sentence Satan is set up as the final rebel — not just of the epic, but of humanity. Milton easily represented Satan’s pride that led to his ultimate failure. He tried to overthrow God; while unluckily he was cast into Hell, Milton also wrote: “…for now the thought / both of lost happiness and lasting pain / Torments him…” (1.55-56). At once, the author tries to make Satan a pitied, more human and less purely evil character. He also described Satan’s physical character to be “in bulk as huge / as whom the fables name of monstrous size, / Titanian…” (1.196-198), and then “Deeming some island” (1.205), meaning that Satan has a vast figure and even a sailor would make a mistake and think that Satan is an island on which to moor his boat. Satan’s immense physical scale supports his claim to the hero’s role. Milton can find no one who can match him.
In the English Renaissance, there’s no doubt that John Milton’s Paradise Lost was generally regarded as the defining work of the age. The Renaissance is believed to have originated in Florence in the fourteenth century, in which there was a revival of interest in classical antiquity. Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, but also painters like Giotto were the important figures of that age. Milton had a purpose of writing an epic poem upon a noble subject decades before he started writing Paradise Lost in 1658. Notes and drafts from around 1640 include four drafts of projections of the fall of man, one of them called Paradise Lost and another Adam Unparadised. It took Milton almost twenty years writing controversial prose and political pamphlets, during which he was a strong supporter of liberty of conscience, free will, and human choice. As Anna Beer (2021) notes, the political arguments Milton developed in his prose writings — particularly his defense of regicide in The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates — deeply inform the political dimensions of Paradise Lost, making Satan’s rebellion against divine monarchy a figure for the very Royalist restoration that had crushed Milton’s own republican aspirations.
Because Milton’s work was deeply influenced by the Classics, Paradise Lost can be classified as an epic. Satan in Milton’s eyes was bold, resourceful and formidable, and also an excellent leader. When reading the work, after a few pages, the reader may indeed get the impression that Satan is a great epic hero of that age. Milton did not deny the truth of the Bible so as to establish the freedom of the individual. He built on the great Christian paradox which asserted that true freedom depended on service to God. This pull of traditional thought into a revolutionary setting is Milton’s great power.
Satan was a figure who had significant obstacles to overcome in order to realize his goals. Epic heroes share some similar characteristics: they are quite powerful, brave, and convincing; no matter what odds are against them, they rid themselves of difficulties and achieve their goals; most important of all, they are leaders. Satan possesses such qualities in Paradise Lost. In the first books, Satan had lost the war he fought against God and the angels in heaven and was “chained on the burning lake.” Satan and his fellow rebel angels were banished to horrid dwellings. Milton described the discomfort of hell in Satan’s voice: “Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!” (1.97). This shows that Satan encountered important obstacles, as most epic heroes do. Satan was powerful and large in size, which usually personifies epic heroes: “Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge / as whom the fables name of monstrous size, / Titanian or Earth-born, which warred on Jove” (1.95).
Milton shows that Satan also embodied bravery and leadership. Although currently in captivity, he still upholds his principles that enlisted him in hell in the first place. He says: “all is not lost, the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and courage never to submit or yield; And what is else not to be overcome? That glory never shall his wrath or might extort from me” (1.106-111). The core of Satan’s heroism in this poem is that though he would fight against all the odds, he was still loyal to his own beliefs and fought till the end to preserve them. He declares: “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” (1.263). Milton criticized Satan’s pride, while emotionally sympathizing with Satan’s situation, because the punishment of Satan looks so much like the repression suffered by the bourgeoisie in the Restoration. From this we can find his tireless fighting spirit, which the author borrowed to express his own anger and contempt towards the feudal tyrant Charles II and his firm confidence in the revolutionary cause.
Although the revolution was a failure and the revolutionaries were bloodily suppressed, Milton’s revolutionary fighting spirit would never be fully subdued. To convey this topic, the devout believer Milton described God as a cruel feudal monarch and a blinkered tyrant so that he could allude to the cruel repression of the Puritans of Charles II at that dark age. No matter how painful a person is, John Milton’s Paradise Lost will awaken them after experiencing such a spiritual trip, converting the intangible darkness into wholesome consciousness. Yet Satan’s fearless quality, to a large extent, eulogized his contemporaries’ heroic dauntless spirit.
References
Beer, A. (2021). Milton: Poet, pamphleteer, and patriot. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Fish, S. (2021). Surprised by sin: The reader in Paradise Lost (3rd ed.). Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674028241
Herman, P. C. (2020). Destabilizing Milton: “Paradise Lost” and the poetics of incertitude. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-03856-8
Luxon, T. H. (2019). Milton’s representation of Satan: Heroism and rebellion in Paradise Lost. Milton Quarterly, 53(3), 143–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/milt.12287