Satan in John Miltons Paradise Lost Essay -- essays research papers

Who is demon? Satans definitions include the advocate of God, a personification of evil, the fallen angel, a spirit created by God, and also the accuser. People see Satan differently, more or less know of his existence, others think of him as sightly a myth, and there argon those that just ignore him. John Miltons Paradise Lost tells of Satans banishment from Heaven and his gain of earth. He and his brigade have plotted state of war against God and are now doomed to billow in the fiery pits of hell. Satan is a complex type with many different qualities. God is a character who we, as Christians, know about but do not completely understand. We also do not completely understand Satan. Some whitethorn think they know Satan but when asked Is Satan divine? they hesitate. I admit that this is a very tough question to answer but it is just one of the ways that we understand Satan. The tools we have to understand Satan are mainly the just Bible and our questions, but some use John Miltons Paradise Lost. There are some who think we should not use Paradise Lost as a tool because it is just a fabricated nurse. I personally believe that this book could be a story told to John Milton by the Holy Spirit. Miltons Satan is somewhat different to our thought of Satan largely because he is more complex than the Satan of the Christian tradition. Satans rebelliousness, his seeking of transcendence and his capacity for action, particularly evil action, change certain peoples viewpoints on him, even if their viewpoint might be considered theologically misleading. The question is do we actually understand Satan and evil by means of the book Paradise Lost? In John Miltons Paradise Lost, Satan is banished from Heaven for his defiance against God. Satan an... ...ological story. We have books like the Left Behind series and some of us treat them like they are describing what is going to happen. In the book Wrestling with Dark Angels Satan is described as a supernatur al being, although restrict in violence yet still greatly effective in fulfilling his malicious purpose, at least for a time. Because he is limited in power he has to rely upon clever delusion and allusion (117). Satan will neer be in charge of us as long as we never let him in. If we let him in we will see the allusion and will love it like he does. Finally, Satan interests many critics, who ask many questions. Many of the questions are unanswerable since we do not have access to Satans mind, let alones Milton mind. The Satan in Paradise Lost is a product of Milton. His character will continue to fascinate and confuse us all for many more generations.