Page 179 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes Satan lies stunned beside his second-in-command, Beelzebub, in a lake of fire that gives off darkness
instead of light. Breaking the awful silence, Satan bemoans their terrible position, but does not
repent of his rebellion against God, suggesting that they might gather their forces for another attack.
Beelzebub is doubtful; he now believes that God cannot be overpowered. Satan does not fully
contradict this assessment, but suggests that they could at least pervert God’s good works to evil
purposes. The two devils then rise up and, spreading their wings, fly over to the dry land next to
the flaming lake. But they can undertake this action only because God has allowed them to loose
their chains. All of the devils were formerly angels who chose to follow Satan in his rebellion, and
God still intends to turn their evil deeds toward the good.
Once out of the lake, Satan becomes more optimistic about their situation. He calls the rest of the
fallen angels, his legions, to join him on land. They immediately obey and, despite their wounds
and suffering, fly up to gather on the plain. Milton lists some of the more notable of the angels
whose names have been erased from the books of Heaven, noting that later, in the time of man,
many of these devils come to be worshipped as gods.
Among these are Moloch, who is later known as a god requiring human sacrifices, and Belial, a
lewd and lustful god. Still in war gear, these fallen angels have thousands of banners raised and
their shields and spears in hand. Even in defeat, they are an awesome army to behold.
Satan’s unrepentant evil nature is unwavering. Even cast down in defeat, he does not consider
changing his ways: he insists to his fellow devils that their delight will be in doing evil, not good. In
particular, as he explains to Beelzebub, he wishes to pervert God’s will and find a way to make evil
out of good. It is not easy for Satan to maintain this determination; the battle has just demonstrated
God’s overwhelming power, and the devils could not even have lifted themselves off the lake of
fire unless God had allowed it. God allows it precisely because he intends to turn their evil designs
toward a greater good in the end. Satan’s envy of the Son’s chosen status led him to rebel and
consequently to be condemned. His continued envy and search for freedom leads him to believe
that he would rather be a king in Hell than a servant in Heaven. Satan’s pride has caused him to
believe that his own free intellect is as great as God’s will.

Satan remarks that the mind can make its own Hell out of Heaven, or in his case,
its own Heaven out of Hell.

Satan addresses his comrades and acknowledges their shame in falling to the heavenly forces, but
urges them to gather in order to consider whether another war is feasible. Instantly, the legions of
devils dig into the bowels of the ground, unearthing gold and other minerals. With their inhuman
powers they construct a great temple in a short time. It is called Pandemonium (which means “all
the demons” in Greek), and the hundreds of thousands of demonic troops gather there to hold a
summit. Being spirits, they can easily shrink from huge winged creatures to the smallest size.
Compacting themselves, they enter Pandemonium, and the debate begins.

Analysis
Throughout the first two or three books of Paradise Lost, Satan seems as if he’s the hero of the
poem. This is partly because the focus of the poem is all on him, but it is also because the first books
establish his struggle—he finds himself defeated and banished from Heaven, and sets about
establishing a new course for himself and those he leads. Typically, the hero or protagonist of any
narrative, epic poem or otherwise, is a person who struggles to accomplish something. Milton plays
against our expectations by spending the first quarter of his epic telling us about the antagonist
rather than the protagonist, so that when we meet Adam and Eve, we will have a more profound
sense of what they are up against. But even when the focus of the poem shifts to Adam and Eve,
Satan remains the most active force in the story.

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