Satan as the Hero of Paradise Lost

Satan Arousing the Rebel Angels, William Blake (1808)

Leontien Kouwenhoven
1260707
Supervisor: Dr. J. R. Veenstra
Second Reader: Prof. Dr. A. A. MacDonald
06-03-2009
Doctoraalscriptie
Engelse Taal- en Cultuur
Faculteit der Letteren
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Wordcount: 17.325
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 1

2. Background 5

3. Satan 13

4. Hell 21

5. Sin 30

6. Conclusion 39

7. Works Cited 43
1. Introduction

Can the devil be an epic hero? This seems to be the case in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the
great epic from the English Renaissance. Milton’s Satan is brave, resourceful and powerful
and an excellent leader as well. When reading the work, after a few pages, the reader may
indeed get the impression that Satan is an epic hero. However, this idea does not last for long;
when one reaches Book III, the favourable image of Satan as a heroic freedom fighter
deteriorates and in the end he is transformed into a beast. Milton’s description of Satan stands
in a long tradition of representations of the devil in European literature. One of the greatest
earlier works that gives us an image of the devil is Dante’s La Divina Commedia, also a work
of epic proportion. Dante’s Commedia will be used in this essay as a contrast to Milton’s epic:
Dante’s Devil seems to be the complete opposite of Milton’s Satan. He is motionless, frozen
in ice and represents a passive evil. This essay will try to answer the question whether or not
the devil can be an epic hero. And if not, whether or not he can be another kind of hero? The
descriptions of the devil in Dante and Milton are strongly influenced by their respective world
views. Milton’s Renaissance perspective is different form Dante’s medieval outlook. Satan’s
heroic status owes a lot to the Renaissance world view.
With the books and articles written on Paradise Lost and La Divina Commedia, one
could fill a library. However, some articles and books have been very useful in writing this
essay. To give some examples, John Steadman has written many articles on John Milton and
Paradise Lost, of which “The Idea of Satan as the Hero of Paradise Lost” and “Milton and St.
Basil: The Genesis of Sin and Death” and “Milton and Mazzoni: the Genre of the Divina
Commedia” have been particularly relevant. A book which gives an excellent insight in the
medieval world view is C.S. Lewis’ The Discarded Image, which is very suitable in obtaining
background information on both La Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost. Another work
which provides relevant information on the history of the devil is Jeffrey Burton Russel’s
Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages, which gives an elaborate analysis of the position of the
devil in society and literature. Singleton’s translation of Dante’s La Divina Commedia is used
throughout this paper1. The translation is very good, but more importantly, Singleton added
extensive notes and commentaries in separate volumes. In finding out what kind of hero Satan
might be, Peter Thorslev’s The Byronic Hero has been most helpful.

1
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno 1. Trans. Charles S. Singleton. New Jersey: Princeton:
University Press, 1970. English translations of Italian quotes from La Divina Commedia have been taken from
Singleton’s translation.
 The second chapter of this essay will provide background information on John Milton
and his Paradise Lost and Dante and his La Divina Commedia. Both works can be regarded as
epics and this chapter will give information on epics in general, the epic in the Renaissance
and on the epic hero. Also, this chapter will discuss the epic conventions which can be found
in both La Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost. Furthermore, some attention will be given to
the authors themselves and their works.
If Paradise Lost is an epic, then the work should contain an epic hero. The most likely
character to be the hero would be Satan. This third chapter will analyse whether or not Satan
can be the epic hero of Milton’s work. Romantic critics such as William Blake and Lord
Byron argue that Satan is indeed the hero of the work, especially when taking into
consideration books I and II of Paradise Lost. There were also critics, nowadays referred to as
Anti-Satanists, who disagree with this. They generally find Satan’s speeches pompous and
ridiculous and his behaviour despicable. Furthermore, these critics also take into consideration
what happens to Satan after books I and II, in which Satan’s ethical and moral decline
becomes apparent: as the story advances he experiences a strong regression and all his
seemingly heroic traits are reduced to nothing. In establishing the heroic status of Satan, three
separate elements will be analysed. The first one is Satan’s actions; the second is his
appearance, and, thirdly, Satan’s character will be given attention. In Paradise Lost, Satan has
a complex character, worthy of a hero. One thing that these three elements have in common is
that in the beginning of Paradise Lost, they are described as being heroic: Satan’s courageous
actions, his splendid exterior and brave character. However, as the story progresses, Satan
loses his heroic qualities. He tricks Adam and Eve into their Fall, a non-heroic action.
Furthermore, he realises that Hell is inside him and is part of his being, which shows a
digression of his character. And finally, he turns into a snake, losing his former angelic
appearance.
Contrastingly, Dante’s Satan has no heroic qualities at all. He is an ugly brute, not able
to move. He is a passive devil, as opposed to the active and well-established Satan in
Paradise Lost. Dante’s Lucifer does not need many qualities attributed to him, heroic or
otherwise. His role in the plot of La Divina Commedia is very limited: he is nothing more
than a mere negation of God.
The fourth chapter deals with Hell, since the greater part of Satan’s heroic behaviour
in Paradise Lost takes place in Hell. It is not unusual for an epic hero to be placed in Hell or
the underworld: the Aeneid and the Odyssey are famous works that refer to the underworld as
well. However, these classical epics are not set entirely in Hades: only part of the tale is about
the journey of the hero into the Underworld. Contrastingly, Satan travels out of Hell and
returns to it during the poem and it forms the basis of the journey, as opposed to Aeneas and
Odysseus, who have Earth as their basis.
Milton’s Hell lacks order, which provides Satan with the freedom to manifest himself
as leader and organiser. Hell in Paradise Lost gives Satan the opportunity to be a hero: the
chains on the fiery lake are too weak to hold him and he can travel straight out of Hell without
many obstacles. This lack of order in Hell stands in shrill contrast to the order of Heaven:
Satan and the fallen angels have disrupted that natural order, so that now they are forced to
dwell in a place where nature seems to make no sense and is chaotic. Contrastingly, the
location of the devil in Dante’s Hell is very precise: he is located in the deepest pit. He is
frozen in ice and not able to move. Whereas Milton’s Hell facilitates Satan’s active movement,
Dante’s Hell does not provide this opportunity.
The universe of Milton is very loosely structured: Heaven is above and Hell below,
separated by Chaos, with Earth hanging down from Heaven by a golden chain. Later on in the
poem, a bridge is created by Satan which links Earth to Hell. But when it comes to describing
where precisely Hell is located and what it looks like, Milton explains this in a manner which
does not reveal much about distances and dimensions. Hell is described as a “bottomless
perdition” (I.47)2 or the “vast and boundless Deep” (I.147). Hell seems to have no borders, it
is infinitely large. Yet it does have walls and gates: “Our prison strong, this huge convex of
Fire, / Outrageous to devour, immures us round / Ninefold, and gates of burning Adamant /
Barr’d over us prohibit all egress” (II.434-437). This forms a contrast to Dante’s Hell, which
is very ordered and consists of nine concentric circles. In every circle of Hell, Dante meets the
souls that are allocated to their respective circle to undergo their eternal punishment.
The fifth chapter of this essay will investigate the role of sin in Paradise Lost and La
Divina Commedia. In Paradise Lost, Satan’s heroic deeds are actually rooted in sin and the
sins that Satan commits make him lose his heroic status. Although Satan’s deeds may be
labelled heroic when looking at books I and II, his motives are impure. The most important of
these underlying motives are the sins of pride, envy and wrath. It was the sin of pride that led
Satan into rebelling against God, thus causing the war in Heaven: Pride forms the beginning
of Satan’s ‘heroic’ adventure. However, envy also plays a large role: Satan is envious of
Christ as well as Adam and Eve.

2
Quotations of Paradise Lost have been taken from: Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Christopher Ricks. 1968.
London: Penguin Group, 1989.
 Dante uses the order of the seven deadly sins of pride, envy, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth
and wrath to structure his Inferno. He keeps a strict order in his Hell, this is because sin
disrupts the divine order and those who have sinned have caused chaos in this order. Dante
distributes the punishment for the seven deadly sins very neatly over concentric circles, with a
systematic increase in wickedness. The souls of the damned are subjected to this order and are
allocated according to their sins. Contrastingly, Milton does not follow this medieval list of
seven sins. A very relevant reference to sins is the allegory of Satan, Sin and Death as an
incestuous family. Satan has a daughter called Sin and together they have a son: Death. Sin is
Satan’s first child, and she is brought into the world thanks to Satan’s disobedience to God.
The fact that Satan and his daughter Sin have a child called Death, makes death the inevitable
consequence of sin. Although Milton perhaps did not intentionally incorporate the seven
deadly sins in his work and although pride, envy and wrath are the most important sins of the
work, the other four sins of lust, gluttony, greed and sloth can also be found in the poem and
will also receive attention in this chapter. Additionally, some attention will be given to
another well-known account of sin and Hell from the Romantic period, namely William
Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
The analyses made in the chapters mentioned above will make it possible to answer
the question whether or not Satan can be an epic hero. And if he is not an epic hero, can he be
regarded as another kind of hero? It is interesting that throughout the centuries, many scholars
have shared the opinion that Satan is indeed the hero of the work, while others have strongly
opposed this view. This concluding chapter will investigate further how these two opposing
views came into existence and will try to give an answer to the question.
 2. Background

This chapter will provide background information on John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) and
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia (1321). Both works are epics and are widely
considered to be masterpieces that are still read today. This chapter will give some general
information on epics, as well as the epic in the Renaissance period and why La Divina
Commedia and Paradise Lost can be considered as epics. Furthermore, attention will be given
to the epic hero. However, first of all we must focus on the authors themselves and their
works.
It seems likely that Milton when writing his Paradise Lost, was inspired not only by
Dante’s vision of Hell, but also by Classical literature. Milton had an exceptionally great
knowledge of La Divina Commedia.3 David Masson states in his Life of Milton, that Milton
‘must have known this great poem better than any other Englishman alive’ and remarks that
Milton read the Commedia ‘attentively and reverently.’ Milton studied the Italian language
and during his Cambridge years he widely read in Dante, Petrarch, and other Italian poets. In
a letter to Benedetto Buonmattei, the leading Dante-expert of the day, he writes of the depth
of his study of Italian literature, especially the works of Petrarch and Dante. Milton even
provides an English poetic translation of a few lines from the Inferno in his work Of
Reformation.4 This information and the many similarities between the two works may indicate
that Milton was inspired to use the genre of the epic for his work, as applied by Dante and by
classical authors before him.
Dante finished his Commedia in 1321 and he is considered to be one of the greatest
poets of all times. His La Divina Commedia can be regarded as one of the works of art that
initiate the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy.5 The story tells of the character Dante, who
travels through the afterlife. The work consists of three different parts, containing Dante’s
journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The work had quite an impact and it had a wide
range of audiences: students read it in grammar school and the work was discussed in the
marketplace and even in church. One of the main reasons for this impact is probably the fact
that is was written in the vernacular as opposed to many works written in Latin. 6 It was

3
Butler, George F. Giants and Fallen Angels in Dante and Milton: The Commedia and the Gigantomachy in
Paradise Lost. Modern Philology. 95.3 (1998): p.352.
4
Butler, George F. The Fall of Tydeus and the Failure of Satan: Statius' Thebaid, Dante's Commedia, and
Milton's Paradise Lost. Comparative Literature Studies. 43.1-2 (2006): p.143.
5
Lewis, R.W.B. Dante: a Life. London: Phoenix, 2002: p.15.
6
Parker, Deborah. Commentary and Ideology: Dante in the Renaissance. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993:
pp. 28-31.
Boccacio who added the word Divina to the title of the work, stressing the divine meaning it
contains.
In literature, an epic is a grand narrative poem in majestic style about the exploits and
adventures of a superhuman hero engaged in a quest or some serious endeavour. The hero is
distinguished above all others by his strength and courage. The subject-matter of epic includes
myth, legend, history, and folk tale. Battles and perilous journeys play a large part, as do gods,
the supernatural, and magic; scenes are often set in the Underworld or in Heaven. Certain
formal features are conspicuous: the narrator vouches for the truth of his story; there are
invocations, elaborate greetings, long speeches, detailed similes, digressions, and the frequent
repetition of elements typical of an epic.7 There is a standard distinction between traditional
and literary epics. Traditional epics are works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, while literary
epics were composed in deliberate imitation of the traditional form. Literary epics do not
necessarily have to contain all of the epic conventions as the ones mentioned above, as long as
it manifests the epic spirit and grandeur in the scale, the scope and the human importance of
their subjects.8 So, works do not have to comply to all the epic conventions in order to be
called an epic. It is not difficult to apply the label of an epic to Paradise Lost, since it contains
many epic conventions. La Divina Commedia may not contain an epic hero or lengthy
descriptions of battles, but it does contain many epic features, such as the epic spirit and
grandeur of the scale of the narrative. Furthermore, the subject of the redemption of the
human soul is certainly of profound human interest. The Renaissance period shows the revival
of art and literature under the influence of classical models, and many literary epics were
written in this period, of which La Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost are certainly the most
impressive ones.
Milton’s Paradise Lost is generally looked upon as the main work of the English
Renaissance. The Renaissance is believed to have originated in Florence in the fourteenth
century, where there was a revival of interest in classical antiquity. Important figures of that
era were Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, but also painters like Giotto. The period from the
end of the fifteenth century has become known as the High Renaissance, when several Italian
cities began to rival Florence’s leading position. Renaissance thinking spread from the early

7
“epic”, in: The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, ed. M.C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers,
(Oxford University Press, 1996). Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. See:
www.oxfordreference.com, (16 January 2009).
8
Abrams, M. H. Glossary of Literary Terms. 1971. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999: pp.
77-78.
sixteenth century onwards.9 This influence and revival of classical culture, art and literature is
represented in both Paradise Lost and La Divina Commedia, notably in the framework of the
setting of the underworld, which is a common literary motif of classical epic literature. Other
famous literary examples with the same motif are Hercules’ journey into the underworld to
capture Cerberus, Orpheus’ descent into Hades to retrieve his wife, after she had died because
of a snake-bite, or Virgil’s Aeneid, in which Aeneas travels into the underworld to meet his
father. Inspired by stories such as these, Dante and later Milton wrote their epic poems.
Milton had the intention of writing an epic poem on an exalted subject decades before
he started writing Paradise Lost in 1658. In his At a vacation Exercise in the College (1628),
he already mentioned that he wanted to devote himself to “singing in the manner of Homer”
and he envisioned writing a poem concerning “wars and heaven under Jupiter”. Notes and
drafts from around 1640 contain four drafts of projections of the Fall of man, one of them
called Paradise Lost and another Adam unparadiz’d. Milton spent almost twenty years
writing controversial prose and political pamphlets and he was a strong supporter of liberty of
conscience, human choice and free will, themes also recurring in Paradise Lost.10 The story
itself tells of the fall from heaven of Satan and the other angels who rebelled against God.
Milton’s work shows many influences of the Classics and can be classified as an epic.
The epic poem Paradise Lost was originally published in ten books, but from 1674 onwards
the work consisted of twelve books after the Virgilian model, by splitting books seven and ten.
Paradise Lost is the poem Milton is still famous for today.11 Paradise Lost is seen by many
scholars to be one of the most sublime products of the Renaissance and especially as the great
epic of that age.12 Two very important epic conventions which can be found in both the works
of Milton and Dante, are the recapitulation of the past and prophecy of the future. 13 In
Paradise Lost, the recapitulation of the past takes place in book V where Raphael tells Adam
the story of the war in heaven and the Fall of Satan and the other angels. The epic convention
of the prophecy can be found in books 11 and 12, where Michael reveals to Adam the future
of his descendants. He tells Adam about the Flood:

9
“Renaissance”, in: The Oxford Reference Online. A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, ed. Elizabeth Knowles,
( Oxford University Press, 2006). Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. See:
www.oxfordreference.com, (16 January 2009).
10
Loewenstijn, David. Milton, Paradise Lost. A Student Guide. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2004: pp. 10-14.
11
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol 1. Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2000: p. 1816.
12
Loewenstijn, David. Milton, Paradise Lost. A Student Guide. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2004: p. 16.
13
Bush, Douglas. “Virgil and Milton”. The Classical Journal. 17.5 (1952): p. 180.
 …Till God at last
Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
His presence from among them, and avert
His holy eyes
(XII.106-109)

Michael also talks about the journey of the Hebrews:

Till by two brethren (those two brethren call

Moses and Aaron) sent God to claim
His people from enthrallment, they return
With glory and spoil back to their promis’d Land
(XII.169-172)

These Biblical events that Milton mentions here, have not yet happened, but cast a look into
the future.
There are many other epic conventions to be found in Paradise Lost. To begin with,
the work has a beginning in medias res; the work begins when Satan and the other angels that
rebelled against God have already fallen: “...the Poem hastes into the midst of things,
presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell” (I.Argument). Secondly, Milton uses
the classical notion of the invocation of the Muse: “Sing Heaven’ly Muse” (I.6). Another
important epic convention is the elaborate descriptions of battles. We find this in Paradise
Lost when Michael tells Adam the story of the War in Heaven: “...when all the Plain /
Cover’d with thick embattled Squadrons bright, / Chariots and flaming Arms, and fiery steeds
/ Reflecting blaze on blaze” (VI.15-18). Milton has also incorporated epic catalogues, an
example of which can be found in Book I, where there is a lengthy description of the angels
that fell together with Satan into Hell: “First Moloch...” (I.392). Furthermore, the notion of
supernatural intervention occurs when Christ offers to sacrifice himself for mankind. Paradise
Lost contains many epic similes, for example:

Angel forms, who lay intranc’t

Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks
In Vallombrosa, where th’Etrurian shades
High overarch’t embow’r; or scatter’d sedge
Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm’d
Hath vext the Red-Sea Coats, whose waves o’erthrew
Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursu’d
The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
 From the safe shore their floating Carcasses
And broken Chariot Wheels
(I.301-311)

The last significant epic convention to be found in Paradise Lost is the descent into the
underworld.
Like in Milton’s Paradise Lost, there are many examples of epic conventions to be
found in Dante’s La Divina Commedia. The most obvious one is the epic convention of the
descent into the underworld: just as in the Aeneid, Dante’s hell consists of circles separated by
geographical boundaries.14 However, there are many more epic conventions Dante makes use
of. One of them is the beginning in medias res: “Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita / mi
ritrovai per una selva oscura” [Midway in the journey of our life I found myself in a dark
wood] (Inferno I.1-2). Dante also invokes the muse, as is often done in classical epics: “O
Muse, o alto ingegno, or m’aiutate; / O mente che scrivesti ciò ch’io vidi, / Qui si parrà la tua
nobilitate” [O Muses, O high genius, help me now! O memory that wrote down what I saw,
here shall your worthiness appear!] (Inferno II.7-9).
Furthermore, the work contains three events which can be classified as supernatural
interventions. The first one is the moment when Dante encounters three animals on his way: a
she-wolf, a leopardess and a lion, which form an allegory of the temptations of Sin. The
second intervention is when Dante meets Virgil, who is to be his guide: “Mentre ch’i’
rovinava in basso loco, / dinanzi a li occhi mi si fu offerto / Chi per lungo silenzio parea
fioco” [While I was ruining down to the depth there appeared before me one who seemed
faint through long silence] (Inferno I.61-63). However, the most important intervention is that
of Beatrice: “Io son Beatrice, che ti faccio andare; / vegno del loco ove tornar disìo; / amor
mosse che mi fa parlare.” [I am Beatrice who sent you. I come from a place to which I long to
return. Love moved me and makes me speak.] (Inferno II.70-72). Beatrice is sent to help
Dante when he strays from the right path in his life and she wants him to learn the knowledge
he needs in order to redeem himself. Beatrice tells Dante that when she was still alive, she
was his inspiration and this inspiration kept him on the straight and narrow path of a good
Christian life:

Quando di carne a spirto era salita

E bellezza e virtù cresciuta m'era,
Fu' io a lui men cara e men gradita;
14
Feldherr, Andrew. “Putting Dido on the Map: Genre and Geography in Vergil’sUnderworld”. Arethusa. 32.1
(1999): p. 90.
 E volse i passi suoi per via non vera,
Imagini di ben seguendo false,
Che nulla promession rendono intera.

[When from the flesh I ascend

And beauty and virtue in me increased
I was to him less dear and delightful;
And into ways untrue he turned his steps,
Pursuing false images of good
That never any promises fulfil]
(Purgatory XXX.127-132)

Beatrice’s death signified the moment that Dante’s life started to go downhill and now she is
chosen to turn his life in the right direction once again, as she had done in life. He was
tempted by sin and Beatrice offers Dante a chance to purify and save his soul.
Dante’s work contains many elaborate epic similes, an example of which can be found
in the description of some damned souls: “Come le rane innanzi al la nimica / Biscia per
l’acqua si dileguan tutte, / Fin ch’a la terra ciascuna s’abbiaca” [As the frogs before their
enemy the snakes all vanish through the water, till each cocks itself on the bottom] (Inferno
IX.76-78). Dante also makes use of the epic notion of catalogues. Especially in Canto IV,
when Dante and Virgil are in Limbo, we see many of these epic lists: “Quelli è Omero, poeta
sovrano; / L’altro è Orazio satiro che vene; / Ovido è ‘l terzo, e l’ultimo Lucano” [He is
Homer, sovereign poet; next is Horace, satirist; Ovid comes third, and Lucan last.] (Inferno
IV.88-90). All the characters named in this and the other catalogues, are names from the
classical period, and hence proper to the epic genre.
As well as Milton, Dante’s work casts a look into the future, which is an important
epic convention. We find this in Dante’s conversation with Caccio, a Florentine punished in
the Inferno. Caccio tells Dante about the future of Florence and the victory of Dante’s
adversaries. Dante is able to make these kinds of references to the future, since the story is set
in late March of the year 1300, but actually written between 1308 and 1321. Caccio tells
Dante: “Dopo lunga tencione / Verranno al sangue, e la parte selvaggia / Caccerà l’altra con
molta offesine” [After long contention they will come to blood, and the rustic party will drive
out the other with much offence] (Inferno VI.64-66). He refers here to the May day festivities
of 1300, where there was bloodshed between two Guelph factions, the Bianchi and the Neri.
In June 1301, the Bianchi gained political control of Florence and banished the Neri from the
city. 15 Caccio tells Dante more about this particular situation: “Poi appresso convien che
questa caggia / infra tre soli, e che l’altra sormonti / Con la forza di tal che testé piaggia.”
[Then, through the power of one who presently is temporizing, that party is destined to fall
within three years, and the other to prevail] (VI.67-69). Caccio here refers to the fact that the
exiled Neri turned to Pope Boniface VIII for help and they managed to regain control of
Florence and passed severe sentences against over six hundred Bianchi. Caccio predicts these
events to happen within three years.16 By deliberately setting the story in the past, Dante is
able to incorporate such prophesies into the story.
It is striking that Dante chooses Virgil, one of the most famous classical authors, to be
his guide. Virgil has written a work containing a journey into the underworld as well. In his
Aeneid, Virgil tells the story of Aeneas descending into the underworld. The fact that Virgil
has already written about such a journey and therefore knows the way makes him the perfect
guide. Another possible reason for choosing Virgil is the great admiration that the author
Dante has for the poet, which he refers to when they first meet in Canto I: “Tu se’ lo mio
maestro e il mio autore: / Tu se’ solo colui da cui io tolsi / Lo bello stile che m’ha fatto
onore.” [You are my master and my author. You alone are he from whom I took the fair style
that has done me honor.] (Inferno I.85-87).
It is clear that La Divina Commedia belongs to the epic genre. However, the one thing
that the work is missing, is an epic hero. Dante might be considered to be its hero, but he does
not display much heroic behaviour. His main task in the work seems to be describing what he
sees as an observer: to keep a traveller’s journal as it were. In the sixteenth century, this lack
of a hero caused scepticism in regarding the work as an epic. Others hailed Dante as the best
heroic poet, even surpassing Homer. However, as we have seen in this chapter, there are so
many ways in which La Divina Commedia can be described as an epic, that scholars
nowadays see the work as belonging to this genre.17
There are two important qualities that enable Milton’s Satan to act as the epic hero of
Paradise Lost: freedom and free will. In Milton’s day and age, individualism and liberty
became important issues. The notion of freedom and equality often recurs in Paradise Lost,
and in most instances this can be linked to Satan. Satan can be described as a free spirit and
there seem to be no boundaries to his freedom; even the boundaries of Hell are hardly any

15
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno 2 commentary. Trans. Charles S. Singleton. New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1970: pp. 101-102.
16
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno 2 commentary. Trans. Charles S. Singleton. New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1970: p. 102.
17
Steadman, John. “Milton and Mazzoni: the Genre of the Divina Commedia”. The Huntington Library
Quarterly. 23.2 (1960): p. 108.
restriction for him. But most of all, it is this notion of a new sort of freedom which enables
Satan to become the hero of Paradise Lost: “Here at least / we shall be free” (I.258-9). For
Satan this means that he is able to start his rebellion in Heaven and it gives him the
opportunity to start his quest to cause the Fall of Adam and Eve. The theme of free will is also
important. We see that in Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve are meant to make mainly good
choices. Contrastingly, free will makes that Satan is only able to make bad choices. When
taking into consideration only books I and II of the work, what we see is a rebel who fought
for freedom: for himself and his peers. However, as the story continues, this heroic status of
Satan becomes less likely.
This chapter has shown that both La Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost can be
regarded as belonging to the epic genre. Since Milton chose the epic as the structure to tell the
tale of the War in Heaven and the Fall of Adam and Eve, one can validly bestow the title of
‘hero’ on Milton’s Satan.18 However, this view is certainly not shared by all critics: Satan is
by no means universally regarded as the hero of Paradise Lost. There is no easy answer to the
question as to whether or not Satan deserves that title.

18
Steadman, John. “The Idea of Satan as the Hero of ‘Paradise Lost’.” Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society. 120.4 (1976): p. 225.
3. Satan

Both La Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost are widely regarded as being masterpieces in
the history of literature. Paradise Lost is an epic, and as we observed in the previous chapter,
many have seen Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost. This chapter will analyse whether or not
this claim might be true: can Satan be the epic hero of Milton’s work? This question is the
oldest and most persistent of controversies over Paradise Lost.19 To begin with, this chapter
will first pay attention to the views of the Pro-Satanists and the Anti-Satanists: critics
supporting the notion that Satan is the hero of the poem and critics who assert he cannot be
the hero. Then we will turn to Paradise Lost itself. In establishing the heroic status of Satan,
three elements will be analysed in this chapter. The first one is Satan’s actions: what actions
does he undertake in Paradise Lost which can be considered heroic? Are there also actions
which are the opposite of heroic? The second element to be analysed is appearance: Satan is
described as still having his angelic features and bearing mighty weapons. Thirdly, Milton
gives his Satan a complex character. After the Fall, Satan immediately establishes himself as
the leader of the fallen angels and volunteers to travel out of Hell on a quest. Since Dante’s
devil is in many respects the opposite of Milton’s Satan, Dante’s Luciferl will be used as a
contrast.
It is sometimes supposed that the critical support for Satan began with the Romantics,
but the notion that Satan is the hero of Paradise Lost goes as far back as John Dryden.
Romantic critics, such as William Blake, Lord Byron and Percy Shelley argue that Satan was
the hero of the story.20 Of course, they essentially do have a point, when only taking into
consideration books I and II of Paradise Lost. These contain many references to Satan’s fight
for liberty and the bravery of his actions. Critics who have an ethical sympathy for Satan have
been labelled Satanists.21 Then there are also the critics who oppose this favourable view of
Satan: they are called the Anti-Satanists.
Anti-Satanists generally find Satan’s speeches pompous and ridiculous and his
behaviour despicable. Furthermore, they also take into consideration what happens to Satan
after the first two books, which clearly show Satan’s ethical and moral digression. And the

19
Steadman, John. “The Idea of Satan as the Hero of ‘Paradise Lost’.” Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society. 120.4 (1976): p. 253.
20
Carey, John. “Milton’s Satan”. The Cambridge Companion to Milton. Ed. Dennis Danielson. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989: p. 132.
21
Wittreich, Joseph Anthony Jr. “The ‘Satanism’ of Blake and Shelley Reconsidered”. Studies in Philology. 65.5
(1968): p. 817-818.
view of Satan indeed changes and becomes less favourable. By the time the plot advances to
book IV, the idea of Satan as the hero, if he ever was one, seems to be finished when Satan
himself mentions: “Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell” (IV.75). Now that he is away
from the other fallen angels, Satan realises the sorry state he is in. While in the eighteenth
century the Romantic view of the work was quite strong, in the nineteenth century critics such
as C.S Lewis, S. Musgrove and Charles Williams very much supported the Anti-Satanist view.
Especially Lewis is very strong in his claim, stating for example that Milton could not foresee
that his work would one day meet the simplicity of critics who take for granted things said by
the father of lies and falsehood in public speeches to his troops.22 However, the discussion
between Anti-Satanists and Pro-Satanists still continues today; Pro-Satanists generally
emphasise Satan’s courage, Anti-Satanists his selfishness and folly. Since disputability is
generally advantageous to a work of literature, it certainly has done no harm to the popularity
of the work throughout the centuries.23
When looking at book I and book II of Paradise Lost, Satan may indeed be labelled an
epic hero on account of his actions and the actions described in his speeches. He delivers
heroic speeches to the other Fallen Angels, in which he bravely suggests to stand up and do
something about the unjust way God has treated him and the other fallen angels. Phrases such
as making “a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n” (I.255) and “Better to reign in Hell than serve
in Heav’n” (I.263) seem very heroic indeed. Satan is the first character Milton mentions in his
work, which together with the beginning in medias res makes Satan seem to be both heroic
and sympathetic. By giving Satan the opportunity to express himself in this fashion in his
speeches in the first two books, Satan becomes a comprehensible and acceptable character
which is understandable. Satan volunteers to leave Hell on a quest and, as a true hero, he
sacrifices himself for his fellow angels: “That for the general safety he despised / His own”
(II.481-482).
In Paradise Lost, Milton tells the story of the war in heaven and the Fall of Man,
mainly from the devil’s point of view. This causes Satan to be the focus of attention when it
comes to describing his heroic actions: he certainly plays a very important role in the work.
Contrastingly, the devil’s role in La Divina Commedia is quite limited. We only encounter
him when Dante and Virgil have to climb over him in the Ninth Circle of Hell in order to

22
Lewis, C.S. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. 1964. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000: p. 98.
23
Carey, John. “Milton’s Satan”. The Cambridge Companion to Milton. Ed. Dennis Danielson. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989: pp. 132-133.
continue their journey. When we look upon Milton’s Satan as an active evil, Dante’s Lucifer
might be considered to be a passive evil. “Satan’s true being is his lack of being, his futility
and nothingness”. 24 Dante intended his Satan to be empty and passive, almost reduced to
nothing, as opposed to God’s energy. He limits the role of the devil on purpose: Satan is
almost the symbol of nothingness and can therefore have no substantial character in La Divina
Commedia, quite contrary to Milton’s Satan.
Milton starts his epic Paradise Lost at the moment when the rebellious angels have
just fallen form Heaven. At first sight, the Fall does not seem to have had much of an impact
on Satan’s appearance:

…he above the rest

In shape and gesture proudly eminent
Stood like a Tow’r; his form had not yet lost
All her original brightness
(I.589-592)

However, Milton uses the all-important words “not yet”; Satan’s angelic form is “not yet” lost,
implying that this will happen later on in the poem. But for now, the only damage he seems to
have suffered is to his face: “…but his face / Deep scars of Thunder had intrencht” (I.600-
601). Milton gives him “Brows of dauntless courage” (I.603) as well. Satan seems powerful
and heroic when his armour is described, consisting of a massive spear and a “ponderous
shield” (I.284). Milton depicts Satan as having an almost regal air, which is nicely expressed
in the description of Satan on his throne:

High on a throne of royal state, which far

Outshone the wealth or Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat,
(II.1-5)

However, Satan’s appearance will dramatically change for the worse: his actions against God
result in a metamorphosis for both himself and the other fallen angels. Now their looks are in
concordance with their character and behaviour:

24
Burton Russel, Jeffrey. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. 1984. New York: Cornell University Press,
1988: p. 225
 His arms clung to his Ribs, his Legs entwining
Each other, till supplanted down he fell
A monstrous Serpent on his Belly prone
(X.512-514)

Satan does not make any true progression in the plot of Paradise Lost: he starts out as a hero,
turns into a general and from that he digresses from a spy into a toad and eventually a snake.
The description of what Milton’s Satan becomes after causing the Fall of Adam and
Eve somewhat resembles the appearance of Dante’s Lucifer in La Divina Commedia, but only
at the end of Milton’s work does Satan reach this state. Milton’s Satan and Dante’s Lucifer
seem to be complete opposites as Freccoro puts it when he describes Dante’s devil: “…far
from finding him attractive, as we do the ‘curly-haired Byronic hero of Milton’, we are
repelled by his bestiality and untouched by his tears”.25 Dante’s Satan is immobile and located
at the very centre of Hell. In the Christian-Platonic tradition, pure matter is that which is
farthest from God and closest to non-being, being as far away from God as possible, Satan is
almost pure matter and is composed of the densest weights in the cosmos.26 That is why Satan
is depicted by Dante as being a huge beast: ugly and awkward. He is neither human, nor
animal. He has fallen from Divinity and has therefore fallen deeper than a human soul could
have ever fallen, hence his position at the lowest level of Hell. Dante’s Satan has lost all his
splendour. He has been turned from the most beautiful to the ugliest: “S’el fu sì bel com’ elli è
ora brutto” [If he was once beautiful as he is ugly now] (Inferno XXX.34). What Milton’s
Satan and Dante’s Lucifer have in common is that both were once beautiful, but in the end,
they have become monsters. Their sins and actions have not only corrupted their characters, it
has deformed their appearance as well. Milton’s Satan may have begun as a hero and the
opposite of Dante’s devil, in the end they do not seem to be so different anymore.
There is a huge contrast in the appearance of Satan at the beginning of Paradise Lost
and at the end of the poem. Milton’s Satan has turned into the same hideous creature as
Dante’s devil is throughout La Divina Commedia. A possible explanation for this is that
Milton made this contrast on purpose, in order to create a stronger hatred for Satan. William
Blake stated that Milton was on the devil’s side without realising it: “Note: The reason Milton
wrote in fetters when / he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when / of Devils & Hell, is

25
Freccoro, John. “The Sign of Satan”. Modern Language Notes. 80.1 (1965): p. 11.
26
Burton Russel, Jeffrey. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. 1984. New York: Cornell University Press,
1988: p. 231.
because he was a true Poet and / of the Devils [sic] party without knowing it.” (plate 6).27
However, it is more likely that Milton deliberately created this transformation. Satan has some
kind of second Fall in the plot of Paradise Lost. While at the beginning he may fit the
description of an epic hero, as the story advances he experiences a strong regression and all
his heroic traits are reduced to nothing. The reader dislikes Satan more after his true character
emerges than if he had been a bad character from the beginning.
As opposed to Milton, Dante’s description of the devil immediately reveals his evil
character. In La Divina Commedia, Dante has given his monstrous demon three heads with
three different colours: white, yellow and black. Satan was once glorious and white, shone red
in his power and eventually turned black.28 Satan may be considered the negation of God, the
evil opposite to God’s goodness. Satan’s three heads reflect the three persons bound in one
entity, a parody on the Holy Trinity.29 God resembles everything that Satan wanted to have
but has not achieved. Satan is in darkness, God is in light; God is everywhere, Satan is not
able to move as he is frozen in ice. Another parody lies in the fact that all six eyes in the three
heads are crying, which can be considered a reference to the tears of Christ on the Cross.30
The colours of the three heads also refer to the colours of the fruits on the mulberry tree, as
found in the Bible in Luke 7:16. The fruit from the mulberry tree begins as white, then turns
red and eventually black as they grow. However, due to different readings from St. Augustine
and St. Ambrose, these colours were often used to refer to both Christ and the devil
throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.31 Dante may have given Satan these
three colours, to draw attention to the fact that Satan’s appearance can be seen as a parody on
Christ and the Cross.
Next to the outer appearance of Satan in Paradise Lost and La Divina Commedia, the
third aspect of Satan which deserves our attention is his character. Milton depicts Satan as a
complex character playing an important role in the work. He represents an active evil, with his
own feelings and emotions. This character does not only show in Satan’s actions; Milton
gives the devil a voice in Satan’s ‘inner monologues’, where Satan mentions insights such as

27
Taken from: Blake, William. Het Huwelijk van Hemel en Aarde. Trans. Sylvia Koetsier. Utrecht: Erven J.
Bijleveld, 2001. All quotes from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell have been taken from this edition.
28
Burton Russel, Jeffrey. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. 1984. New York: Cornell University Press,
1988: p. 232
29
Cassel, Anthony K. “Dante’s Satan”. Italica. 56.4 (1979): p. 341.
30
Carey, John. “Milton’s Satan”. The Cambridge Companion to Milton. Ed. Dennis Danielson. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989: p. 132.
31
Freccoro, John. “The Sign of Satan”. MLN. 80.1 (1965): p. 16.
“Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell” (IV.75). Another instant where Satan shows some
deep emotions is when he sees Adam and Eve together in Paradise:

“Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two

Imparadis’t in one another’s arms
The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
Among our other torments not the least
Still unfulfill’d with pain of longing pines,”
(IV.505-511)

In these lines, Satan laments his fate, being cast down in Hell where there is no love and joy.
This quote is one of the many instances where Satan reveals he has a fully developed and
emotional character. However, in the first two books of Paradise Lost, where Satan can be
seen as an epic hero, Satan does not have these particular insights: he has speeches filled with
bravoure. It is only later on in the poem that he starts to state his feelings, when his digression
has already advanced. He even starts to doubt whether it has been a good idea in the first
place to start his ‘heroic’ rebellion against God:

Ah wherefore! He deserved no such return

From me, whom he created what I was
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided non; nor was his service hard.
(IV.42-45)

As opposed to Milton, Dante does not give his Satan much character. He is described in Canto
XXXIV, when Dante and Virgil enter the last and most inner circle of Hell, the Ninth Circle.
This is the place for those who sinned against their benefactors. Of Satan’s character, Dante
tells us little. The most striking thing to note here is that Satan is crying: “Con sei occhi
piangëa, e per tre menti / gocciava ‘l pianto e sanguinosa bava” [With six eyes he was
weeping, and down over three chins dripped tears and bloody foam] (Inferno XXXIV.54-55).
However, these tears do not seem to be tears of remorse or regret. He does not have the ability
or the power to speak, all he is allowed to be is an immobile, hideous creature, only able to
express himself by his tears. Therefore, the tears seem to be tears of frustration and rage and,
as mentioned above, a parody on the tears of Christ. These tears form a contrast with the tears
of Milton’s Satan; tears which seem to be filled with emotion: “Thrice he assayed, and thrice
in spite of scorn, / Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last / Words interwove with
sighs found out their way ” (I.619-621). The different ways in which Milton and Dante have
their Satan cry is very striking. It has been mentioned above that Dante depicts his Satan as
being some kind of animal, stressing his bestiality. Milton stresses the humanity in his Satan,
giving him a humanlike appearance and a complex and emotional character. Satan as a figure
is neither human nor animal, but Milton and Dante have done the complete opposite in this
respect. Also, these tears indicate that Satan may not be such a hero after all: these tears are
selfish tears. Being selfish and to feel sorry for oneself is not a good characteristic for a hero.
It is clear that Dante’s Devil contains no heroic traits whatsoever. He is not given
much character and no voice at all, unlike Milton’s Satan. All through the journey in the
Inferno, the writer Dante lets the character Dante tell what he feels and what he sees as he
travels through Hell and encounters many different souls. However, when the duo meets
Satan, this is not the case. We get a short description of Satan’s physical appearance and his
surroundings, and the character Dante does not give his opinion of what he sees; he remains
almost silent. Dante stresses the bestiality of his Satan and therefore does not give him the
ability to speak or express himself. Milton gives his Satan many opportunities in his speeches
and inner monologues, so that Satan is able to establish himself as almost human. For that
reason, one is even more tempted in labelling him as a hero. We almost seem to forget that he
still is the devil. After Satan’s metamorphosis into a snake, he resembles Dante’s devil: he is
unable to speak and has no real character anymore. He is reduced from a humanlike figure of
a hero into something monstrous and animalistic.
Although in books I and II Satan seems to posses many heroic qualities, it seems
difficult to argue that he is indeed a hero. His speeches may seem very brave, but are they
really sincere? One has a point in saying that it is brave to stand up to a tyrannous leader and
fight for freedom and liberty. And in the mind of Satan and the other fallen angels, God is
indeed a tyrant. However, the reader of Paradise Lost will not agree with this: God could
never be a tyrant. Furthermore, as will be discussed in chapter 4, the motive for the rebellion
against God is not heroic at all: it is caused by the sin of pride. And when Satan embarks on
his ‘heroic’ quest, he is motivated by revenge and jealousy. He himself mentions in one of his
speeches that they will not have to fight God again; instead they will reach their goals by
“fraud or guile” (I.646). So, the Satanist point of view seems to be feasible only when looking
at books I and II in general: it is a fight for freedom. However, on closer inspection, there are
many points in the poem in which Satan is stripped of his potential heroic status. Satan’s
heroism may be described as being a perversion of true heroism: many of the heroic qualities
displayed, such as his bravery, his willingness to go on an adventure, his capacity to be a true
leader, are morally neutral: they can be used for both good and evil. Since Satan started out in
Heaven as one of God’s angels, he may already have possessed these qualities which we call
heroic, but they have been corrupted and can now only be used for evil. In order to further
investigate this notion of Satan as an epic hero, chapters 3 and 4 will pay attention to the
function of Hell and sin in relation to the hero’s epic quest.
4. Hell

This chapter discusses how Milton describes Hell in and how this can be related to the notion
of Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost. The universe of Milton seems to have a very loose
structure: underneath Heaven there is Hell and Chaos is in between. Earth hangs down from
Heaven by a golden chain and is later on in the epic connected to Hell by a bridge. There is no
perceivable order, or logic, to the way Milton chose to arrange his universe. Dante, however,
has clear ideas as to where his Hell is located in the universe and his Hell, Purgatory and
Heaven consist of neatly balanced concentric circles. The carefully structured and funnel-
shaped Hell in Dante’s La Divina Commedia stands in clear contrast to Paradise Lost. In
Dante’s work, Hell consists of nine concentric circles, where souls are punished according to
the sins they have committed in life. There is an increase in the sinfulness and wickedness of
the souls as they are distributed over the nine circles according to the measure of their trespass,
with Satan located in the ninth circle. The text over the entrance gate of Dante’s Hell makes it
very clear that Hell has been created by God: “Giustizia mosse il mio alto Fattore; / Fecemi la
divina Podestate, / La somma Sapïenza e ‘l primo Amore.” [Justice moved my High Maker:
the Divine Power made me, the supreme wisdom, and the primal love.] (III.4-6). So, there is a
clear contrast between Dante’s Hell and Milton’s Hell: a strictly organised Hell as opposed to
a chaotic Hell without a structure. It is this lack of proper structure which allows Satan to try
and achieve his heroic status. There are not many restrictions preventing him from doing this.
This chapter will begin by giving a description of Milton’s Hell and how it is placed in the
universe. After that, the same will briefly be done for Dante’s Hell as he has described it in La
Divina Commedia. Thirdly, we will take a look at the position of Satan in the Hell of both La
Divina Commedia and Paradise Lost, in order to investigate how the structure of Hell
facilitates Satan’s heroic adventures.
It is not unusual for an epic hero to be placed in Hell or the underworld: some famous
examples are to be found in the Aeneid and the Odyssey. However, these epic tales are never
staged entirely in Hell or the Underworld, only part of the tale is about the journey of the hero
into the Underworld. For Satan, it is somewhat different: he is thrown into Hell involuntarily,
as opposed to Aeneas and Odysseus, for whom Hell is only a small part of the adventure.
Satan travels out of Hell and returns to it during the poem and it forms the basis of the journey,
as opposed to Aeneas and Odysseus, who have Earth as their basis.
 In Paradise Lost, Milton gives many descriptions of Hell as a place of agony: dark
and yet filled with fire. It is a truly awful place:

A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round

As one great Furnace flam’d, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Serv’d only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all: but torture without end
(I.61-68)

There is fire in Hell, but yet it casts nothing but darkness:

Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wild,

The seat of desolation, void of light,
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
Casts pale and dreadful?
(I.180-184)

Milton’s Hell consists of natural elements; for example, Hell has lakes and hills, which Milton
even makes more realistic when referring to geographical locations on Earth when he
compares them to the “thund’ring Etna” (I.233). However, they are used in an unnatural
manner: there is a lake of fire with fire that does not give light but darkness. This may be
because the fallen angels have destroyed the natural order, so that now they are forced to
dwell in a place where nature seems to make no sense and is chaotic. However, this lack of
order is not a great problem, since it gives the opportunity to manifest himself as leader and
organiser. In one of his speeches, Satan establishes his heroic status as first among his peers.
Nobody will fight for the power of Hell as they have fought for the power in Heaven:

...where there is no good

For which to strive, no strife can grow up there
From Faction; for none sure will claim in hell
Presedence, none, whose portion is so small
Of present pain, that with ambitious mind
Will covet more.
(II.30-35)
This statement makes Satan something of a martyr as well: since he takes upon himself the
role of leader, this means he will have to carry the heaviest load of the pain of Hell. It is rather
heroic, to sacrifice himself like that:

...but who here

Will envy whom the highest place exposes
Foremost to stand against the Thunder’s aim
Your Bulwark, and condemns to the greatest share
Of endless pain?
(II.26-30)

One could question, however, his motives here. The devil is the Father of all lies and this
might well be a lie, in order to gain control as the leader of Hell. The first rebellion was
against God in Heaven and where there was a rebellion once, there could be one again. With
this statement of the leader of Hell carrying the heaviest burden, Satan implies that it would
not be wise for the other fallen angels to rival his leadership. However, Milton does not
mention the fallen angels being tortured much, so it might not even be true what Satan says in
his speech.
Yet, where this Hell is located, one cannot tell, since Milton explains this in a manner
which does not actually say anything about distances and dimensions. Hell in Paradise Lost is
described as a place which actually exists, described in detail with many features such as hills,
plains and lakes. However, Milton describes his Hell also in a more supernatural manner
when he uses the phrase “bottomless perdition” (I.47). Perdition signifies something which
lasts for eternity and the word ‘bottomless’ which accompanies it seems to stress this notion
of defying both time and space; this perdition has no end in time, it is for eternity. To give
another example, one encounters the words “the vast and boundless Deep” (I.147) in a
description of Hell. Hell seems to have no borders and it is infinitely large. Yet is does have
walls and gates: “Our prison strong, this huge convex of Fire, / Outrageous to devour,
immures us round / Ninefold, and gates of burning Adamant / Barr’d over us prohibit all
egress” (II.434-437). We have already seen that Hell is described as a ‘real’ location, with
lakes, mountains and an entire city. This contradiction of Hell being borderless, but
nevertheless having gates and being endless, but still containing specific features, is a good
example of Milton playing with space. Satan travels out of Hell through the gates, travels over
a bridge and jumps over the wall surrounding the Garden of Eden. In these instances, Milton
uses tangible elements in the journey, which makes the journey fit the description of a typical
journey from one place to another. However, Milton also incorporates aspects in the
description of the journey which defy the rules of time and space. We see that Hell is
described as ‘boundless’ and a moment later its walls and the gates are referred to. Milton
invented a device for retaining the old and accepted ideas of a finite universe yet also
expressing the new consciousness of space. He is perhaps the first writer who used the word
‘space’ in its full modern sense.32
Milton mentions that the fallen angels are “As far removed from God and the light of
Heav’n / As from the Center thrice to the utmost Pole” (I.73-74). As Milton describes the
location of Hell, it is supposed to be three times the distance from the Center, i.e. the earth, to
the utmost pole. This is a distance that cannot be measured, but only imagined: it is
somewhere between infinity and physical reality. Furthermore, Milton describes the amount
of time that is takes for the fallen angels to plummet into Hell as being as long as “Nine times
the Space that measures Day and Night / To mortal men…” (I.50-51). In this fragment, the
length of time is described in concepts with which one is familiar. However, the time that
measures day and night can indicate a variety of timescales and still does not make clear how
long this Fall lasts. There is no day and night in Hell, and the perception of time there cannot
be compared or related to a timescale conceivable to mankind. Hell has no borders, no
distances and there seems to be no time as we know it, but still it has walls and a gate. This is
not a Hell from which it is impossible to escape, as opposed to Dante’s Hell. The movement
of Milton’s Satan is quite different from that of Dante’s devil. The devil is not allowed to
move, being frozen in ice. He is not only confined to the deepest pit of Hell, he is so
immovable that Dante and Virgil even have to climb over him in order to continue their
journey. The other devils in La Divina Commedia have more freedom: they can move around
in Hell and are able to travel to Earth and gather souls there.
With this play with time and space, Milton steps away from the traditional order of the
universe according the medieval point of view. However, he does not choose one view of the
universe as the basis for the universe of Paradise Lost. This may have something to do with
the scientific view of the universe in Milton’s time, since the heliocentric view was not yet
widely accepted. Milton had two planetary systems available to choose from: the Ptolemaic,
in which Earth is the centre of the universe, and the Copernican system, in which Earth and
the other planets rotate around the Sun. Milton does not choose one particular model, but

32
Lewis, C.S. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. 1964. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000: p. 100.
alludes to both of them to form a unique universe in Paradise Lost. Milton’s universe seems
to be geocentric and heliocentric simultaneously33:

… whither the prime Orb,

Incredible how swift, had thither roll’d
Diurnal, or this less voluble Earth
By shorter flight to th’East, had left him there
Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold
The Clouds that on his Western Throne attend;
(IV.592-597)

Milton expresses this same notion in the conversation between the archangel Raphael and
Adam. Adam asks Raphael about the universe and about the movement of the sun and the
stars. Raphael does not give a direct answer to these questions, but rather states that God does
not want to reveal this information to others and, in fact, Raphael himself does not have the
answer:

…the rest
From Man or Angel the great Architect
Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
His secrets to be scann’d by them who ought
Rather admire
(VIII.71-74)

By indicating that God does not want anyone to know the truth about the structure of the
cosmos, Milton does not choose a side in the heliocentric/geocentric discussion that was still
going on at the time. Furthermore, by not answering Adam’s question, Milton, and indirectly
God, could not be proven wrong in the future. Milton wanted to write an epic that could be
read throughout the ages, so he evades the issue here in order to ensure this. He even has the
archangel Raphael mention that it does not matter if the Sun revolves around the Earth or the
Earth revolves around the Sun:

But whether thus these things, or whether not,

Whether the Sun predominant in Heav’n
Rise on the Earth, or Earth rise on the Sun
…
Wherever plac’t, let him dispose: joy thou
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
And thy fair Eve; Heav’n is for thee too high

33
Alistair Fowler, ed. Paradise Lost. By John Milton. 12th ed. London: Longman, 1989: p. 30.
 To know what passes there
(VIII.159-173)

The model of the universe of each period or era can be called a backcloth for the arts.
However, the model is used quite selectively and artists have always adapted this backcloth to
suit their own purposes and the backcloth does not respond quickly to changes in scientific
and philosophical ideas. Furthermore, great masters of Arts and literature have not taken the
model too seriously, stressing the fact that it is after all a model, which is possibly
replaceable.34 Milton also uses this notion in Paradise Lost:

His laughter at their quaint Opinions wide

Hereafter, when they come to model Heav’n
And calculate the stars, how they will wield
The mighty frame how build, unbuild, contrive
To save appearances, how gird the Sphere
With Centric and Eccentric scribbl’d o’ver,
Cycle and Epicylce, Orb in Orb:
(VIII.78-84)

Theories come and go, but Milton has created his own universe and his own Hell, which will
be able to withstand changes in the world view for eras to come, simply because he does not
choose one particular model to base his work upon.
As we have seen, Milton’s Hell is quite loosely structured in a geographical sense,
which has the effect that it is not hard for Satan and the other angels to free themselves from
the burning lake they are chained to in the beginning of the poem and build the city of
Pandemonium. Furthermore, it is not difficult at all for Satan to escape from Hell, he just
simply passes through the gate, crosses Chaos, reaches Earth and jumps over the wall into
Paradise.
Milton’s Hell is not only a place, it is also a condition. This means that next to the
obvious geographical Hell, there is also the notion of it being ‘a hell’ in the sense that one is
away from God.35 The fallen angels lament their loss of God and Heaven on several occasions:
“…the thought / Both of lost happiness and lasting pain (I.54-55)”, “…what can be worse /
Than to dwell here, driv’n out from bliss, (II.85-86). So, next to the physical or geographical
Hell, where the fallen angels are banned to, there is also a different definition of Hell found in

34
Lewis, C.S. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. 1964. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000: p. 14.
35
Patrides, C.A. “Milton and his Contemporaries on the Chains of Satan”. Modern Language Notes. 73.4 (1958):
p. 225.
Milton’s Paradise Lost. This notion can also be found when we consider that Hell in fact is
inside Satan and the other fallen angels:

…One who brings

A mind not to be chang’d by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n”
(I.252-255)

Satan refers here to the fact that Hell is not only a location. Hell is also a part of himself:
wherever he goes and no matter how much time passes, Hell is inside his head. Another quote
from the work clearly shows the presence of a Hell inside Satan himself, next to the
geographical Hell he moves in:

Horror and doubt distract

His troubl’d thoughts, and from the bottom stir
The Hell within him, for within him Hell
He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
One step no more than from himself can fly
By change of place
(IV.18-23)

This fragment shows that Satan carries Hell inside of him and this has major consequences for
him in the supposed role of an epic hero. Whereas in book I and II he seems to be quite the
hero, Satan comes to realize that he has Hell inside of him. There is a big difference between
the inner monologues of Satan as he travels and the heroic speeches he had before he left. He
can move out of Hell physically, but the Hell which is inside of him he is forced to bring with
him wherever he goes. One can take this one step further by saying that Satan is Hell. With
his Fall, Hell is created especially for him and in that respect Satan is part of Hell as much as
Hell is part of Satan. Further on in the same book we see one of Satan’s inner monologues, in
which he realises and contemplates the fact that he is not able to escape from what is always
inside of him: “Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell” (IV.75).
As opposed to Milton, Dante is rather precise about the location of his Hell in La
Divina Commedia. He locates Hell directly under the city of Jerusalem, on the Northern
Hemisphere. The lowest point of the funnel, the deepest point of Hell, is the middle of the
planet Earth.36 Hell consists of nine concentric circles and in every circle of Hell, Dante meets

36
Boyde, Patrick. Dante: Philomytes and Philosopher: Man in the Cosmos. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1981: pp. 67-68.
the souls that are allocated to their respective circle to undergo their eternal punishment.
These punishments are described in a very detailed manner. When Dante reaches the second
circle of the Inferno and sees the first souls that are physically punished. He describes them as
being thrown about in every direction by a fierce storm. It is like a never ending journey for
these souls, being blown all over the place, but never really having a goal or a destination:

E come gli stornei ne portan l’ali,

nel freddo tempo, a schiera larga e piena,
così quel fiato gli spiriti mali:
di qua, di la, di giù, di su, li mena;
nulla speranza li conforta mai.

[And as, in the cold season, starlings’ wings

Bear them along in broad and crowded ranks
So does that blast bear on the guilty spirits:
Now here, now there, now down, now up, it drives them.
There is no hope that ever comforts them.]
(Inferno V.40-44)

The souls are compared to sparrows in this metaphor. However, whereas the starlings are
guided by the wind to form a coordinated scissor-like shape, the punished souls are thrown
about in every possible direction. As he advances on his journey through Hell, Dante
encounters many souls that are being punished for their sins. Some of these are famous people
of those days and of the past, such as Pope Boniface VIII and Cleopatra. Others are fictional
characters, such as Dido and Ulysses. But whether these souls were famous during their lives
or not, Dante’s Hell is filled to the rim with them. The location of the devil is also clear: he is
located in the deepest pit. He is not able to move and confined by ice. Whereas Milton’s Hell
facilitates Satan’s movement, Dante’s Hell does not provide this opportunity.
It is clear that Dante’s and Milton’s descriptions of Hell differ in many aspects.
Milton’s Hell is described in terms that make it difficult to grasp what it looks like, how big it
is and where it is located. It is inhabited by only a few fallen angels and Satan, but their
specific whereabouts remain uncertain. Dante’s Hell is the opposite: it is neatly ordered in
nine circles and filled with human souls and the devil is located in the middle. Dante has used
the medieval notion of order and structure, while Milton steps away from this order to create
his own timeless universe. A relevant aspect which Dante’s Hell and Milton’s Hell seem to
have in common is that both contain a pathway from Earth to Hell. Dante and Virgil of course
use this path on their journey through Hell. Milton’s Hell contains a pathway from Earth to
Hell which is created by Satan as he travels out of Hell: “…from hence a passage broad, /
Smooth, east, inoffensive down to Hell” (X.304-305). This road is then later used by his
daughter Sin and by the child of Satan and Sin, Death.
Another reason why Milton’s and Dante’s Hell are so different is the manner of
punishment. Milton stresses the notion that Hell is the idea of suffering because one is so far
away removed from God. There is no need of torture. Many other writers of Milton’s age,
such as James Forsyth, Samuel Rutherford, John Hayward, Christopher Marlowe and John
Donne, used the notion that to be deprived of God, to be as far away from Him as possible, is
the worst punishment one can imagine.37 La Divina Commedia contains this notion as well.
The ones that are most severely punished are as far removed from God as possible; hence the
gradation of the nine concentric circles. However, where Milton uses this deprivation from
God as the sole punishment in his Hell, Dante also has his souls tortured. That is why Satan in
Paradise Lost is not physically tortured, while Dante’s Satan is frozen in ice. In Milton’s Hell,
there is no need for torture as we do find it in La Divina Commedia.
As a conclusion, one can state that the very structure and location of Milton’s Hell
make it possible for Satan to manifest himself as an epic hero. One of the motives for the
rebellion of the fallen angels was that they wanted to have freedom and this is possible in
Milton’s Hell, to a certain degree. They are not confined in Hell as Dante’s Satan is and can
basically do all that they wish in Hell. It gives them the opportunity to built Pandemonium
and it gives Satan the opportunity to seize leadership and go on his quest to cause the Fall of
Adam and Eve. However, Milton’s Hell is not only a space somewhere under Heaven, it is
also a state of mind: Hell is inside Satan. Whereas the geographical Hell allows him to be free
and be a hero, his mental Hell takes away a large part of his freedom. He cannot be a hero.
Hell is always inside of him. As we will see in the next chapter, the fact that he has Hell and
sin inside of him, make sure that he will never be a true hero. Everything he does is corrupted,
and his motives are far from heroic: they are induced by sins. This notion will be discussed in
the next chapter.

37
Patrides, C.A. “Milton and his Contemporaries on the Chains of Satan”. Modern Language Notes. 73.4 (1958):
pp. 225-226.
5. Sin

Satan has many of the characteristics of an epic hero. In this chapter we will argue that his
heroic deeds are actually rooted in sin. While Dante makes use of the traditional order of the
seven deadly sins of Pride, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth and Wrath to structure his
Inferno, Milton does not follow this medieval list of seven sins. When we analyse the poem, it
becomes clear that Satan’s heroic deeds are motivated by sin, and though this text contains
references to the seven sins, it soon becomes clear that he uses them in a very different
manner from Dante. Although Satan’s deeds may be labelled heroic, his motives are impure.
The most important of these underlying motives are the sins of pride, envy and wrath.
However, attention will first be given to the importance and role of sin in both Paradise Lost
and La Divina Commedia.
In La Divina Commedia, Dante is on a journey through the afterlife where he
encounters the seven sins, which seem to function as stepping stones on his path to
redemption. In order to achieve this, one must have full awareness of evil. Dante obtains his
knowledge during his travels through the Inferno, where the souls who are being punished for
their sins constitute for him a lesson in morality. In his Commedia, Dante gives his readers
four points of view concerning the seven sins and he shows how these are manifested in the
Inferno. The first one is the notion that sin disrupts the divine order. Those who have sinned
have caused chaos in this order. In Hell they have the opportunity to fulfil this demand of
order once again and they are eager to do so:

Quelli che muoion ne l’ira di Dio

Tutti convegnon qui d’ogne paese;
E pronti sono a trapassar lo rio,
Ché la divina giustizia li sprona,
Sì che la tema si volve in disio.

[Those who die in the wrath of God

All come together here from every land;
And they are eager to cross the stream,
For Divine Justice so spurs them
That their fear is changed to desire.]
(Inferno III.122-126)

They have defied the Divine order, but are eternally forced back into it during their
punishment. For, after all, Hell itself is structured and organized by divine wisdom. The
second aspect is that the sinners are denied the Divine light and wisdom. The graver their sin,
the further they are removed from God. Sinners are devoid of this wisdom and knowledge, as
opposed to the blessed souls in Heaven, who are able to bask in this light and knowledge. The
third notion is that sin removes people from God. The more people sin, the more they become
estranged and removed from Him. Dante expresses this in the concentric circles in his Inferno,
where the Devil resides in the inner-most circle. He most of all deserves to be devoid of
God’s presence. The fourth aspect is the notion that those who have sinned deserve less space
and light according to the gravity of the sins they have committed. This means that the circles
become more confined and narrow as one comes closer to the centre of Hell. The traveller
Dante notices this as he travels onwards: “Così discesi del cerchio primaio / Giù nel secondo,
che men loco cinghia / e tanto pìu dolor, che punge a guaio.” [Thus I descended form the first
circle into the second, which girds less space, and so much greater woe that it goads to
wailing.] (Inferno V.1-3).38 These four points of view stress the significance of the seven sins
in the plot of La Divina Commedia. They are not merely there to show Dante the knowledge
of the seven sins. The sins convey the notion that people have free will and choose the
graveness of their sins and therefore the severity of their punishment themselves. The more
they sin, the further they are from God’s light and God’s presence and the harsher their eternal
condition is. Sins create disorder and Hell as constructed by Dante, places these sins back in
order through Divine Justice. In the Commedia, sin is a structuring device and the only
heroism it elicits is the bravery of Dante as he travels through Hell and is instructed by its
horrors. In Milton’s work this is different: in Paradise Lost sin is an active principle.
As will be explained below, Milton often refers to sins in his poem. However, the most
meaningful and relevant reference to sinning is the fact that in Paradise Lost, Satan has a
daughter, Sin, and together they have a son, Death. The characters of Sin and Death are
allegories: personifications of abstract ideas. If Satan stands for disobedience, then this would
mean that sin arises from disobedience. When Sin explains to Satan how she was created, she
mentions that she sprang from the head of Satan:

Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seiz'd

All th' Host of Heav'n; back they recoild afraid
At first, and call'd me Sin.
(II.758-760)

38
Ariaens, Antoon. Met Dante naar God. Soesterberg: Cenakel, 1955: pp. 52-57.
Remarkably, Sin was born from Satan when he and the fallen angels were still in Heaven,
before the war. At first, the angels were afraid of Sin, but after some time their opinion
changed:

…but familiar grown,

I pleas’d, and with attractive graces won
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing
Becam’st enamour’d
(II.761-765)

Sin is the first child, and she is brought to life by his disobedience to God. Satan and his
daughter Sin have another child as well, called Death. Death is an inevitable consequence of
sin. In this respect, the allegory of Satan, Sin and Death may very well be based on James
1:15, where is mentioned: “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin when it is
finished, bringeth forth death”. Another source may have been St. Basil’s sixth homily, in
which it is said that Sin is the first-born of the devil and the parent of Death.39 After Satan has
passed through the gate, the gate cannot be closed anymore, making it possible for Sin and
Death to travel to Earth over the bridge that has just been created. The allegory explains how
Sin and Death come into the world. Sinful behaviour did not exist before Satan showed this
behaviour. In Heaven, there was no sin until Satan started his rebellion. On Earth, there was
no sin until Satan convinced Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge.
Pride is the first sin committed by Satan. Pride is described as a high opinion of one's
own worth or importance which gives rise to a feeling or attitude of superiority over others;
inordinate self-esteem40. In Milton’s Satan, we find all of the seven deadly sins and Pride we
immediately encounter in book I:

Th' infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile

Stirred up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv’d
The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride
Had cast him out from Heav’n
(I.34-37)

These few lines tell us that it was Pride that cast him out of Heaven. Pride is considered to be
the deadliest of all the cardinal sins since the sixth century, when Pope Gregory I declared

39
Steadman, John M. “Milton and St. Basil: The Genesis of Sin and Death”. Modern Language Notes. 73.2
(1958): p. 84.
40
“Pride”, in: Oxford English Dictionary Online. See: www.dictionary.oed.com, (15 July 2008).
pride to be the beginning of all sin.41 This corresponds with Paradise Lost, where Satan starts
his rebellion in Heaven because of his pride, which causes his fall. And once he has let pride
into his heart, this leaves the door open for other sins to follow almost automatically: “And
now his heart / Distends with Pride” (I.571-572). The Christian Satan committing the sin of
Pride has disrupted the balance God has created and now that the balance is not there anymore,
the way is wide open for other sins to come into existence in Satan’s mind.42
Pride is the sin that is widely accepted as causing Satan’s fall. Milton gives us a rather
precise motivation of why his Satan fell from Heaven, in book V:

…he of the first,

If not the first Arch-Angel, great in Power,
In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honour’d by his great Father, and proclaim’d
Messiah King anointed, could not bear
Through pride that sight, and thought himself
Impair’d.
(V.559-665)

In this fragment, two sins are mentioned, pride and envy. Pride seems to be obvious, since it is
well-known as the sin that caused Satan’s Fall. However, also the sin of envy is mentioned
here. Envy can be described as feeling displeasure and ill-will at the superiority of another
person in happiness, success, reputation, or the possession of anything desirable; to regard
with discontent another's possessions. And also in a less unfavourable sense it means to wish
oneself on a level with another in happiness or in the possession of something desirable; to
wish oneself possessed of something which another has.43 Milton steps away from the idea
that it was only the sin of pride causing the Fall from Heaven. In Paradise Lost, it is both
pride and envy: Satan is jealous of Christ. But nothing has been done to Satan; there is no
reason for him to feel that way, were it not that these thoughts are motivated by sin. He is the
greatest of the Archangels, but Christ is the Son of God and the Messiah and because of this,
Satan is jealous. He feels better than God and Christ and that is his motive for starting his
rebellion, causing the war in Heaven. The question which arises here is: when the motives for
heroic deeds are impure, can these still be called heroic?

41
Dyson, Michael Eric. The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006: pp. 9-10.
42
Casagrande, Carla & Silvana Vecchio. I Sette Vizi Capital. Torino: Giulio Einaudi Editore, 2000: p. 5.
43
“Envy”, in: Oxford English Dictionary Online. See: www.dictionary.oed.com, (15 July 2008).
 There is another crucial moment in the poem where the motives of another of Satan’s
heroic deeds can be questioned. Satan travels out of Hell, which is a brave deed as he tries one
more time to defy the ‘tyrant’ of the Heavens. He travels past the gates of Heaven, which
motivates him even more to do wrong. He is driven by jealousy to corrupt and destroy: “Such
wonder seiz’d, though after Heaven seen, / The Spirit malign, but much more envy seiz’d / At
the sight of all this World beheld so fair” (III.552-554). After that, Satan travels to Earth and
in one of his inner monologues, Satan mentions his motives for travelling to Earth to cause the
Fall of Adam and Eve:

…but others to make such

As I, though thereby worse me redound:
For only in destroying I find ease
To my relentless thoughts
(IX.127-130)

It is revenge that motivates Satan here. He wants others to be just as miserable as he has
become. A few lines after this fragment, Satan again shows pride in stating that he wants to
destroy what God has made and will restore his own splendour once again:

…that destruction wide may range:

To mee shall be the glory sole among
The infernal Powers, in one day to have marr’d
What the Almighty styled, six Night and Days
Continu’d making
(IX.134-138)

This excerpt shows that Satan is still proud: he is planning to destroy in only one day
something that has taken God six days to build, which would make him better than God. And
this achievement will certainly make him the leader of Hell, as is his aspiration.
In previous chapters, we have seen that Satan’s body changes from a still rather
angelic form to a snake. This does not happen immediately after the Fall, it happens after he
has caused the Fall of Adam and Eve. Once Satan and the other angels have fallen, sin seems
to have an increasingly greater influence on Satan. He starts with heroic speeches in Hell, but
his mind is already then infected with sin. As the story advances, he comes to realise that Hell
and therefore sin is inside of him and he is unable to stop sinning, which corrupts and
transforms him even more. It seems that Satan’s body in the form of a snake reflects the
control sin has over Satan. Once the seed of sin is planted, there is no way back for Satan but
to sin over and over again and make him more and more corrupted.
A third sin that can be associated with Satan is the sin of wrath: this sin can be
described as feeling a strong and fierce anger and can also mean vengeance or punishment as
the consequence of anger. Wrath can be explained as being vehement or violent anger; intense
exasperation or resentment or deep indignation44. Satan is furious to be banned from the light
of Heaven down into the Pit of Hell. He wants to have his vengeance:

…for now
Satan, now first inflam’d with rage, came down,
The Tempter ere th’Accuser of mankind
To wreak on innocent frail Man his loss
Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell.
(IV.8-12)

Not only does this show a deed which is not heroic at all and attack someone who is frail and
innocent, the word ‘first’ also indicates that Satan commits this sin for the first time. He has
never been angry or wrathful before. This is the first time that he is ‘inflamed with rage’. Sin
does not only cause Satan’s Fall, it causes the Fall of Adam and Eve as well. It is described in
the book of Genesis in the Bible that Adam and Eve are evicted from Paradise and they have
to start life somewhere else. This is for them the beginning of a journey: it is the journey of
Mankind. Milton uses these last words to end his work: “They hand in hand with wand’ring
steps and slow / Through Eden took their solitary way” (XII.648-649). It shows the beginning
of their journey, the beginning of man according to Christian doctrine. Adam and Eve have
started on their journey with already committing a sin, just as Satan started his journey. The
difference here is that whereas Satan seems to be only able to do bad, Adam and Eve have the
ability to do good as well:

That with reiterated crimes he might

Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
Evil to others, and enrag’d might see
How all his malice serv’d but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown
On man by him seduc’t, but on himself
Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance poured.
(I.214-220)

44
“Wrath”, in: Oxford English Dictionary Online. See: www.dictionary.oed.com, (15 July 2008).
Satan’s sinning makes him more corrupted and God punishes him not only with his Fall, for
Satan is turned into a snake as well. Adam and Eve are more lightly punished: they have to
leave Paradise, but have the opportunity to choose between doing good, since mercy is shown.
It is clear that Milton does not divide sin as Dante does in his La Divina Commedia:
Dante distributes the seven deadly sins very neatly over concentric circles, with a systematic
increase in wickedness. The souls are punished in a manner which is related to the sin they
have committed. The lustful are continually blown in every direction; the wrathful fight each
other for all eternity, to give some examples. As Virgil and Dante travel onwards, they meet
in every circle of Hell souls that are allocated to their respective circle to undergo their eternal
punishment. Milton does not have this clear allocation of sins. The most obvious ones are
pride, envy and wrath. However, the poem does contain references to the other four sins as
well.
A good example of this can be found when looking at the punishment of the fallen
angels. The sin of gluttony is related to over-excessive eating and drinking and
overindulgence45. That the angels are turned into snakes is only part of their punishment.
When they try to eat the fruit hanging from the trees, it turns to ashes in their mouths:

They fondly thinking to allay

Their appetite with gust, instead of Fruit
Chew’d bitter Ashes.
(X.564-566)

The sin of gluttony can also be ascribed to Adam and Eve and the imagery of the eating of
fruit is used in the case of Adam and Eve as well as the fallen angels.
Greed can be described as the inordinate or insatiate longing, especially for wealth,
and as an avaricious or covetous desire 46. Satan is greedy because he longs for wealth and
especially power. This can be seen in his successful attempt to become the leader of the other
fallen angels with his heroic speeches, as well as Satan’s beautiful throne and the city of
Pandemonium that the devils build. According to Lyman, there is another especially sinful
quality of greed that is related to the shift from the worship of God to the worship of evil.47
This is what happens as well in Paradise Lost: the fallen angels start to worship Satan.
Furthermore, when Satan travels out of Hell, a bridge is formed between Hell and earth, so

45
“Gluttony”, in: Oxford English Dictionary Online. See: www.dictionary.oed.com, (15 July 2008).
46
“Greed”, in: Oxford English Dictionary Online. See: www.dictionary.oed.com, (15 July 2008).
47
Lyman, Stanford M. The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil. New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1978: p.
234.
that in the future of Mankind it will become easier to lure people into worshipping Satan and
into sinning, shifting the devotion from God to devotion of evil.
Another of the seven sins is sloth, which in a spiritual way came to refer to laziness
and indifference in one’s duties and obligations to God in the later Middle Ages.48 This also
applies to Satan and the fallen angels. They do not want to serve God in Heaven. It is not that
they want to do nothing at all; they just don’t want to do it for God anymore:

…For his thoughts were low

To vice industrious, but to Nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful….
(II.115-117)

Or, as Satan puts it, it is “Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n” (I.263). This fits in
perfectly with Lyman’s description of sloth: they do not want to be inferior to God and to
serve Him; they do not want to have obligations towards God. In Satan’s view, it is better to
have his own kingdom with less splendour, than to serve someone else.
Satan is also guilty of committing the sin of lust. The Oxford English Dictionary
describes lust in Biblical and theological use as sensuous appetite or desire, considered as
sinful or leading to sin, often referred to as the lusts of the flesh or fleshly lusts.49 In the story,
we find the sin of lust in the fact that Satan raped his own daughter Sin and that they even had
a child together. And this child, called Death, apparently inherited his father’s behaviour; he
raped his own mother and she gave birth to even more devils. Through lust, Satan has not
only brought another sin into the world, he has also made a physical embodiment of sinning in
the form of his daughter Sin.
Another well-known account of sin and Hell can be found in William Blake’s The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell. This work seems to be the complete opposite of Dante’s La
Divina Commedia in many respects. In Dante’s Hell, we find the notion of order: the sins
committed on Earth result in a neatly ordered Hell, where souls are located according to the
sins they have committed. The devil is punished the most and he forms a negation to God.
Contrastingly, Blake supports the view that “Without Contraries is no Progression” (plate 3).
These contraries are that which make ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’. Blake explains that: “Energy call’d
Evil is alone from the body & that Reason call’d Good is alone from the Soul (…) Energy is
Eternal Delight” (plate 4). It seems that energy is Evil, but at the same time it is Eternal

48
Lyman, Stanford M. The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil. New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1978: p. 6.
49
“Lust”, in: Oxford English Dictionary Online. See: www.dictionary.oed.com, (15 July 2008).
Delight as well: sinning is a positive thing. Furthermore, Blake mentions that Good is passive
and Evil can be considered active: “The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom. /
Prudence is an old maid courted by In capacity. / He who desires but acts not, breeds
pestilence.” (plate 7). He also mentions that the seven sins are not necessarily Evil: “The pride
of the peacock is the glory of God”, “The lust of the goat is the bounty of God”, “The wrath
of the lion is the wisdom of God”. Blake’s view of sin is the opposite of Dante’s point of view:
Blake states that sinning is good as it is dynamic, while Dante condemns the souls in his
Commedia to suffer in Hell and has a devil who is the negation of God and who is frozen in
ice. Milton’s Paradise Lost also shows a dynamic Evil: Satan is a dynamic character, which
gives him the opportunity to achieve his heroic status. If we take Dante and Blake as authors
with opposing views, then Milton can be placed somewhere in between, since he depicts Evil
as an active force in his work. But still Milton condemns sinning.
In conclusion, the sins that Satan commits make him lose his heroic status and his
heroic deeds are actually rooted in sin. He seems brave and heroic in book I and II, when he
has his speeches in Hell. However, as the plot continues, his motives for the War in Heaven
and the Fall of Man become clear. These motives are not pure and he is driven by sin. The
question that we can ask ourselves is the following: is it possible for Satan to be a hero when
his motives are not pure; can the father of all lies be a hero? The next chapter will try and give
an answer to this question.
6. Conclusion

Can we give a straight answer to the question whether or not Satan is the hero of John
Milton’s Paradise Lost? In the previous chapters many arguments have been forwarded and
analysed. In books I and II of the work Satan displays true heroic behaviour. He rebels against
his suppressor, he bravely stands up for himself and the other fallen angels in his fight for
freedom and he manages to gain leadership of Hell without many obstacles. However,
Paradise Lost consists of ten more books, in which we slowly but gradually see the digression
of Satan’s character and his circumstances. Satan begins to realise that he is not only
condemned to Hell. He is also condemned to carry Hell within him everywhere he goes. In
the end, the sins that Satan commits make him lose his heroic status and his heroic deeds are
actually rooted in sin. Paradise Lost is an epic, which causes the reader to instinctively search
for an epic hero. Milton gives his Satan heroic qualities and since he is such a dynamic and
controversial character in the work, critics have been arguing whether or not Satan is a hero,
ever since the work was published. Both sides have valid arguments to support their view.
Satan indeed has many heroic qualities, but they are rooted in evil and sin and his heroic
qualities deteriorate rapidly as the plot progresses. Therefore, it is difficult to answer the
question of whether or not Satan is the hero of Paradise Lost with a simple yes or no. Critics
supporting Satan’s heroic status focus their attention on the heroic traits that Satan
unmistakably does posses. Anti-Satanists stress the fact that Satan’s speeches are pompous
instead of heroic and that rebelling against God can never be heroic. Furthermore, one should
look beyond Book I and II in order to get a full picture of Satan’s character.
The arguments which support the claim of the Anti-Satanists that Satan is not the hero
of Paradise Lost seem quite convincing, but why is it possible that so many readers have seen
and still see Satan as the hero of the work? In their arguments, many point at Satan’s heroic
traits in books I and II and they almost seem to forget what happens to Satan in books III to
XII. Especially in the Romantic period, the view of Satan grew more favourable and many
regarded him as the hero of Paradise Lost. In literature, other literary characters very similar
to him began to appear. To give some examples, Lord Byron has written some famous and
very influential works with idealised but flawed characters, such as Don Juan or Childe
Harold, who came to be referred to as Byronic heroes. Next to that, also influential authors
like Charlotte Brontë, James Fenimoore Cooper and Herman Melville started to write about
characters that resembled Milton’s Satan in many respects. The imaginative revolution of
Romanticism gave rise to many changes in literary form and theme: one of the most obvious
was the revival and interest in the hero.50 Many authors of the Romantic period modelled their
characters to be heroic like Milton’s Satan, but gave them an evil or dark side as well, just like
Milton’s Satan has.
An important and influential critic of the Romantic period was William Blake. In his
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, he states that sinning is good as it is dynamic. This, together
with the new interest in literary heroes of the Romantics, provided a new perspective in
reading Paradise Lost. If sinning is not per definition evil, then it is still possible to see Satan
as the hero of the work, albeit not an epic hero. Anti-Satanists put forward the argument that
Satan cannot be the hero, since his motives are impure and he is driven by jealousy and pride.
However, from Blake’s point of view these negative aspects have no relevance when
discussing the heroic status of Satan. From a Romantic point of view a hero was allowed to
have a dark side.
By the end of the eighteenth century, religious beliefs changed and belief in the devil
among the higher and more literate classes had nearly disappeared. Yet Romantic authors and
painters in England and on the Continent were fascinated with the myth of Satan. They
developed Satan into an ideological symbol with a broad range of functions: expressing
rebellious or unconventional political, moral and religious values51. The reader’s perception of
Satan is changed by the period in which the epic is read. Milton may not have intended his
Satan to be the hero of the work; his heroic status is indeed questionable in many respects.
However, readers in the Romantic period were influenced by the period they lived in. In
Romanticism, Milton’s fallen angel became an ideological vehicle and a mythic stand-bearer
for moral religious and political values52. The myth of Satan started to lose the important
position it had before. The Bible does not contain many references to the devil and his fallen
angels, nor the War in Heaven, and this opened up the opportunity to step away from the
medieval idea of the devil as pure evil. Contrastingly, when Dante wrote his La Divina
Commedia, the role of the devil was still very clearly defined. He was pure evil and Dante
placed him in his Hell in the deepest pit. This is in conformity with the medieval world view,
where order was very important. The romantic period made Satan into a sublime figure, who
could be a hero regardless of the fact that he was the devil.

50
Reed, Walter, L. Meditations on the Hero: A Study of the Romantic Hero in Nineteenth Century Fiction. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1974: p. 1.
51
Schock, Peter A. “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Blake’s Myth of Satan and its Cultural Matrix”. ELH.
60.2 (1993): p. 441.
52
Schock, Peter A. “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Blake’s Myth of Satan and its Cultural Matrix”. ELH.
60.2 (1993): p. 443.
 Famous Romantic artists depicted Satan in an idealised and heroic manner in the early
1790s. Only a decade earlier Satan without exception had been depicted in a monstrous and at
best in merely human form53 . These changes in the world view influenced Blake and his
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a work which contains the view that evil and sin are dynamic
and therefore do not necessarily have to be bad. He refers to Milton in his work and this,
among with other Romantic influences, has changed the way people looked at Satan. Unlike
before, it was less controversial to state that Satan is the hero of Paradise Lost. From the
beginning of the eighteenth century, Satan’s sins became easier to forgive because of his
sublimity, up to the point where he was no longer a villain, but a hero.
So, if Satan is not an epic hero, could he perhaps be a Romantic hero? Romantic
heroes have two characteristics which make them distinctive in the heroic tradition. The first
characteristic is that feelings and emotions are very important to them.54 This is very apparent
in Milton’s Satan. He is very aware of his own feelings and desires and he even feels his own
digression in some of his inner monologues. Next to that, he is also aware of the feeling of
others: he sees the love of Adam and Eve and this affects him deeply, be it in a negative
manner. However, it is typical for the Romantic hero that these feelings and emotions are for
the greater part personal and even ego-centric: the Romantic hero is not socially concerned.
Self-awareness is basic to the position assumed by the Romantic hero. He takes for granted
the centrality of an active ego.55 This seems to be the case with Satan as well. He cares only
about himself and his own personal glory. The second characteristic of the Romantic hero is
his Satanism. Satanism in the Romantic period was rebellion in the name of individualism,
humanism and self-reliance. In fact, many fictional characters were created with Milton’s
Satan in mind as a role model, which makes him almost the ultimate Romantic hero. 56
However, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries critics such as C.S. Lewis, S. Musgrove
and Charles Williams very much supported the Anti-Satanist view and the Romantic view of
Satan was challenged by this different perception.
As we have seen in previous chapters, in some parts of Paradise Lost Satan seems
heroic, while in other parts he seems ridiculous. When Milton wrote the work, some scholars
already saw Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost, but this view was not widely accepted.

53
Schock, Peter A. “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Blake’s Myth of Satan and its Cultural Matrix”. ELH.
60.2 (1993): p. 452.
54
Thorslev, Peter L., Jr. The Byronic Hero: Types and Prototypes. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1962: p. 188.
55
Garber, Frederick. “Self, Society, Value and the Romantic Hero”. Comparative Literature. 19.4 (1967): p. 321.
56
Thorslev, Peter L., Jr. The Byronic Hero: Types and Prototypys. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1962: pp. 188-189.
However, as time passed, the perception of the readers of the work changed, and so did the
opinion on Satan. Belief in the devil was waning and he became a character of superstition. It
was during the Romantic period that Satan grew out to be the hero of the work. Readers
admired him for his pursuit of liberty, individualism and determination, which became
popular themes at the end of the eighteenth century.
The fact that Milton did not write Paradise Lost during the Romantic period but well
before that makes it difficult to call Satan a Romantic hero. The times in which Milton wrote
his work were very different from the Romantic period. Romanticism caused people to read
Paradise Lost from a different perspective, a perspective which highlighted Satan’s heroic
side. The notion that heroes do not need to be perfect and that they could have flaws in their
heroism became widely accepted. It was in this period that Satan became a true hero, even if
Milton may not have had this intention when writing Paradise Lost. Satan may not be a
Romantic Hero originally, but he became a hero in the eyes of the Romantics.
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