PARADISE LOST – JOHN MILTON

SATAN’S SPEECH

The passage belongs to the first Paradise Lost’s book, probably the most famous John Milton’s epic poem. Paradise Lost is about Satan’s rebellion against God. In particular, Satan’s speech passage deals with Satan’s arrival in Hell, after his downfall from Heaven. During the speech, Satan takes into consideration both Heaven and Hell and compare their physical features.

Considering the layout, the speech is organized into lines and Satan is the speaking voice.

In the first place, Satan tries to make statements about the new land: Hell is completely different from Heaven… Everything is up and down as compared to Heaven. He’s not happy about the place at first but then he realizes it’s worth being in Hell than in Heaven. Indeed, he thinks God is a tyrant, and he concludes he prefers reigning in Hell rather than serving God in Heaven. According to what Satan’s saying, it comes to the surface that Satan himself is the hero in the epic poem! He has all the characteristics that being a hero requires: courage, pride, oratorical power, self-confidence and ambition. He is really persuaded he’s not less than God: he feels equal to God but he’s also aware of his inferiority in power… But he doesn’t feel down: he’s convinced he will take his revenge against the despotic system of God.

In conclusion, it’s fundamental to understand the character knowing that John Milton sided with the Republican revolutionaries in defense of liberty. He used to despise all form of tyranny, from political, to religious, to domestic. After the return of Monarchy in 1660, his republican writings were condemned, and this explains why Paradise lost represents, somehow reflects Milton’s battle against tyranny. Satan embodies Milton’s Puritan ideals of liberty against God on one side, and a despotic king, on the other, in the real world.