Satan's speech

Satan arrives to Hell from Paradise and feels lost because everything is different (the region, the soil, the clime). At first time is not glad to be there, but he soon rejects despair and accepts the new situation. In the following lines Satan shows all his ambition and determination. He realizes that now he is the “new possessor” of a place where he may reign secure. His ambition is to have a reign somewhere, no matter if that place is horrible. The power of reason makes him able to make the Hell his Heaven. Hell and heaven are only states of mind. Milton’s Hell is not a real place. Hell is in the mind because the mind can change the external world: we could live in a Paradise but our mind could perceive it as a Hell and viceversa. Satan is the real hero of Paradise Lost; he shows all the characteristics that Milton admired: courage, pride, self-confidence, ambition, leadership. He has the features of the human being, he is proud because he wants to rule. Satan embodies the figure of the rebel against the authority, he embodies Milton’s Puritan ideals of independence and liberty since he is seen as a rebel fighting against the absolute power of a tyrannical God, just as Milton, defender of liberties, struggles his battle against a despotic king. The language is direct and forceful, full of memorable phrases.