At the beginning of the Paradise Lost we are introduced to Satan, who has found himself on the surface of a boiling hot lava after falling from Heaven. He has fallen from Heaven because he no longer wanted to be subservient to God. As an alternative he wishes for there to be more equality between God and the Angels. Throughout Paradise Lost Satan, continues to be obsessed with equality. This is something that is inferred throughout much of Paradise Lost. This paper will examine Satan’s need for equality.
Satan’s desire for equality is seen from the very beginning of Paradise Lost when he is standing on the lake of lava ranting at the pit. In his angry discourse he proclaims:
(Paradise Lost 242-263)
This is the foremost indication of Satan’s need to be equal. In this circumstance he is looking around at the disconsolate and despondent place that he and his companions have been cast out to subsequent to attempting to overthrow God. He is irritated that he has lost the battle and that he has been cast out. He rages against God and Heaven and promises to reign in Hell and to make it equivalent to Heaven, at least in his own mind. This is a thought-provoking way to directly make known Satan’s desire for equality. (Milton allows the reader to know right from the beginning that Satan is in a horrific environment. Then he continues to make known to the reader that Satan’s motivation for leading the insurgence was equality. Milton does not point out that Satan sought to acquire comprehensive control over Heaven, just that he wanted an egalitarian system of power implemented in Heaven. Satan’s motivations are portrayed as being less selfish than in Biblical Texts, where he wants all of God’s power for himself). Now that he has been removed from Heaven, Satan is not just content with ruling Hell and having power over the fallen angels he also acts to utilize his free will “the mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven/What matter where, if I still be the same” (Book I, I. 254-256).
In this, he makes known two things (1) that he has confidence that free will and equality go hand in hand. He contends that as long as he has dominion over his own mind, and his reality. His existence is what he resolves to make it (2) Heaven is still his prototype though. Satan decided to endeavor to overthrow God because he sought more equality in Heaven and did not care for the power structure, but as soon as he has his own kingdom that he can act as administrator over, he does not strive for constructing a kingdom and rule that is an improvement on Heaven, but to pervert Heaven itself by opposing everything that it represents. The last couple lines further demonstrate that it is not the longing for equality that has given rise to in Satan and his army being cast out, but Satan’s aspiration for power, “To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell/ Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” (Book I, I 262-263). This passage also implies that whatever Satan’s original motivation for leading the insurgence his priorities have changed.
Satan may well have a number of commendable characteristics. A couple being that he stands up for anything he has conviction in, and he is dedicated to tolerating his state of affairs and moving forward, but in Book I, an individual has to inquire as to his genuine motivation for his undertakings. Since at this point Paradise Lost does not provide the impression that Satan is truly concerned with equality. This is because his wrath originally arose because he had been passed over and authority given to His Son. He then spun the circumstances into a problem of equality to get the other angels on his side. At that juncture he persuades the angels that side with him that it is unfair that they are expected to be subservient to two masters, when they ought to be reigning as gods with each of them ruling a section of the universe. He later projects this onto Eve when he is trying to get her to disobey God, by eating the fruit. He tells her that if she eats of the Tree of Knowledge that she will be like God. Despite his use of equality for his own ends Satan does actually believe in conducting things in a fair manner.
We see that no matter Satan’s motivations for rebelling against Heaven, he is committed to the principle of free will and Democracy. This is seen when, after Satan gathers the fallen angels together for a meeting in which he says “Did first create your leader-next, free choice” (Book II, I 19). He goes on to state that his rule is of Hell exists only because he has been permitted power, “Established in a safe, unenvied throne, / Yielded with full consent, The happier state” (Book II, I 23-24). This indicates that Satan is the ruler of Hell because his followers have given him the power.
Unlike God who rules over everything due to his own divine ordinance, without giving the Angels the ability to choose. Satan attempts to rule through equality and fairness. At the end of his speech were Satan tells of his plan to return to Heaven to get what he feels is their right, he calls on those that are in attendance to contribute their ideas and suggestions “[B]y what best wayWhether of open war or covert guile, /We now debate., Who can advise may speak.” (Book II, I. 40-42).
Once again Satan shows his penchant for Democracy and equality. He could have just given his followers orders with no regard to their opinions, but by inquiring about their thoughts and ideas regarding his aims. He has further separated himself from God and Heaven. At this point his choice to rule from a place of equality seems admirable and consistent with his reasoning for attempting to overthrow God. After he asks for their suggestions, he proceeds to listen to them without criticism and he requests that the fallen angels who are in attendance vote on the strategy that they feel is best. He does not act to influence their vote or to order them towards any discourse.
Afterwards when Satan asks for help in implementing the plan and no one volunteers. He does not force or compel them to do his wishes. Instead, Satan decides to enact the plan himself. This causes great embarrassment and awe amongst his followers, “Towards him they bend/With awful reverence prone; and/Extol him equal to the highest in heaven” (Book II, ll. 477-479). They are in shock for the following reasons (1) that they were able to choose not carry out the plan. (2) Satan himself chose to carry out the plan himself, rather than forcing them to do his will. This is an interesting because it shows that Satan for all of his faults is true to his word and his ideals. He believes in equality and that his followers have the right to choose the action that they feel is right. Even though things do not go the way that he would have liked, he stays true to his principles and proceeds with the plan himself
This is because he has confidence that self-determination can only be acquired through equality (Brown). After a number of angels communicate their sentiments regarding the course of action they should take. They vote on whose plan will be implemented. After which Satan asks for volunteers to help work on putting the plan into fruition. So while it may be debatable as to rather Satan’s reaction to His Son being given power over the angels was because of equality or jealousy. His motivation eventually became creating a democratic rule and he sticks by this principles, even when he receives no volunteers to implement the plan. Instead of forcing them to do his will, Satan decides that he do it himself. His angels are so astonished at this that “Towards him they bend/With awful reverence prone; and/Extol him equal to the highest in heaven” (Book II, I 477-479)
Even though Satan is attempting to have a Democratic Hell, he still cannot overcome his need to be God’s equal. Going so far as to recreate the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit with Satan, Sin and Death (Brown)It is as though he wants to be a better God than God. It seems as though he truly believes that he can accomplish this and even if he does not have faith in his own hype he is skilled at selling others on the idea that he is the only hope for them to get out of the situation that they have found themselves in (Brown).
Before reaching the Garden, Satan stops on the Mount of Niphates where he proceeds to question his actions due to what has happened so far to him and his followers. He even goes as far as to question rather or not he could still seek forgiveness for his actions “[I]s there no place/Left for repentance, none for pardon left?” (Book IV, ll. 79-80). He then realizes that even if he would want forgiveness, that there is none to be had.
This is because he knows that God is not accustomed to forgiving angels who disobey. There is also the fact that in asking for forgiveness he would be admitting that his ideals were wrong. He decides instead to commit himself to his cause by giving up any hope of returning to heaven “So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear, /Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost” (Book IV, ll. 108-109).
One can even see Satan’s obsession with equality carry over into his dealings with Adam and Eve. When Satan first sees them in the Garden he notices how subservient to Adam that Eve was and while he was steadfast in his commitment to destroy them he did seem rather upset at the inequality between the two. Saying upon first seeing them "both/ Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed" (Book IV, I 296). This makes one wonder again if Satan’ s “love” of democracy is true or perhaps he views Eve as a kind of kindred soul.
Many people would in all probability argue that Satan himself viewed Eve as weak and that is why he approached her. This makes plenty of sense, but perhaps Satan was being true is his democratic point of view and he did not approach Eve because she was a woman and therefore weak and intellectually substandard, but for the reason that he could see that she was open minded enough to pay consideration to him. Satan could have understood in surveilling them that dissimilar to Eve, who was more open to new experiences.
Adam constantly hid behind the notion that God bequeathed him everything he needed so why seek out anything else. Satan from observing their interactions may well have understood that she would likewise be the one who would be capable of getting Adam to break the rules. In that regard even his communication with Eve were based on being practical and pragmatic rather than a sense of male superiority. (even though we know that he does feel superior to both Adam and Eve because they are mere humans and he is an Angel, albeit a fallen one).
Subsequently, we see the first time that Satan’s need for equality affects humanity. As he is speaking to Eve in the garden, he will lead to her questioning her place in the world. This will ultimately lead to her choosing to seek knowledge and by extension equality by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. She believes like Satan that freedom and equality go together and she feels that gaining knowledge will give that to her. (Her penchant for independence was shown in the poem a few times, especially when she argued with Adam, telling him that she wanted to work separately.)
Later, as Eve eats the fruit her thoughts are the hope that the fruit "may render me more equal" (Book IX, I. 823). This shows that she by Satan’s influence has come to realize that without knowledge she cannot be equal to either Adam or God. At the end Eve’s desire for knowledge, freedom and equality is negated by the fact that with her and Adam choosing to disobey God, they have lost the idyllic life they had lived and condemned mankind to lives of hard work and suffering. Lives in which they will have to work the land, the animals will no longer be friendly to them and Eve will have to suffer the pain of childbirth.
As a final point, In Paradise Lost, Satan’s prevalent character imperfection is his arrogance, followed by his yearning for equality. His “pride/ Had cast him out from heav’n, with all his host/ Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring/ To set himself in glory above his peers,/ he trusted to have equaled the Most High,/ If he opposed,” (Book I, I. 37-41). In regards to his pride, he is persistently endeavoring to persuade those around him that he is an innocent victim of circumstance, who is merely acting as he is because God has done the angels a pronounced injustice by giving His Son authority over them.
He contends that since God decided that the angels had to be deferential to both him and His Son. The angels were going to have all of their freedoms taken from them, since they now had two beings that they were subjugated to. He repudiated this saying that the angels were “self-begot, self -raised” (Book V, I. 860) He decided to unequivocally deny God’s power and authority by leading a rebellion against him. After losing and being cast out. He decided that the ideal way to deal with the situation was to sabotage God’s newest creation by convincing them to disobey God. This results in him and his followers being turned into serpents. So ultimately in the Paradise Lost, Satan, who wished to be equal to God ended to being the lowest of creatures.
Works cited
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