Paradise lost: Satan's choice
... preferring Hard liberty before the easy yoke Of servile pomp.” So he may be looked at with respect as the underdog trying to better the lives of many. But unlike Paterick Henry, Satan failed in his endeavor. Why would Milton portray Satan, and God in this way. Part of the reason is that God's ways cannot be explained alone there is just too much involved with him, so Milton is using Satan who acts in similar ways as us. Milton used Satan's fall to show and give reasons why God does what he does. Satan is portrayed in this way to give us someone to relate to. His motives and emotions are similar to ours if not the same. God is portrayed as a tyrant who will be good to you as long as you praise him, and he will share his power and glory but the power and glory are still his and Satan appears to be the hero who will overthrow the tyrant and give freedom. But Satan fails to overthrow God and he and all his followers are cast into hell. If Satan were looked at from this point on only, he could easily be seen as evil, the only way to feel sorry for him is to remember what he was and what he was trying to do. Now that he had taken this step and fallen, if he could have humbled himself, he may have been able to return to the presence of God. Who, although a tyrant, was willing to forgive and did love his children. Satan was the unruly child similar to teenagers today. Pride kept him from returning he did not want to admit to his mistake he still believed that he could overthrow the kingdom of God. Before Satan wasn't necessarily evil, he was more overly ambitious. But he has thoughts of revenge now because he was thwarted. Satan is being slowly bound by his pride and his sins. Because he can't humble himself his options become very limited. Before he fell, his free-will allowed him to have infinate choices. Now that he had fallen his choices were limited by what he had done. If he didn't want to lose the faith of his followers he couldn't say that he had made a mistake and crawl back to God, and his pride would never allow him to do that. Milton is showing that in order to be happy we need to obey God's will, obeying his will, will allow us to have more choices as we won't be bound by guilt or expectations from the past. Milton continues this as Satan progressivly becomes more bound by his choices into the role of a foul snake. He went from being a highly favored price in heaven, then he rebelled and was a general, then he fell and became public speaker in hell to decide what to do, then a scout to spy on earth, eventually to the lowly serpent to tempt mankind. Satan had many opportunities to change and ask for mercy and forgiveness from God, but each time he chose not to it made it more difficult the next time until he reached the point where it was no longer possible for him to regain even some of his glory. Each time he chooses to succumb to his pride he is sorrowful, because he remembers who he is, and what he was. But he is willing to drop to any level for his ambition and revenge. An example of this is when he is leaving hell to spy on Earth, on the way out he runs across Sin and Death, he recognizes that they are foul contemptable creatures, creatures of Hell, and that he as a Son of God. He is willing to fight them. But he learns they are his family and so he agrees to work with them. Two of the most foul beings in Hell, in order that he can leave through the gates and exact revenge. Since he is bound by his choices, when he is going to earth to scout around to see if he can pervert the ways of God, he is willing to lower himself to any level to achive that goal, and avoid losing face before his followers. He even transformed his appearance into a lowly Cheribum in order to move unnotticed. He probably would have changed and repented but since he took so many with him he couldn't admit he was wrong. “O, then, at last relent: Is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit, boasting I could subdue The Omnipotent.” (book IV line 79-86) Satan is miserable because of his choices, and his fall. But he knows that even if he did repeant is wouldn't be true and that he would fall again, because he was bound by his ambition, pride, and envy. But he does realize that his fall was his own fault (book IV lines 40-115) and he wonders why he was given free-will, and why he was created as such a powerful being who would be willing to rebel. He seems to decide that it is in his nature, and emotions. It defies all logic but he had to rebel. ...