John Milton’s Critique of the Epic Hero in Paradise Lost as a Reimagining of Political Order
John Milton’s 1667 poem Paradise Lost utilizes the epic form to offer a re-imagining of the Christian tale of the Fall of Man. The original publication of the poem consists of ten books that follow the fall of Satan from Heaven to hell, the fall of Adam and Eve from Eden to Earth, and the omniscient perspective of God as he views the events from Heaven. The context of the publication during the English Revolution is indicative of the sociopolitical influences that Milton had going into this extensive interpretation of The Fall, and offers a glimpse into Milton’s anti-monarchical ideology through an analysis of his literary decisions. The most intriguing and unorthodox aspect of this poetic work is the decision to position Satan in the place of the hero within the epic journey, where at each moment of its formally-traditional arc, we see him exude the characteristics of an anti-hero. Milton sees the English nation in a fallen state under the flux of political re-ording, and asks them to enter this literary journey with the intention of re-gaining a Paradise-oriented society, which Milton understands as impossible under a monarchical system.The following will examine Milton’s methods of formulating Satan as a representative icon of the 17th century monarch, particularly utilizing the symbol as a critique of the heroic archetype. Milton uses contending narratives, warped scriptural and classical allusions, and juxtaposed character archetypes to explore the ways in which a monarch exploits, extracts, and promotes violence to the society that he governs; perverting the epic form to the point at which we wonder what makes an individual a hero, and whether or not the idealization of a hero is productive in achieving an ethically-sound society.
The first introduction we have to our epic’s ostensible hero is in the fiery lake of hell in Book I, where Satan and his cohort of fallen angels are described coming to terms with their new fallen state. Milton employs narration from the epic voice, describing the deceptive characteristics of the troop in discord with dialogue from the demonic figures themselves – presenting a tension of perspectives of the narrative reality. The Epic Voice describes Satan’s fall from glory in the traditionally-understood way through classical epic language, describing the event as, “a foul revolt” (1.33). Satan’s first moment of dialogue initially holds onto the Epic Voice’s truth-making, describing his state as, “misery hath joined / In equal ruin” (1.90), establishing God’s power over himself with, “so much the stronger proved / He with his thunder” (1.92-93), establishing the reason for the army’s rebellion with, “brought along / Innumerable force of spirits armed / That durst dislike his reign” (1.103-105), and establishing his autocratic self-image by stating that he, “shook his (God’s) throne” (1.105). This initial reckoning The Fall is concurrent with how God is typically described within the Christian imaginary as an omniscient, all-powerful, and forceful being; except now, Milton adds to the narrative that his kingdom possess a semblance of repression that caused his followers to disassociate from the heavenly society, at least according to Satan. What form this injustice takes is not made explicit by Satan in the wake of The Fall, which immediately urges a curiosity about what his ideal form of social order looks like. Directly after initial placemaking and contextualization within the monologue, Satan states, “What though the field be lost? / All is not lost, the unconquerable will / And study of revenge, immortal hate, / And courage never to submit” (1.108). This confident opposition to his previous evocation of anguish gives the sense that he is currently constructing an ingenuine facade of confidence to the other fallen angels; he claims agency over his exile from the divine society, when in reality, he had none. In the same breath, Satan conflates “hope” with “despair”, a dissolution that primes the audience of his initial goals of his heroic journey, which are founded in desperation for power. The scene continues with images of grandeur to describe Satan’s gathering of himself, with his “eyes / That sparkling blazed” (1.93-94), his body “extended long and large” (1.195), and “expanded wings”. Milton uses contradictory narration, unreliable truth-making, and images of classical grandeur to expose the feeble-minded and weak rationale that Satan has during his call to adventure within the epic – a trait that lays the groundwork for his inability to lead a nation, or himself, back to glory.
Book II transitions into a council of the archangels, which in republican politics is meant to be a meeting of collective negotiation, but is overruled and manipulated by Satan’s tyrannical drive. Satan addresses his peers as “deities of Heaven” (2.11), which establishes that he still considers them and himself to be part of the society of Heaven, and that he considers Heaven as the standard for living. He establishes that God was created by Heaven, then free choice, but then contradicts this by stating that their new reign in hell will allow for free choice, stating, “Who here / Will envy whom?” (2.27). He sets up the idea that hell is an establishment outside of tyranny, and offers for each member of the council to offer a proposal for their new societal order. Rather than developing a society of ethics that begins anew, Satan consistently makes it apparent that he is solely attempting to recreate the same “tyranny” that he claims to have experienced in Heaven, which implies that he isn’t against tyranny, he just wants to take on the tyrant role. He also establishes that his political ideology is centered around revenge rather than contentment for his people. The main speakers at the council each propose different techniques to re-establish their power as the new society of hell: Moloch suggests warfare, Belial suggests inaction, Mammon suggests industrious production in hell, and Beelzebub suggests revenge on God through the destruction of humanity. Milton allows each player to speak with political language to invoke a sense of republican politics within the meeting. Very soon, he injects the Epic Voice again to tell the audience that Belzebub’s proposal was planted in his mind by Satan himself – exposing his lack of care for egalitarian ethics. Satan’s own dialogue continues, enveloping his description of the journey to Paradise with terrifying descriptions of its qualities as an obvious means of dissuading his peers from undertaking the role, while also emphasizing that whoever does go on to take the role will be deemed as the society’s hero. The Epic Voice interjects again to mock Satan’s attempt to liken himself to God, telling us that Satan caused thunder in his “god-like imitated state” (2.511). The scene ends with a celebration of Satan’s decision to venture out of hell into the ascension into Paradise. Milton uses political language, scriptural allusions, and multiperspectival narration between the Epic voice and Satanic voice to illustrate the ways that an individual uses manipulation to pull themselves into a position of power, particularly urging us to think about the ways in which the monarchical system is founded in solo-heroism rather than collective action.
After several books without the physical presence of Satan, Book VI brings the narration back to an epic battle between Satan’s Army and God’s Army over the acquisition of Paradise – which is spiritually-endowed to God, as he is the creator of it. Milton constructs Satan in this scene using glimpses of his material ornamentation and grand stature, with his “vast and haughty strides advanced” (6.109) and “armed in adamant and gold” (6.110). The descriptions are reminiscent of a classical war hero, clad in his riches of battle and approaching his contender with unmatched confidence. So why do we feel less close to Satan than ever? Milton intentionally directs our attention to the material rather than the mental aspects of Satan; the superficial rather than the sensible. There emerges the sense that Satan’s idea of power may be based in his physical image of glory rather than his internal embodiment of glory – which to Milton, is reached through the ongoing practice of righteousness. This facade of glory is heightened as Milton takes us into the perspective of the angels, providing a glimpse into their deterrents toward going to war, and their strong reasoning for doing it as being an act of protection over humanity. Satan mocks the angels as being passive slaves to God, but never provides his own reasoning for war other than revenge. His rationale is based in evil rather than goodness, stating, “the strife which thou call’st evil, but we style / The strife of glory” (6.289). The basis for war for both parties is provided by Milton as an initial test for the audience as to what they consider the basis for violence. Milton positions Satan’s lack of reasoning with the angels’ extensive reasoning to show that an individual’s propensity toward mass destruction makes them weak. After descriptions of tumultuous battle between the two sides (with Satan experiencing pain for the first time and the angels considering they are close to winning), Satan emerges from his soldiers with an alien object, one emphasized by the Epic Voice to have never been experienced by the angels before. The object is described as, “materials dark and crude, / Of spirituous and fiery spume, till touched / With heaven’s ray, and tempered they shoot forth / So beauteous, op’ning to the ambient light. / These in their dark nativity the deep / Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame, / Which into hollow engines long and round / Thick-rammed, at the other bore with touch of fire / Dilated and infuriate shall send forth / From far with thundering noise among our foes” (6.678-687). Milton uses birth imagery to construct the emergence of this weapon as something new, something monstrous. This illustration of birth evokes the birth imagery that is used by Milton to illustrate God’s creation of the universe, and produces this distinct contrast of the birth of death (weaponry) versus the birth of life (creation). In the end, God’s love for the angels allows them to win through the use of God-made material, mountains, as ammunition against Satan’s Army. This dichotomy between Satan’s use of man-made weaponry versus the angels’ use of God-made weaponry illuminates Milton’s critique on warfare as a facade of authentic power. Milton uses this display of inner weakness to critique the monarch’s belief that they are powerful just because of their access to war resources. War and violence does not equate to glory, it equates to an inner falling from glory.
Milton finally allows us access to the climax of the narrative in Book VIX where Satan seduces Eve to consume the forbidden fruit, providing his own literary details to critique the methods that he uses to manipulate her actions. He begins the scene with the decision by Eve to contemplate in solitude away from Eve, and tells us that Satan chose the form of a serpent because, “The serpent subtlest beast of all the field” (9.87). Thus far, we’ve seen Satan mold into many forms in order to acquire power, and this particular form allows him to infiltrate his prey, Eve, under the guise of both invisibility and omnipresence. This sense of omnipresence directly opposes God’s from his aerial perspective in Heaven; rather he is literally gaining insight of Paradise through his cowardly slithering among the grounds below. Just as Satan, the audience stalks Eve through the garden, where he directly admits his cowardice and self-hatred, stating, “What hither brought us, hate, not love, nor hope / Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to taste / Of pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy / Save what is in destroying, other joy /To me is lost” (9.475-479). While he expresses these feelings, he lacks the capacity to self-reflect and alter the direction of his epic journey. He admits that he is capitalizing on Eve’s vulnerability in this moment, stating, “Then let me not let pass / Occasion which now smiles, behold alone /The Woman, opportune to all attempts, /Her Husband, for I view far round, not nigh, /Whose higher intellectual more I shun, /And strength, of courage hautie, and of limb / Heroic built” (9.479-485). While he could in this moment realize that he doesn’t have the capacity to be a leader if he cannot face his prey under his authentic form, he ignores his own thoughts and continues toward his goal of outer-destruction. When finally approaching Eve, he appeals to her through the idea that consumption would provide her with divine powers, stating, “I might perceave / Strange alteration in me, to degree / Of Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech / Wanted not long, though to this shape retain'd. / Thenceforth to / Speculations high or deep I turnd my thoughts, and with capacious mind / Considerd all things visible in Heav'n,” (4.598-604). This offer, as known throughout every reproduction of The Fall, ends in Eve’’s consumption of the apple, but this scene is in tandem indicative of Satan’s greatest flaw in his attempt to be a hero: his desire to use knowledge to conquer rather than use knowledge to empower.
The construction of Satan under the heroic epic form can be read as Milton’s undermining of traditional heroism as a means of critiquing the political schema of seventeenth-century England. Milton uses Satan as a vehicle to examine how easily an individual can be seduced by ill-willed heroic ideals, just as Satan’s followers are throughout the epic poem. He starts from the genesis, not of man, but of Satan, who serves as an amalgamation of every possible display of human despair – allowing the reader to experience the downfalls of Satan’s moral rationality along the way. Satan consistently recognizes that he possesses the free will to repent and re-enter the divine society, but chooses not to, which Milton uses as a critique of the English publics’ propensity to fall under the false heroism of a monarchy. He asks the reader to liberate themselves from this way of existing, and to use their collective fall from monarchy as an opportunity to construct a new social order for themselves – one that aims to regain Paradise.
