Satan The Protagonist?

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Honors,
I am quite certain that I am not the o my one who feels a sort of compassion for the character of Satan that Milton paints in Paradise Lost. There are many times when I question the structure of things in Satan and God’s relationship and I think this helps kind of shed some light onto those question. While I know this is fictional, the picture that is portrayed is one of beauty and forgiveness and I think helps show the almighty power of God. While Satan is having this internal struggle of if he should even perform his evil acts anymore, he is grappling with the fact that maybe he actually can ask for God’s forgiveness, but knows that he could never be worthy again.
All of that being said, I think often times we struggle with the same exact thing. For some of us, it might take a literal act of God for us to get down on our knees and ask for his help and forgiveness, knowing that we aren’t worthy. I think Milton is trying to show that maybe Satan isn’t as different from us as we believe. The language that he uses to express how Satan is feeling helps to make him a relatable character while ultimately still being able to understand that we are not his likeness. So I would like to ask all of you, did you find it eerily uncanny that Satan is portrayed in such a way? And did you sympathize the way I did in reading this section?

I commented on Moriah & AnnaKate’s posts!

Comments

Logan Turner said…
I agree. I appreciate the fact that Satan was so similar to humanity in his desire to pursue redemption, but hesitant to actually do so. His human nature is his tragic flaw and serves to speak a lot about humanity. Since his human nature is his tragic flaw, it goes to show that humans are deeply flawed creatures, and like Satan, we yearn for redemption but when faced with the choice, we hesitate. I don't think that it was eerily uncanny, I think it was actually intended to be relatable.
September 2, 2019 at 1:34 PM
Joshua Evers said…
Milton does portray Satan in a much more sympathetic light. Making Satan out to be a fallen angel who is having a serious internal struggle makes him relatable to humans. Most Christians and unbelievers alike tend to view Satan as a twisted force that is bent on creating chaos and bringing evil into the minds and lives of everything he encounters. Milton paints him in a misunderstood light that is guaranteed to evoke sympathy from the reader who faces difficult decisions and convictions over their mistakes. Nice Post!!
September 2, 2019 at 4:44 PM
Breanna Poole said…
I too felt some sympathy for Satan as I read. Satan is painted in a way that makes him seem, for a lack of a better term, more human than we are used to reading and seeing him as. Milton has turned Satan not so much into a heroic character (as Satan under any circumstances can't be painted as hero), but into a villain protagonist. Since we follow him more, we get more sympathy for him, but because we know who he is and what it is that he does, we are also able to say that just because we can relate and feel for him that we know he still, ultimately, is the villain of the story.
September 2, 2019 at 5:17 PM
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