I am confused by Paradise Lost. When
I read the epic poem, I could follow it for a while and then I would get extremely
lost. Also, I would find a part where I understood again and then I would get
lost again and I kept going through that vicious cycle.
I do think that I feel sorry for
Satan and his followers, but I'm not entirely sure if I feel sorry for him, I'm
sorry that he is in the situation. I think that sorry might be the wrong word
to describe how I feel because I don’t feel any sympathy towards them or their situation;
I just think that it would suck to be the king/ruler of Hell. The way that
Milton described Hell, it seems miserable (kind of the point) but still. From
lines 61-69 Milton describes Hell and it makes me never want to do another bad
thing for fear that I might go there. Milton writes, “No light but darkness
visible… And rest can never dwell, hope never comes….” There is no hope once
you have entered Hell and no rest, only torture.
I think that I feel bad for Satan
because he is the king of all of this darkness. Being the ruler of everything
sad must be hard, especially since he has seen the wonderfulness that is
Heaven, and now he is condemned to be the ruler of eternal torture.
I also don’t feel sorry for Satan because rather than accepting
what he has done and hoping that one day God will forgive him and let him go
back, he seeks to get revenge. Also
because he seems like he wasn’t happy in Heaven. He says “Can make a Heaven of
Hell, a Hell of Heaven,” which I took to mean that in Heaven he was in Hell,
and now he’s in Hell, so he’s in the same place even though the scenery has
changed a bit. Am I interpreting that right? Do you think that he is happy
being in Hell?
I said all of this to say that I think that the reason that
Milton told us so much about Satan before getting to Adam and Eve, was to show
that everyone has a backstory and a reason for doing what they do. In Satan’s
case, he is trying to get revenge on Heaven and God.
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven! I don’t agree with you there, Satan.
I don't know why but I almost always end up rooting for satan! That is certainly the case in paradise lost this far in. I guess I kind of admire him really, he has no love but still manages to pick himself up by his bootstraps. I loved the way Milton described hell. I'd like to check it out. Not for long of course but I think it would be pretty neat to see an evil lake that is on fire that emits darkness. That sounds rad.
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