A comprehensive analysis of Satan in Parasise Lost张煜婷西北师范大学外国语学院甘肃省安宁区西北师范大学蓝天公寓1号楼302室 730070AbstractIf ancient Greek mythology can be compared to the rich soil of western literature, the Bible can definitely be regarded as the rhizome of western literature, which has absolutely influenced the western literature extensively and profoundly.Literary outputs about the characters and their stories in the Bible also appeared in the English literature of the 17th century, among which John Milton's long verse-- Paradise Lost undoubtedly becomes the most holy name. The role of Satan has become a stylish symbol of complex connotation in the literature history after Milton’s recreation. This thesis aims to try to analyze the character comprehensively from the following several angles.Key words: Paradise Lost Milton Satan character AnalysisForeword:The political circle of England the in 17th centry was under a turbulent condition thus the comparatively tempestuous political status turns out to be nutrient-rich soil which suitably breeds the literature. We can safely draw the conclusion from certain perspective that litterateurs prefer to put their faith in the pursuit of the spiritual realm when they cannot make their ideal demands cannot be fulfilled in the real world. In a manner of speaking ,Milton can definitely be included in this category，which contains all these writers who have run their heads against a stone wall in the real world and then indulge themselves in the spiritual realm to get themselves satisfied and entertained. Milton is just such kind of persons,He exactly created and finished the work –Paradise Lost of his literary outputs when the Republic is bombed into oblivion because of Charles II’s vast and mighty restoration of dethroned monarch and he has to finish such a great work despite of his blindness. So to speak, Paradise Lost is not just the masterpiece among Milton’s literature work, but also the representative works of significanceof the English literature in the 17th centry. The rebellion of Adam and Eve and also the rebellion of Satan composed the two plot lines of the narration, but as the only man alive in the entire article, Satan has absolutely been regarded as the definite representative of Soul Man in English literature of this period. John Milton has shaped diversity of outstanding images in his long verse Paradise Lost , among which, the image of Satan has got the most praise from all around and has been regarded as the most controversial character at the same time.For different people tend to choose different ways to interpret and get various conclusions, this thesis will set forth the image interpretation in the following ways.First: the embodiment of evil natureThere used to be some kind of Erroneous zone when analyzing the image of Satan, these analyzers turned out to tend to magnify the heroism of Satan without limitation. They always hold the point that Satan is nothing but a definite hero without any disputes. Any interpretation of an image in literature should not be separated from the text itself and surmise wantonly, we should analyze the characters based on the original, only in this way can we get scientific and reasonable interpretation.At the beginning of the story in Paradise Lost, Satan has once said that: “Our task is definitely not doing good, and do you want to find the only way to get pleasure? Let us do evil! Even if it has to suffer, I am still sure that it is the only way.”It not difficult to get the perspective that John Milton had drew a final conclusion of Satan, he is no means a hero no matter what kind of heroic deeds he had done. Because Satan as himself, the embodiment of evil, all the starting points of all his behaviors are based on evil, and all the final objectives of his actual deeds are to achieve the evil goals. And also the figure of Satan, his embodiment of evil expression also can be found in what he does and how he behaves. In most parts of the paradise lost most description of Satan focus on how he takes advantage of human beings and then take revenge to the almighty God. Just like the image of Zeus in the Greek mythology whose daughter Athena was born from his head, Satan gave birth to his daughter from his head and named her Crime. It seems that his daughter Crime represents the word “evil”, she always appears together with the crime and evil, and was presented to all the human beings exactly before their eyes. Perhaps all these indicated that it is inevitable to become the crime as the daughter of Satan，theembodiment of the devil nature. Bad things usually cannot be stopped easily. Things happened much worse than what you can imagine. Satan committed incest with his charming daughter and gave birth to the one called Death. Milton by means of shape the character of Satan as the nature of guilty, tends to deliver such a message that if you cannot resist tempt of the evil, you are doom to suffer the death because of the crime that comes along.Second: The history of a hero’ corruptionThere used to be many significant comments from a lot of professionals in varety of disciplines.Among all these comments,the comment of the English wirter and reviewer,C. S. Lewis has commented in cassic words:from a hero to a general,then from the general to a politician,then from the politician to a nark,and then from the nark to a rascal ,who can only take a furtative glance from the bedroom or bathroom, and then becomes a toad and at last he turns to be the snake –that is the corruption process of Satan. Satan used to be an angel origrnally but he was endowed the complex emotions and eversating human desire. That exactly is what makes him possess intense human nature.He can put up with rosing the battle, but when he saw his companions were burned by the fire,his tels run like a bubbling spring .Even if he can not resist the weakness from his inner heart , he can not take control his own emotions at this moment and he can not help to letting the human nature which hides deep his tough body break out .He is bold and generous, but he sometimes can allso feers his regret and des peration. He hate the brilliant sun,because the bright and shining sun reminds him of his quondm glory.All these reflects his human sense.But at the same time he wanted to take the place of the god and build his own empire. He used to regard himself as benchmark of measuring all the things on the earth and treated himself as the core centre of the universe,and whatever he does and no matter he behaves, he should be forgiven obvilusly, the character of Satan is not a hero without faults.It is not difficult to get the meassage he is a contradictory image.The image of Satan, which was depicted John Milton was not only an outstanding and distinct character filled with rebellion spirit but also a trahic charater.Conceit brutallity and indulgence have made his life totally out of control. Satan himself has to live in tragedy.The corruption of Satan makes himeself suffer and he can never be forgiven. He can not turn to anybody to confess his guilty and he has no means to liberate himself and that is the destiny of the tragic image of Satan.In the end parts of the long verse, the image becomes more negilible ,insignificant and obscene,until he becomes a disgusting nuisance snake with his mouth chewong bitter ashes in his mouth. But what we have to point out is that ,Satan is a betrayer with nobel beauty. He is a typical representative who are unwilling to become a lacker, who are reluctant bowing to the authorites. He doed not want to comply with the God without any principles. He wants to be the God of himself and is filled with the spirit of rebellion. When he was driven out of th paradise and thrown into the fire of hell, he is still suffused with persevering spirit, he is still brimming with tough will, he is also full of resentment. And he has swore to continue to omnipoten with the almighty God who can never be challenged and suspected.Reading all his barve words and seeing his behaviors to conquer all these difficulties by taking advantage of his unbending volition, we can not help ourselves to come to realize that Satan maybe is the real leading character in this long verse and may have reflected the image with the freedom of will.Satan belongs to such kind of people, who has unswerving will and the fervent heart of revenge, who never give up struggle and rebellion. he is indomitable ,emulative and he is never discouraged. He is a rebellion hero who fight for equalty and liberty and a revolutionist who dares to set up with the unyieling and unbending fight towards the majesty paramountcy. and we also can not deny the fact that his a man who lusts for power, who is self-important and presumptuous and there is no doubt that he is a reprobate who has fallen dowm. He is the mixture of both rational principles concurrent ideology. He indeed was fighting for equalty and liberty and he is also gets his behaviors restrained by the truth.John Milton’s Paradise Lost can definitely be defined as profundity ,dignity, rectification and exquisiteness. The long verse was regarded as the greastest art work in the English literature, and it is the art work which is seldom can be encountered. And in the world literature history ,the Paradise Lost can compare favorably with Divine Comedy and Faust. This masterpiece bring the image of Satan to the eyes of all these people, vividly and integratedly. This image seems to haveheen paid more attention to and he is so mature, with flesh and blood. He was shining at first and started to dink down when he was evicted from the Garden of Eden. In a word, his image is so vivid and unforgettable.Under Milton’s writing,Satan at first was a real hero, that is what has nothing to be doubted. His heroism lies in the fact that he dares to challenge the majesty paramountcy and the struggling spirit that has left out. He lead these rebellion angels to do battle towards the God in order to overturn his dictatorial rule. Satan was the first person who have the minds to doubt the God’s authority. He do not want submit to someone blindly ,he is unwilling to submit ,he doed not throw in the sponge and what more he always keeps his chin up. He has a long head and has planned in advance ,aiming to get the best results.Satan was depicted as the embodiment of evil nature, we cannot overlook the quality of heroism shined on him, especially in the first two volumes in Paradise Lost, even when he was expelled out from the Garden of Eden after his failure of rebellion Satan still raised his arm and shouted to his followers:”Even if we are swallowed by the flames of hell, our will, our stubborn vengeance, our burning hatred which is rather hotter than the hell fire, they will continue to be our spear and shield, and make us all-conquering and invincible!”It is terribly hard for us to imagine such impassioned manifesto comes out from the mouth of Satan, the embodiment of evil. If we examine this paragraph of words vindicating himself separately, it much more seems like that a hero are still righteously indignant while speaking despite of his meeting with a misfortune. It is also strange that but it deliberately happens that the appropriate verse which was widely used to praise these heroes who fight for freedom and liberty and turns out to set themselvesin the adverse situation precisely comes out from the mouth of Satan who was the embodiment of evil nature. So we can safely draw the conclusion that there do exist some shining points on the character of Satan, which in deed has some effect in cheering us up. This image embodied not only heroic spirit but also lofty beauty. Satan has been shaped to the real hero. Some scholars think that Satan represents erotic feeling and imaginative soul. They hold the point that the writer portrayed Satan incisively and vividly when compared to the description of the angels and the God. Maybe this can be definitely regarded as the proof that the writer stand on the side of the devil while he was not aware of that himself. No matter how many comments on the image of Satan, and no matter how fierce these comments conflict, we have to admit that this character of Satan was shaped successfully as an artistic image. Especially when he was expelled out of the paradise and thrown into the hellish sea of fire, he was still suffused with persevering spirit and swore to continue to confront with the almighty God. But the image of evil hero exists only in the first two volumes in the Paradise Lost, with the plot development going on, when the key point of this poetry has been transferred to the Garden of Eden,all these shining points in Satan diminished without leaving even a track, because the head-on confrontation with the God has been changed to the indirect revenge to the God by attacking the human beings created by the God. Satan, he used to be tall and strong, pretty and handsome, he was the king among the angels. He has the illustrious status , only inferior to the God. Even he was expelled out of the Garden of Eden to the hell, his declaration of fighting against the God continuously still shocked the whole world.When he determines to change the Garden of Eden to the second battle ground, his image changed dramaticly, he becomes a toad, which was uglyand nasty, and at last he turned to be a disgusting snake. The previous image which was gallant and stalwart died away, leaving no evidence of his once existence. There is no doubt that definitely how a glittery hero transforms himself and come down in the world to a “coward” that everybody feels shamed to mention. In the same manner, the original praise of the rebellious spirit was taken place by the sad calls of the hero in his late life.And all these forms the best Portrayal of one hero’s corruption history. And all these make Satan a dominant one among all the representative individuals who were the most completed and detailed and that is also where the charm lies in.Conclusion:In a manner of speaking, hundreds of year later, the writer-Milton had passed way and he cannot speak any more , he cannot unscramble the character images any longer to the live people. Then the text becomes the only analysis foundation. The image of Satan comes into our eyes visually with the intrinsic quality of evil and also together with the corruption of a hero. 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