Preview

English A1 Ee

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4316 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
English A1 Ee
| Extended Essay | How are John Milton’s views presented through the character of Satan in the epic poem ‘’Paradise Lost’’? | | | |

Candidate Name: Yao Li
Candidate number: 000322-061
Word Count: 3977
Essay Subject: English
Supervisor: Mr. Young

Contents
Title page……………………………………………………………………………………..1
Contents………………………………………………………………………………………2
Abstract……………………………...……………………………………………………….3
Introduction…………………………………………………………………..……………...4
Body-
The Introduction of Satan…………………………………………………………………...5
Satan’s Fall……………………………………………………………………………………8
Satan: What is being presented? …………………………………………………………13
Conclusion………..………………………………………………………………………...14
Works Cited………………………………………………………………………..……….16

Abstract

This essay will address the question: ‘’How are John Milton’s views presented through the character of Satan in the epic poem ‘’Paradise Lost’’?’’ by focusing on Milton’s initial portrayal of Satan’s glory as a rebel leader in book I, his political prowess in book II, as well as Satan’s eventual fall, in terms of character, in book IV. This essay will analyze the characterization of Milton’s character of Satan and how this character of such sly heroism presented his personal views and beliefs. Satan’s initial presentation in books I and II in comparison to his supposed ‘’self-hating’’ soliloquy in book IV will be analyzed in terms of what Milton is trying to accomplish through this change of heart. Also, this essay will study the writing styles of Milton and how he utilised his voice as a narrator to suppress Satan’s voice throughout the poem and what this signifies for the character. These goals will be achieved through the assessment of critiques by Waldock and the interpretations as well as notes by Grace and Wheeler. This essay concludes that Milton shows, through Satan, his views regarding society itself. His views regarding the corruption within the political system, his Christian virtue of obedience, as well as the


Cited: "John Milton." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. "Life of John Milton (1608-1674) [Milton Biography]." Life of John Milton (1608-1674) [Milton Biography]. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. Milton, John, and Philip Pullman. Paradise Lost. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print. "Paradise Lost and Its Critics [Hardcover]." Paradise Lost and Its Critics: A. J. A Waldock: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. "Paradise Lost By John Milton Critical Essays Major Themes in Paradise Lost." Paradise Lost: Critical Essays: Major Themes in Paradise Lost. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. "Paradise Lost." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. "Paradise Lost." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. Steadman, John M. Milton 's Epic Characters. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1959. Print. "Welcome to The  Oliver Cromwell Website." The Oliver Cromwell Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. Wheeler, Thomas. Paradise Lost and the Modern Reader. Athens: University of Georgia, 1974. Print.
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Proserpina's Reflective Essay: The Haunted House
    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Proserpina's Reflective Essay: The Haunted House

    Strolling down the field of long columns engulfed in rows of wheat and barley occupied my day. The rays of the bright and scorching sun permeated the Greek sky. I remember the cultivation of crops that takes place year around, and the garnering of those crops that diminish the array of produce that span for miles along the vastness of the field. An unexpected cool stream of breeze rustles my brands of immaculate, blond hair. Being the goddess of agriculture, it is my duty to be at the helm of the cultivating and harvesting process that constitute my yearly routine.…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Paradise Lost And Frankenstein Comparison Essay
    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Paradise Lost And Frankenstein Comparison Essay

    In Milton’s poem it speaks of the fall of the rebel angels and the effect that it has on the history of humans. Lucifer revolts against his creator and tries to command power of everything. So Lucifer and his followers are cast out of Heaven and Satan is transformed into something hideous. Satan travels to Earth to tempt Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and this begins man suffering in history. The poem ends with a promise of the redemption of Adam’s descendants through the sacrifice of God’s Son. Compare this to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and you can view a version of God in the novel. Dr. Frankenstein acts as “God” in the story. He becomes the creator of life. At one point in the novel, Victor feels like Satan. He says, “I trod heaven in…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Tool of the Devil: Comparing Satan in Paradise Lost and the Golden Compass
    • 2358 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Tool of the Devil: Comparing Satan in Paradise Lost and the Golden Compass

    When Paradise Lost begins, the vainglorious actions of Satan have resulted in his removal from heaven and placed him on the path to exact revenge against those who have done so. Though, the reader is hardly able to experience any distaste when reading about this man who opposes the consented force of good. He is are charming, dark, fanatical and…

    • 2358 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Literature and the Individual in Early Modern Masterpieces
    • 983 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Literature and the Individual in Early Modern Masterpieces

    Milton was very educated in a wide range of subjects, to include philosophy and theology. It was his educated background that allowed him to respond to the earlier works of literature. Milton took the opportunity to meet other great writers of the day, writers like Galileo. He chose to focus on political and religious writings that would help the Puritan Reformation, of which he was a supporter. He had strongly held beliefs and outlooks on politics and religion and encouraged others to accept these same beliefs. It was this quality of his work that gives Milton’s work its classical authority, which can be seen when seen in the same light as earlier authors like Homer, Virgil, and Shakespeare. While Milton’s focus was on Puritan writings, he did publish a poem that was in Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio (Damrosch & Pike, 2008). It was in this poem, the English version of the epic poem, that he made references to earlier authors like Homer and Virgil, references that were included in his most famous work, Paradise Lost considered one of the most influential pieces of literature that Milton penned. Paradise Lost is an epic poem, like the Iliad and the Aeneid which tell a story about godlike heroes…

    • 983 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Free Will In John Milton's Paradise Lost
    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Free Will In John Milton's Paradise Lost

    Satan places his pride first and resists obedience to God, thereby taking the alternative that is also available to human beings. But by persisting in his perversion of free will, Satan's sin expands and develops consequences for the human race. His resistance amounts to a claim of autonomy--total self-creation--which, as Milton's readers…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Symptoms of Narcissism in Eve Using Paradise Lost
    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Symptoms of Narcissism in Eve Using Paradise Lost

    Cited: Collett, Jonathon. "Milton 's Use of Classical Mythology in "Paradise Lost". PMLA Vol. 85. No.…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Paradise Lost Character Analysis
    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Paradise Lost Character Analysis

    The situation between Eve and Satan in Paradise Lost remains illustrated in today’s society. Milton stresses on the fact that we do not always have to have some higher power to advise our life decisions. Even today, society wants us to create our own independent thought and acts, it is a topic used in everyday life, while the Church still wants us to follow the light of God. Whether we decide to think YOLO or decide to think…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gender & Sexuality in Paradise Lost
    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gender & Sexuality in Paradise Lost

    lityThe construction of sexuality in Paradise Lost is an intriguing debate amongst scholars and critics to this day. One of the central issues surrounding the discussion of is in relation to pre-lapsarian and post lapsarian sexuality. Some critics such as C.S Lewis and St. Augustine argue against this notion and say that any argument supporting this is entirely hypothetical and to debate further on it would only create false imagery. However the general view supports the concept of there being some presentation of pre and post fall sexuality in the poem. As sexuality is a central aspect of human identity, by writing on pre and post lapsarian sexuality Milton is revealing how the human condition changed with respect to the fall of mankind. In this essay I will address the presentation of sexuality in Paradise Lost and focus in particular on Eve’s role as an object of male desire. The construction of the female is a recurring construction throughout Renaissance Literature and Art. Phallocentric ideology is common in 17th century literature and Eve’s construction places Paradise Lost inside this misogynistic and patriarchal system which was accepted in Milton’s age.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Comparison of English Literature and Poetry
    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A Comparison of English Literature and Poetry

    Milton wrote his opinion of the government and the hypocritical Cromwell at this time of distraught. In "the greatest epic of the English language" (otherwise known as Paradise Lost), he compares the relationship between the almighty and powerful God to the clash between King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell. The king is God, being the ruler of England, and Cromwell is Lucifer, being the power-hungry servant that disobeys and betrays God. This comparison would not happen without the lost paradise in England that occurred after the king was able to regain his throne in his monarch government and society.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Paradise Lost vs Genesis
    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Paradise Lost vs Genesis

    In the book of Genesis 3:1-6, the passage teaches the story of how Satan tempts Eve into causing the act that leads to the “fall of mankind”. Of this biblical account, is where John Milton gained inspiration for the idea of is work, Paradise Lost. Milton’s storyline and broad array of imagery portray the tale in a different light than that told in the Bible. While both accounts of “the fall”, are used to convey the same story and outcome, the two versions share some comparative similarities and many contrasting differences.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Satan
    • 3470 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Satan

    character to Milton’s God. The critics are divided on the question whether Satan is a hero or an antihero: the anti-Satanist movement emphasises Satan’s selfishness or folly while Satanists highly praise his…

    • 3470 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparing Frankenstein And Paradise Lost
    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Comparing Frankenstein And Paradise Lost

    Milton voices the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, explaining the occurrences and why it happens. Raphael informs Adam about Satan’s disobedience in an effort to give him a firm grasp of the threat that Satan and humankind’s disobedience poses. Paradise Lost presents two moral paths that one can take after disobedience: the downward spiral of increasing sin , represented by Satan, and the road to redemption, represented by Adam and Eve. While Adam and Eve are the first to disobey God, Satan is the first of all God’s creation to disobey. His decision to rebel comes only from himself—he was not provoked by others.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Paradise Lost Satire
    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Paradise Lost Satire

    Milton equips his character Satan with the ability to skillfully articulate falsehoods and heretical notions which will be omitted by non-analytical readers, emphasizing and demanding the need to dissect the carefully constructed poetry’s function in the book’s defense and support of God. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan observes his new surroundings and directs his reflection at his close ally Beelzebub after their fall and painful time spent in the lake (I. 220-240, p.217): Farewell happy Fields Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings A mind not to be chang’d by Place or Time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Paradise Lost and Rape of the Lock
    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Paradise Lost and Rape of the Lock

    In Paradise Lost, the character of Satan is the outright protagonist and epic hero of the story. He is well aware of his situation in Hell and also of the consequences of his revolt against God. Having a keen understanding of the powers of perception and of personal reaction to one's environment he comments to his fellowmen:…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Colonialism and Nationalism in Southeast Asia
    • 929 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Colonialism and Nationalism in Southeast Asia

    Q4. How effective were colonial responses to nationalist movements in Southeast Asia before the Second World War?…

    • 929 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics