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. (I. 250-255, p.217)

Taken at face value, the speaker renounces his past forever with a “farewell” and is ready to move forward with the new world he now believes to possess. He solidifies his feelings of resentment and hatred towards God by declaring them as everlasting, independent of both place and time. The concluding metaphor leaves the future looking optimistic – it is up to the speaker whether he suffers or not. Though sounding confident with his declarations, the setting and audience is what mandates this confidence from the
speaker. Beelzebub had followed Satan in the war against God because he trusted and believed he would be led to something greater (IV. 82-85, p.279), but they find themselves in misery instead (II, 83-88, p.234). The speaker has failed his accomplices and his words and actions in this moment put their respect for him and his power on the line. Renouncing the past, declaring himself as “possessor” and facing the future build the illusion of Satan as the powerful leader that these fallen angels now need.
In the speaker’s attempt to move forward and accept his new residency, the author leaves cracks in the argument that reveal the true pain and resentment felt at the speaker’s own expense. The use of “farewell” and “dwell” brings on a sadness to the goodbye. The image of “happy Fields” and the personification of Joy allow the reader to visualize a beautiful scene representing Heaven. The happiness felt there has now been separated from the speaker and though from his perspective it lingers there without him, thoughts of that joy also linger in his mind, haunting him as he briefly reminisces.
When the text shifts to his salutation, the speaker chants hail twice.
The use of this chant like exclamation reminds readers of similar salutations and expressions of honor and approval (Merriam-Webster) such as in the prayer “Hail Mary” or the famous chant “Hail Cesar”. Deceivingly the greeting looks welcoming and respectable. In truth, the exclamation is a mockery of Hell just as it was when used during the crucifixion of Jesus who faced the humiliating chant “Hail King of the Jews!” (English Standard Version, John 9.3). This was a statement that denounced his power and profoundness as do Satan’s words towards Hell because he knows that it does not compare to
Heaven.
In this false sense of power, the speaker also establishes the permanence off his current mentality as if being in Hell and time may change his mind to choose to return to heaven. Although this is his way of showing independence from God’s wishes, it is an absurd claim to make because the possibility of him choosing to return to Heaven does not exist as he has fallen and God has not invited him back. The most deceiving line in this passage is the closing metaphor which represents reason as the ultimate power dictating one’s mental state. According to the speaker, physical location is irrelevant in regards to personal joy and comfort – both of which he once had in Heaven and now deems he can also have in Hell. First, this is a direct contradiction to his previous reference to line 251 suggesting that the possibility of experiencing true joy is locked away in Heaven. Second, this is a denial of the physical existence of a heaven or hell and therefore, a refutation of