Satan's Inferno

Satan is known as one of the most dynamic characters in the history of literature, he is sometimes introduced into literature, not as the villain, but as the seduction factor, like in the epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton where the story of Adam and Eve is retold through the words of Satan. The epic Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri gave Satan a kind of helpless and trapped story where he was given the ultimate punishment imaginable from the perspective of God. Though Satan was the original sinner, banished to live an eternity in Hell by God himself as written in the Bible. During Satan’s fall it is understood that he is a manipulator; not only in the Bible but also in Paradise Lost. Although in Paradise Lost, Satan doesn’t just manipulate
Adam and Eve, but, he manipulates the reader. Satan’s existence has been the inspiration for not only a plethora of novels, but music, movies, and art; he gives off a kind of atmosphere of damnation and evil to these types of work, he is the element of disappointment and anger. Satan was not always called Satan; he was once known by the name of Lucifer. In the Bible, Lucifer was regarded as one of God’s most perfect creations. An angel of light he was called. That was until he tried to usurp God’s power right from under him, but failed, and as punishment, Lucifer was thrown to earth as the original sinner, experiencing the same wild forms of torture and damnation as every other being to eventually fall to the depths of Hell. An overwhelming sense of pride is what caused Lucifer’s downfall in the long run. After being created perfect in the hand of God, Lucifer realized how perfect he really was. In Ezekiel 28:17 it reads, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” God creates an atmosphere of disappointment with this sentence. In Heaven, God and all of the angels are disappointed in Lucifer for priding himself upon his beauty. Lucifer eventually became so enthralled with himself and his beauty, intelligence and power, that he desired the honor and glory that was to be for God alone. Self-generated pride consumed Lucifer so much so that God felt the need to cast him out of his heavenly government and give him no access to Heaven. Sin originated in the free will of Lucifer when he chose to rebel against the Creator.The fall of Satan says that no matter how good of a person you are, the smallest of mistakes can be the downfall of you; Satan was the best and brightest of God’s creations, and one overbearing sense of pride made him the biggest disappointment all of Heaven had seen before. One action made him the original sinner condemned to an eternity in Hell. Fast forward just a little bit, switch books, and come upon the first introduction of Satan in the epic poem Paradise Lost; he is first seen waking up in Hell, chained to a burning lake.
"Farewell happy fields / Where Joy for ever dwells: hail horrors, hail Infernal world” Milton uses an alliteration here while Satan says farewell to Heaven and hello to Hell, accepting his punishment. This scene creates fiery imagery and sympathetic mood in this scene; the image of Hell is almost ingrained in our minds, so it is not hard to picture Satan chained to a burning lake of fire in Hell. The mood that is created in this scene though is sympathy, surprisingly enough. Sympathy is felt for Satan; all he did was feel pride for himself, and God decided to damn him for
life.
Paradise Lost kind of takes the story of Adam and Eve from Satan’s perspective. In the poem, Satan is the most interesting character and the most eloquent speaker, Milton gives him a better diction than any other character in the poem. He becomes the focal point and the sympathizing element, it is hard not to feel sorry for him when his first introduction is of him chained to burning lake of fire in Hell. Though sympathy is created for Satan, he is still evil; it is a very seductive evil. He turns himself into a serpent to tempt Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and have lustful sex with Adam. Milton does this for one reason: He lures the reader in and seduces them with Satan’s extravagant words and the reader becomes Adam and Eve in a way that, they experience exactly what Adam and Eve did; the reader sides with Satan and then, through Satan’s eyes, sees the Garden of Eden and that they are excluded from it. Which is, in a sense, what happened to Adam and Eve. Milton used Satan’s charisma to put the reader in the shoes of Adam and Eve.
Divine Comedy gives Satan a different story; Dante introduces Satan in a constricted way.
Literally. Satan is portrayed as a giant demon, trapped in a block of ice by the powerful gusts of wind generated by his wings that keep himself and the entire ninth circle of hell frozen and are even felt throughout every circle of hell. “The inhabitants of the infernal region are those who have lost the good of intellect; the substance of evil, the loss of humanity, intelligence, good will, and the capacity to love." Satan looks to be much different than the other depictions of him from the other 2 books represented here; he is not a cunning, charismatic, fallen angel anymore, he is a slobbering, wordless, animal-like demon with three heads that chew on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. “The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous / From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; /And better with a giant I compare / Than do the giants with those arms of his; / Consider now how great must be that whole, / Which unto such a part conforms itself. / Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, / And lifted up his brow against his Maker, / Well may proceed from him all tribulation. / O, what a marvel it appeared to me, / When I beheld three faces on his head! / The one in front, and that vermilion
was;”.
Divine Comedy focuses heavily on the poetic justice of the fall of Satan. For his punishment, Satan received exactly the opposite of what he wanted, power and a voice over God. He instead becomes a monster, an ugly creature completely helpless and submitted to the ultimate pain in Hell; isolation. “He wept with all six eyes, and the tears fell over his three chins mingled with bloody foam. The teeth of each mouth held a sinner, kept as by a flax rake: thus he held three of them in agony."
Satan, Lucifer, Ruler of Hell, whatever you want to call him, is one of the most prominent recurring characters in the history of literature, existing in many different forms through an infinite amount of interpretations; whether that be the slobbering three-headed monster encased in ice in the ninth circle of hell from Divine Comedy, the charismatic, evil seductress of Paradise Lost, or the prideful fallen angel of the Bible.