Monday, October 25, 2010
reading 1
The first thing I noticed when reading the summary on the title page of book one was that Satan is referred to as an archangel, a rank equal to Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. This strikes me as something that goes along with Iago. God, like Othello, must hold Satan in some high esteem and probably trusts him as a well qualified adviser. As for the rest of the reading, Milton invokes God as his muse to write his epic, and he describes Hell itself as the defeated army rests. The one question I have is probably off-topic, but how can spirits wage war against each other if they cannot die? I suppose torture could be an option but it would have to last forever because time means nothing to someone who does not age. I'm just a little unclear about that.
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And off of this, if God could foresee Satan's uprising, why was he an archangel in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about your question allston, and war between spirits is not like man's warfare where its a war of attrition and killing. Spiritual wars are about submission and persuasion. If god can cause Satan and his army so much pain and suffering, then they will surrender their power of independence back to god like the Godfather who just requires Bonasero's respect. God just wants the control. We even see God's strategy working to some degree because Beezlebub beginning to break under the new conditions in hell.
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