Did Satan and Beezlebub leave Hell? I don't understand how they can just leave.
Also, Satan reminds me of Iago when he talks about how "If then his Providence/ Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,/ Our labor must be to pervert that end,/ And out of good still to find means of evil" (book 1 lines 162-165) because he is so devoted to creating evil and messing with God even if God tries to make them good. He sounds very schemey and devious when he talks about getting revenge on God. Milton also uses a lot of ocean imagery in this section, but I'm not quite sure why. I think it is to comment on the size or power of satan? Maybe?
"Schemey and devious" indeed! When Satan and his buddies start talking strategy in Book II, we'll see his new approach. No more out-and-out war against God!
ReplyDeleteThey didn't just leave Hell. They were floating in a lake of fire and they decided to get out and get their feet back on land. Technically they are still in Hell but in a different part of it. Satan can leave Hell because God wants him to be able to. In lines 211-218: "the will/ and high permission of all-ruling Heaven/ left him at large to his own dark designs,/ that with reiterated crimes hew might/ heap on himself damnation, while he sought/ evil to others, and enrag'd might see/ how all his malice serv'd but to bring forth infinite goodness."
ReplyDeleteGos wants Satan to be free to do evil so he can prove his goodness to mankind. How useful is a superhero without a villain?
So God needs Satan in order to be God? Yes, Zoey, Satan is huge and powerful, but watch how he can change shapes and what happens to the various forms he takes as the epic progresses.
ReplyDelete