Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Looking Back and epic Hero Satan
One thing that I noticed when looking back over the readings that I had skipped over previously is that Satan does not claim to be the creator of Hell when he first arrives "and thou profoundest Hell/ Rceive they new Possessor" (1:251-252). This explains how God is still omnipotent even though Satan "creates" Hell: God had already made Hell. But then why would God make a Hell if there had been no reason before? The answer to this could justfy how God is still all-knowing even though Satan "betrayed" him: God already knew that Satan would betray him and created Hell, a place of torture, in preparation for Satan's "betrayal". Then in our current reading I noticed that Satan is described similarly to an epic hero. Satan will endure the pain and hardships of being the king of Hell for the other demons, and he offers to go out and find man fr the other demons. Satan stands courageous while defying God and never backs down like an epic hero.
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If Satan can't be a creator, can he instead be a re-creator? Maybe that's his goal. Yep, he does have the characteristics of an epic hero, which has caused a great deal of critical debate over the centuries. Are we seeing that there is sometimes just a little difference between heroism and villany?
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