2nd in Command

I know this is a little late and not what we're reading right now.

Before Satan fell, he was the "right-hand man" to God. But once God created the Son of God, Jesus, the Messiah, ect, he was demoted to his "left-hand man." Once in Hell, Satan told Beezlebub that he was 2nd in command. Wouldn't you think that Satan would realize what a risk you run when naming someone your "right-hand man" or 2nd in command? He is his own case in point: when Satan was God's 2nd in command he began to feel that he was better than God and that his true deserved position was head honcho. Couldn't this same jealousy and resentment grow in Beezlebub? What is it with these powerful, smart people creating problems for themselves??

Emilia

Emilia states

I will be hanged, if some eternal villain,

Some busy and insinuating rogue,

Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,

Have not devised this slander. I will be hanged else!

It almost seems as if she knows it is her husband... or else this statement is just extremely ironic. At this point, how could she not have any inkling of Iago's intentions? Could this be some subliminal message to Desdemona...or is Emilia blindly raging this? Is this her way of attacking her husband without actually attacking him?

Reading 5-- The Minions

So we discussed in class how Moloch represents wrath and wants all out war, and how Belial represents sloth and wants to just sit in hell and do nothing with life... so I found Mammon to be more prideful than anything else, preferring making the best out of hell to living in heaven with the God they all hate. I found this interesting because he seems to reiterate what the Devil earlier says about how it's better to rein in hell then serve in heaven and where he says that one can make a heaven out of hell and a hell out of heaven. Mammon simply reinforces these ideas that the Devil has already expressed to the reader.

On a similar note, I had high expectations for Mammon that were not fulfilled. I thought he would be the one to form a compromise between Moloch and Belial and propose not to engage in full out warfare nor to do nothing, but to go out in search of the humans and use them as indirect targets to wound God. His proposition, though, seemed more to be weak and simply agree with Belial's in saying that they should just stay in hell. Disappointing, Mammon... very disappointing.

Reading 2

How many angels have fallen? Did they leave with Satan?  Who is he addressing? Who exactly is Beelzebub?

Milton uses the term, "Arch-Fiend"; does that mean that Satan is not the hero?

God's intentions with fallen angels (rd 2)

(good and evil) The fallen angel from lines 143-157 wonders why God let the them, the rebels in punishment, keep their minds and spirit. He mentions how miserable he is because he can remember the pleasures and happiness of heaven in contrast to his new world. In a way he is questioning the "goodness" of God. If God is good and forgiving, why does he send Satan and his followers out of heaven with out a chance to ever return? Or does God even send them to Hell like Milton says? I keep thinking of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort constantly tells Wormtail that he is only loyal to him through fear. Would it be arguable to say that angels in heaven and men may follow God and worship him out of fear of hell and God's power to put them there (if he even does so)? Is this why the bible, Jesus, and God's messengers say "Do not be afraid" before they speak of God's plans? Since God is omnicient, he would have anticipated Satan and his followers starting an unending war, and let it happen knowing that the fallen agnels would serve as examples of those who turned against God or disobeyed him. (A possible strategy of God's.)

(Problem) However, did God actaully create and place satan into the underworld? If heaven is such a rightous, happy, and suitable place, how could a conflict or desire to turn against God could not possibly occur? I do not remember the bible containing any statements of a war or conflict in heaven either. Rather, Satan is described as simply wanting to turn away from God. If your happy, why would you want to turn away? The stories that I have learned from my parents, church, and Paradise Lost are starting to conflict with each other. I'm rather confused about how a rebel against God came to be. I think this paragraph connects with a previous entry about the accuracy of the events that are in the Bible. Anyone can walk home and tell a story about speaking with God, but how many would do so and then publish volumes of their experience?

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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