Paradise Lost Book IX Explication
Milton intended Paradise Lost to be an epic poem; this meant the poem had to meet specific requirements. One of these requirements was that there had to be a hero in the poem, following the epic style of Homer and Virgil. There has been much debate on the hero of Paradise Lost, and one of the possibilities that is discussed is weather Milton intended Satan to be the hero. This is also suggested by M.H. Abrams who said “Milton who saw himself as personally sanctioned by God may suggest an admiration for the grand being who dared assault the throne of heaven.” (Abrams, M.H.). Book IX is heavily focused on the fall of Adam and Eve, here we can see many of Satan’s characteristics and see if he is qualified to be noted as the hero of Paradise Lost. In book IX from lines 124-143 we hear a section of a speech by Satan, in this speech is thinking to himself so we can assume these are his actual feelings and thoughts. From Satan’s speech we can see some admirable qualities such as ambition, and pride; however, as these qualities are closely examined in the context of book IX it is not difficult to prove that Satan is more closely related to an anti-hero or even a hero gone to malicious extremes rather than the Greco-Roman definiti
His excess of pride blinds him from seeing a higher authority; which was a quality the Greco-Roman heroes were noted for. In his next line he states that he doesn’t want to make himself less miserable but rather to make others join in his ideas which would even have a worse effect. (Milton ,IX, 126-128). This worse effect would result in destruction which he later describes in the next line as the only thing in which he finds ease. The fact that Satan is willing to give up his own comfort is something he takes pride in this however is not a overbearing pride when looked at out of context, but as it is closer examined it is less admirable, he would rather give up his comfort in order to corrupt and destroy, things he does with ease. (Milton, IX, 129). Looking at his argument he is giving up his comfort in order to destroy and corrupt, things he does with ease. Satan is giving up something and showing his admirable pride in order to gain something he can pride in. (The fact where Satan proves that destruction is something that he prides in is discussed later.) This argument is very weak showing his cowardly character and unwillingness to sacrifice which were not very heroic qualities. The next few lines starting from 130-134 describe Satan’s ambition to corrupt man-kind. Milton uses this as a kind of foreshadow to the fall of man and some of its implications that include his causing man to fall will someh
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Approximate Word count = 955
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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