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 definition of a hero as used in previous epics. .
From the beginning of the passage Satan's pride can be noted, as he says .
" But neither here [earth] seek I,no nor in heav'n .
To dwell, unless by mastering heav'ns Supreme;- (Milton, IX, 124-125).
This implies that he is only willing to be where is in complete control. It also correlates with a previous comment where he said, .
"Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n."" (Milton, I, 263) .
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.
