A Deeper Look into Paradise Lost, by John Milton

Throughout the narrative of Paradise Lost, by John Milton, the forwarding of plot and action relies heavily on the success of Satan's seductive influence over his desired audience. From the fallen angels in heaven and hell to Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan's power of manipulation reaches all ends of known creation. Satan himself is unable to escape the force of his own rhetoric, as seen when he first arrives on Mt. Niphates. Satan initially exudes an extreme amount of what seemingly is remorse; however just as Satan's tactical seduction of others draws upon their innermost feelings and desires, so does his self-directed manipulation rely on the true desires and feelings of his ambitious intent, bitter resentment, and self-pity which inevitably leads to his relentless pursuit of the fall of man.

Satan's speech on Mt. Niphates is one of the first times that a sense of pity for Satan is evoked from the reader, as his remorse seems not only genuine, but also desperate. Satan curses the sun because its rays, "bring to my remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere" and he begins to repent his subversive retaliation against the Father, lamenting, "he deserved no such return from me, whom he created what I was in that bright eminence, and with his good upbraided none; nor was his service hard"(iv, 38-39, 42-45). It is with this claim that service to the Father was not hard that the initial breakdown in his remorse begins to propel forward and his true feelings of resentment and self-pity seep forward. Satan admits that his core characteristics, "pride and worse ambition" was the cause of his downfall (iv.40). A being possessing these qualities may find it hard to be humble and give gratitude, yet Satan insists that, "What could be less than afford him praise, the easiest recompense, and pay him in thanks" (iv.46-47). However, in the following lines Satan's actual feelings about his "debt" become apparent, "lifted up so high I sdained subjection, and thought one step higher would set me highest, and in a moment quit the debt immense of endless gratitude, so burthensome still paying, still to owe" (iv.49-53). The words "debt" and "owe" reinforce the burden placed upon Satan to "quit" or pay the Father back for his goodness. Satan uses the words "immense" and "endless" in his rhetoric to remind himself of the vastness of the gratitude that he owed and the impossibility of his self to give it.

Though Satan is slowly rationalizing his actions, he still reverts to notions of what he could have done to perhaps change his fate. He questions his position as a higher angel and the role that played in his fall, "O had his powerful destiny ordained me some inferior angel, I had stood then happy; no unbounded hope had raised Ambition"; yet he rationalizes, "some other power as great might have aspired, and me though mean drawn to his part; but other powers as great fell not, but stand unshaken" (58-61, 61-64). Satan again brings up ambition as a reminder of the character flaw that caused his fall and the reason for its virtual inevitability, with Milton emphasizing its role through enjambment and capitalization. He states that if his fate had been different he might not have fallen, but in the following lines he rationalizes that if he had been a lesser angel he might have succumbed to a greater power and would still find himself in his present condition. This rationalization serves the purpose of offering himself no other alternate fate and emphasizing the hopelessness of his situation. He is almost excusing his actions by seeing no other alternative, for what else could he do? He notes that had the Father made him an inferior angel he would not posses the ambition that would eventually cause his expulsion from heaven. Although it is not blatant, Satan is shifting the blame from himself to the way he was created by the Father and the flawed characteristic that guided his fall.

Though Satan is slowly dropping the seeds of his self-manipulation with his veiled rationalizations, he still interludes with his supposed repentance at the midpoint of his speech. He asks himself, "Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand", and answers, "Thou hadst…since against his thy will choose freely what is now so justly rues" (iv. 66-67, 71-72). Here he argues that he had free will and still chose against the Father, negating his passage above about fate. However, if one takes into account the drive of his ambition, which the Father created in him, and the necessity for power that the ambition drove him to, then perhaps his will is not so free as he is contending. Satan embarks on a search for an answer to his misery. He continuously refers to the imagery of depth, "and in the lowest deep a lower deep still threatening to devour me opens wide, to which the hell I suffer seems a heav'n", as the metaphorical antithesis to the heights of greatness that he once dwelled (iv.76-78). In his disparity, Satan asks himself, "Is there no place left for repentance, none for pardon left?" (79-80) It is with this question that the true answers of his lamentation are apparent and the reasoning behind the continuation of his plans for the seduction of man begins to emerge.

Satan's growing insinuations of rationalizing behavior in the latter part of the speech find their root in the previous admission of his fatal flaws, ambition and pride. His pride lends him to answer his own question with little hope for his repentance and pardon, "disdain forbids me [to repent], and my dread of shame among the spirits beneath, whom I seduced with other promises and other vaunts than to submit, boasting I could subdue th Omnipotent" (iv. 81-84). Satan's boasting and vanity raised him to such an elevated level among his fallen legion of angels, that an admission of his fallacy would only perpetuate the depth of his fall, a depth already unbearable to his wounded pride. Satan responds to this thought disdainfully, "The lower still I fall, only supreme in misery" and ironically adds, "such joy ambition finds" (iv.91-92). With this last ironic statement Satan is once again crediting his ambition as the reason for his actions; therefore taking his current situation out of his immediate control.

The point at witch Satan makes a clear turn away from repentance and into a web of rhetoric designed to rationalize the continuation of his plans for the fall of man begins at line 93: But say I could repent and could obtain by act of grace my former state; how soon would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay what feigned submission swore: ease would recant vows made in pain, as violent and void. Never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep which would but lead me to a worse relapse and heavier fall. (iv. 93-101)

When Satan says that, "ease will recant vows made in pain" he is showing the true nature of his repentance. It is not done out of sorrow or humbleness, but instead bitter pain and torment that leave him longing for relief and his days of glory in heaven. He acknowledges his real intent and knows that he will not be able to ever reside peacefully in heaven again. He goes so far as to say, "a worse relapse and heavier fall" would occur because of his "wounds of hate" that would prevent "true reconcilement." Satan again uses the images of height and depth in his rhetoric only to emphasize the pain of the fall he has already endured and the horrible vastness of perhaps another fall. His aversion to this idea and the inability for him to subdue his ambition and pride forbid him from ever seeking repentance, as his hatred is too deep and his misery so great.
Satan has no hope for himself and his only true desire is to destroy mankind as he believes, "evil be thou my good" and destroying creation is the only action that can bring him peace (iv. 110). Satan's desires for a momentary peace from torment and the force of his pride, ambition, and hatred towards submission call upon Satan to seduce his speech to follow his desired intent of inflicting his misery onto the Father's creation of man. His remorse is in actuality his own self-pity transfixed to seem like a heart-felt repentance, which works to seduce yet another form of creation, the reader.