Satan, the Fallen Angel

In the Christian religion, Satan has been perceived in one of three ways. Some see him as a metaphor for evil in general, much like the Dark Side of the Force in the modern day epic Star Wars. In this point of view, "Satan" is merely a symbol of hate, jealousy, pride, or greed, and the Biblical passages that refer to Satan are metaphors for humankind's struggle against these sinful ideas. However, this concept is not in line with the mainstream Christian tradition, which holds that Satan is not merely a metaphor or an idea, but a real person, a specific center of evil power.

Even this concept of Satan has variations. Some see the devil as the ultimate bogeyman, God's arch-nemesis, striking fear into the hearts of humanity. This viewpoint of Satan as the supervillain of all supervillains can be seen in the Old Testament's account of Job, an ancient patriarch with great wealth and a large family. He becomes the target of Satan, who proceeds to wipe out his possessions, kill his children, and turn his wife against him, and even afflicts Job with painful boils, in order to make Job curse God. Although Job does question God's wisdom, and even accuses God of being unjust, he never actually curses God, and in the end, God restores everything Satan took away. Like all supervillains, Satan never wins.

There is another viewpoint of Satan besides seeing him as the number one bad guy, and that is the portrayal of Satan in John Milton's classic poem, Paradise Lost. This version, in my view, agrees the most with the Satan of the Bible, in that it shows Satan as someone who was once good, once a beautiful, wise, intelligent angel enjoying the wonders of Heaven, but who tragically fell into evil and lost the splendors of Heaven.

This concept has another echo in Star Wars, as seen in the story of Anakin Skywalker, who was once a great Jedi Knight, enjoying the power of the Force and the love of Padme Amidala before turning to the Dark Side and becoming Darth Vader, losing everything he loved. The differences, however, are that Anakin at least had a good motive for turning to the Dark Side in that he wanted to save Padme from death, and he was deceived by the real bad guy, Palpatine. Satan, on the other hand, was motivated by his own pride, his desire to be like God, which led him to rebel against God. No one tempted or deceived Satan; his fall was his alone.

Even so, the tragic nature of the one-time angel of light, now the prince of darkness, still comes through, especially in Paradise Lost. Satan is the central character in this work, and as such, he has most of the dialogue. He delivers the first speech in the poem, the climactic speech that convinces Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and many other laments, soliloquies, and addresses. These speeches provide a dramatic insight into Satan's mind, display his keen intellect, and underscore the ultimate tragedy of his fall into evil.

This essay focuses on the third of Satan's speeches, which he gives shortly after Paradise Lost has begun. Satan has been already been thrown out of heaven after his unsuccessful rebellion, and he awakens in Hell, seen here as a burning lake, with flames that give no light. Satan lies prone in the lake at first, stunned by his unexpected fall. His first two speeches are to his lieutenant, Beelzebub, discussing their fall and making plans for revenge. They decide to rally the other demons, also former angels who were cast out of Heaven with Satan, and make their way to a nearby plain, which like the lake is covered in burning darkness. When he has landed on this terrible plain, Satan looks about him, and launches into his third speech.

Right away, we begin to see the concept of Satan as the tragic lost Archangel, as Milton will refer to him within the first paragraph of the speech. Satan's first words here are a sad comparison of the plain with Heaven, contrasting this "mournful gloom" with the "celestial light". Satan still appears to long for Heaven, and to be grief-stricken that he will never again see the celestial light but must remain confined to the darkness. He even seems resigned to his fate, acknowledging God's sovereignty and justice in committing Satan to this dark place.

However, Satan's evil nature quickly emerges. Having acknowledged God's sovereignty, he now bitterly declares, "farthest from him is best", and even implies that he is still equal to God, but that God is just too powerful. Thus, he commits the same sin that resulted in his fall in the first place: pride. Despite his defeat, Satan is still clinging to his idea that he can be equal to God, or even better than God.

Then, he switches from accusation to mourning, bidding farewell to the "happy fields" of joy and a sad welcome to the "infernal world" where he now dwells. It is as if Satan is alternating between two personalities. On the one hand, he is the noble but fallen angel, but on the other hand, he is the bitter, proud, hate-possessed schemer. He is both majestic and petty, reasonable and insane, heroic and villainous. This clashing duality is perhaps the best depiction in literature of the nature of Satan's fall from a unified, harmonious angel to a conflicted, irrational devil.

In the same sentence of his lament over the horrors of his new home, Satan once again turns to his old pride, saying that he will not change or repent, and vowing that he will "make a Heaven of Hell". This statement is both tragic and irrational, for it shows at once Satan's longing for his old home, and his refusal to acknowledge that he has lost it forever because of his own choices. In the following confused sentences, he declares that it does not matter where he is, so long as he is still resistant to God. Satan still believes that God is his equal in all but power, and that Satan could be like God if only he had God's abilities.

Satan seems almost wistful as he declares, "Here at least we shall be free." This sentence is perhaps the most sympathetic of his whole speech. In itself, it displays Satan's longing for freedom, for his own liberty, concepts that ring familiar to Americans, who have grown up with the ideas of freedom embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. One might wonder why Milton chose to make Satan appear like a tragic freedom fighter, when Milton himself was a strong Christian and believed that Satan was the center of all evil. One could argue that Milton, who also was a fervent anti-monarchist, was unconsciously letting slip his sympathy for Satan as a defiant rebel against God's evident tyranny.

However, this portrayal of Satan as a freedom fighter is contradicted in the next few lines, as his fallen angel personality once more gives way to his proud, bitter, devil personality. He reveals his true desires in a single sentence, probably the most familiar line from Paradise Lost, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." These words explain why Satan wants liberty, why he so much values the apparent freedom he enjoys in Hell. He wants freedom, not to sing, create, love, or do anything good, but to rule. He wants power. He wants to be a king. And, by implication, he wants to deny this freedom to others. After all, to be a king, one must have subjects. Satan must have minions over which he can rule.

Interestingly enough, in his portrayal of Satan, Milton may in fact be subtly attacking monarchy, not the form of one-person government, but the purpose of it, which is to enable one person to exercise oppressive power over many people. Milton's God, on the other hand, allows his subjects free will, even to the point where he will allow Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and fall into sin themselves rather than stop them. He is not an anarchist, allowing absolute freedom. God does have rules and laws, and he enforces them, as seen in his exiling Adam and Eve from the garden, and Satan from Heaven. However, this enforcement is only triggered because of Adam's, Eve's, and Satan's own choices, which they made by their own free will. This is far from the concept of monarchy, where the king often enforces laws on a whim, denying his subjects any freedom whatsoever. Thus, Milton's Paradise Lost is arguing for free will after all, only in a more subtle way than the Declaration of Independence.

Satan finishes his speech with an appeal to his lieutenant, asking why they have let their demonic comrades continue to lie inert in the burning lake, when Satan and Beelzebub could be rallying them to fight on against Heaven, or at least be active in Hell. Again, one can see both sides of Satan here. He seems concerned for his "associates and co-partners in our loss", and wishes that they could "share with us" their part in "this unhappy mansion." However, although he doesn't say it outright, given what Satan has already said, one can assume that he doesn't care as much for the other demons as he lets on. He has just said that he wants to reign as king in Hell, after all. This, along with his frequent use of "us" and "we" is likely a calculated political maneuver for the sake of his lieutenant, Beelzebub. Satan knows that he can't come right out and say that he wants to reign alone and supreme, as Beelzebub would likely rebel. Instead, he says that "we" will reign. In other words, all the demons will be gods equally.

Satan does not mention what will happen when the equals disagree, but we see in later events his solution to this problem, as the demons argue over what strategy to take in their war against Heaven. Satan will let them talk, presenting their ideas, debating as equals, and then he emerges and presents his own idea, which of course is the one that the devils choose to follow. Once again, Satan is both the noble fallen angel, concerned for his comrades, and the scheming devil, plotting how he can best manipulate them to do his bidding. This conclusion is a fitting depiction of how far Satan has fallen. Like the rest of his speech, and indeed, like all his other speeches in Paradise Lost, Satan is a figure both tragic and repulsive. He inspires sympathy with one line, and then rejects it with the next. He is the ultimate fallen angel, possessing echoes of light, but losing them to sinful darkness. Overall, despite his longings for what he once enjoyed, Satan never lets go of his pride, and thus, never regains his lost Heaven.