A Study of Satan’s Character―Devil or Angel.doc

A Study of Satan’s Character―Devil or Angel Abstract：John Milton, the most learned poet, is the greatest writer of the 17th century. Paradise Lost is one of his greatest works. Satan, as the most remarkable figure, has always been a major that be studied by academic circles. Some has shown the notion of Satan as the true hero of the poem. However, among anti-Satanists there is a tendency to emphasize his evil and regard him as a villain. The present paper attempt to probe into the character of Satan according to the original work. It shows that neither idea is right that look on Satan from one angle. He is not a single conception. His various behaviors manifest that he is a paradoxical and many-sided figure. Keywords:paradox many-sided true courage dissimulation controversy Chapter One In Paradise lost, Satan is the most remarkable figure in the poem. That is, those readers who have left their reactions on record have seldom been able to regard Satan as a depiction of pure evil. Barker finds that eighteen-century admirers of the sublime praised Satan’s high superior nature, and so come into conflict with Addison and Johnson, who declared Satan’s speeches ‘big with absurdity’ ⑴. Among Romantic critics, Blake, Byron, and Hazlitt championed Satan, whereas Coleridge indentified him with Napoleonic pride and sensual indulgence. In the 20th century, anti-Satanists such as Charles Williams and Stanley Fish have been opposed by A.J.A.Waldock, E.E.Stoll and others. These simplified versions of Satan ignore or evade the evidence within the poem that fails to square with them. Chapter Two As kastor has shown that it was not until about AD 200 the official Judaism began to absorb popular concepts of Satan. To account for the presence of evil in the world. From then on appearances of Satan in literature and theology multiplied. Scores of literary Satan evolved and some of them notably those created by Du Bartas, Grotius, and vondel-possibly influenced Milton⑵. H