Kelly W, Joyce D
Paradise Lost
In Paradise Lost, Satan is a character who covers his ambitions with a layer of sweet illusion. Satan is a great leader of the conspiracy; he illustrates fantasies to manipulate his “rebels” to work towards the same goal as him, which is his master plan of revenge and vengeance.
When Satan presents his speech to his “followers” in “Hell,” he speaks with influencing emotions such as their “lasting pain.” Having suffered from “their Creator[’s]” defeat, he takes advantage of the pain of the “Rebel Angels,” and establishes a connection with them by magnifying their hatred towards God. Satan compares the “misery” condition they are in with the “happy” times they had before the rebellion, motivating his followers to join his revenge. He desires for his followers’ rage and disgust to grow uncontrollably, so they have solid and “vengeful” reasons to join his “faithful friends” and “overthrow” Heaven with him. To direct them to his point of view and assist him with reaching his ultimate goal, he stirs the “sorrow” minds of his “scattered sedge[s]” on the “inflamed Sea.” Moreover, inciting the fire inside his followers to “awake” and “arise” to fight for their want for “free[dom],” Satan firmly advises that if they “lay” prostrated, “covering the Flood,” they will forever suffer the “shame beneath / this downfall” and “be for ever fall...
