| Satan is depicted in epic terms throughout Paradise | | | | rousing them to fight back. Those other fallen angels |
| Lost, but in ever diminishing ways. Beginning with the | | | | are then shown in epic terms, as they stirred to |
| arch fiend's address to his nearest mate, Beelzebub, | | | | obey, their general's voice, (1.337). Their numbers |
| (1.192-208), Satan is a Titanian figure, yet even here | | | | were such that they resembled a plague of locusts, a |
| referred to, immediately following, in lesser form as | | | | reference to Moses' showering Egypt with a horde |
| Earth-born, a foreshadowing of his coming diminution. | | | | of those biblical insects, turning day to night. This |
| The text goes on, calling Satan Leviathan, a whale in | | | | reference is telling, since the fallen are once again |
| size, that creature which God had made the hugest | | | | described in terms of dark versus light. The plague is |
| that swim th' ocean stream, (1.202). He is imagined | | | | not only dark, it is carried on an eastern wind, a |
| asleep on the Norway foam, a reference to things | | | | symbol in Milton's world of ominous change, since the |
| northern, thus implying mammoth dimensions in the | | | | east was a source of exotic and dangerous infidels. |
| reader's mind. Milton returns to this reference later in | | | | The geographic menace is extended, when the |
| his depiction of fallen cohorts. Continuing, Satan is so | | | | angels are compared to hordes arriving, this time |
| big that a sailor might take him for a small island, | | | | from the north, home of barbarous tribes spreading |
| dropping anchor overnight to escape the sea wind, | | | | over Europe, beneath Gibraltar to Lybian sands, |
| and wait till morning. (1.205) | | | | (1.355), thus engulfing the civilized world. |
| The implication of an ongoing fall continues, as if | | | | Beelzebub is depicted in epic ways in Book 2 of |
| Satan's plunge may never end. He is allowed to | | | | Paradise Lost. Satan's second in command, Beelzebub |
| pursue his dark designs, but he does so only with the | | | | is shown as an almost epically sad figure, perhaps a |
| high permission of all ruling heaven, (1.212). Heavenly | | | | mirror image of man in his inability to exercise free |
| permission granted, Satan sprouts wings, takes off | | | | will, and thus suffer the fate of a stronger angel. His |
| into air that felt unusual weight, and alights once | | | | name, from a Caananite reference meaning Lord of |
| more with his sidekick Beelzebub. Both have | | | | the Flies, presents an image of servitude, of |
| recovered slightly, escaping the Stygian flood as | | | | someone willing to take whatever falls from the |
| Gods, and not by the sufferance of supernal power, | | | | table. He rises, with, grave aspect, as a pillar of state, |
| (1.240-241). Satan's determination to overcome his | | | | (2.303). Here, Beelzebub appears to be rising to the |
| fate is on display, as he rouses himself and his fellow | | | | occasion, claiming his rightful place as Satan's |
| fallen angel. | | | | counselor, Majestic though in ruin. Proud, but |
| Further on, (1.283-302), Satan is shown in even more | | | | obsequious, he may be Satan's alter ego. He is |
| graphic, yet still epic ways, as the superior fiend. | | | | reluctant to lead, yet eager to serve, to operate in |
| Beelzebub has just finished addressing Satan, which | | | | reflected light. This is epic hubris, as it represents |
| but th' omnipotent none could have foiled, thus raising | | | | hero-worship, and the refusal to exercise free will. |
| his profile. But Milton again takes him down a notch in | | | | The epic simile continues, citing Beelzebub's Atlantean |
| a very subtle way, comparing his shield in epic terms | | | | shoulders fit to bear the weight of mightiest |
| to the moon, (1.287), which object everyone knows | | | | monarchies, (2.306). Is this strength and resilience, or |
| hangs suspended in Earth's orbit, and reflecting not its | | | | willingness to suffer under someone else's dictates? |
| own light, but light from a larger, more powerful | | | | Or is it perhaps Milton's first mention of the need for |
| source. The author ends the simile by referring to | | | | human reverence and obedience to the Almighty? |
| Satan's massive following of fellow fallen angels. Once | | | | Regardless, Beelzebub is ready to serve. Yet, like |
| again Milton chooses a rather pathetic analogy, saying | | | | Adam embracing his fate at the end of the poem, |
| that Satan's legions are Thick as Autumnal leaves, | | | | Beelzebub's counsel is taken. Hearing of the coming |
| (1.302), thus not only fallen to the ground, but a | | | | of a new creature, some new race called Man, |
| symbol of death, low regard and seasonal change as | | | | (2.348), Satan adopts Beelzebub's wisdom, and the |
| well. | | | | epic contest is begun. |
| Satan reproaches his Princes and Potentates, (1.315), | | | | |