Essay On The Devil In John Milton's Paradise Lost

There are various types of devils described in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Left to their own devices, after Satan embarks on his journey to find God’s new “creation”, the devils form cliques and divide themselves up by interests. One group of Milton’s devils heads Mammon’s advice and seek to improve hell, a group of “false” philosophers ponder their circumstances, another group heads off to explore every corner of hell, and the “more mild” (2. 546) devils decide to seclude themselves from the others and sing of their misfortune. The mild devils seem out of place, like they do not belong in hell. Milton places these devils in hell because even though they do not seem evil like their hell-bound companions their inability to recognize their sins is their ultimate downfall. The sin committed by these devils is pride. They are all full of pride and are blind to the idea that they, themselves, have sinned. The creatures sing of “Their own heroic deeds and …show more content…
552). Prejudice seems to be another sin that these devils choose to acknowledge they are guilty of. They blame the other devils, the more violent and power driven devils for their own fall. The song was most likely a tool used to instill feelings of guilt in the other devils. It “took with ravishment the thronging audience” (2. 554-555). It invoked emotion in the devils, emotion which overcame them. Milton does not specify what type of emotion but it can be assumed that they felt some sort of shame, guilt or hopelessness. The mild angels want the others to feel responsible for the unlucky fate they all must suffer. This is why they are the worst type of devil. Milton satirizes the political happenings during this time with Satan and the devils. The mild devils are representations of those politicians that refused to take responsibility for or denied their actions were wrong. The politicians would blame everyone other than themselves in order to avoid