Subservience of the Satanic
Forbidden acts and disobedience are separating factors within a given society. Those who obey the rules exist within the unity of the community, whereas those who disobey seem to create an individualistic representation of themselves outside of the conformity of the society. Dealing directly with the Satanic and Demonic, John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus seek to portray and define the characteristics of the character’s that perform such actions within their communities and their position in that world after the fact. Both Doctor John Faustus, though his swelling desire for knowledge, and Satan, in his unsuccessful usurpation and rebellion against God, utilize …show more content…
The first conclusion relies on Milton’s presentation of free-will and its relationship with omnipotence. Although Milton does emphasize the notion of free will, meaning that Satan did choose to directly disobey God’s wants, God’s omnipotence ultimately does not allow for the complete separation and individualized power that Satan seems to think he possesses. God, within his commentary on Satan’s fall, directly calls Satan “our Adversary” (Milton 4.81). And well God’s “foreknowledge had no influence on [his] fault,” the label “Adversary” and Satan as the deceiver of mankind already exists within God’s creation and thus within his apparent rebellion, Satan still exists under God’s plan and rule (Milton 4.118). As an all knowing, all powerful, all present being, everything ultimately is of God’s creation. Satan, no matter how powerful, how rebellious, or how adversarial, is still a creation of the Father, the all-powerful being, and can never surpass him in the hierarchy; he can merely disrupt his other creations. Much like Faustus’ forewarning of his …show more content…
More importantly, Satan and Faustus use these attributes to create themselves as powerful and unbounded in their individuality. However, it is their pride and breaking outside their roles that ultimately reassures their submission to a higher power. Ultimately, both Milton and Marlowe are writing within the same world- view. As proponents of puritanical and Calvinistic views of predestination, both authors present structured literary worlds that reflect their own world’s view on the place of people and the consequences of overreaching. Satan, in Paradise Lost, is ultimately the creation of the Father and meant to be subservient to him even within his apparent rebellion. Doctor Faustus ultimately reaches into a forbidden knowledge, one that is inherently against God, and therefore overstretches his bounds within his place in the world. Satan and Doctor Faustus exist within an established order and place system within their worlds, and when they overreach those established bounds, they fall. However, their fall does not place them out of their order, but rather uses punishment to identifying the wrong doing and reassert their place within the grand scheme of everything. Overall, both Marlowe and Milton establish a world structure with strict hierarchies, the breaking of which is considered a satanic action, punishable only
Forbidden acts and disobedience are separating factors within a given society. Those who obey the rules exist within the unity of the community, whereas those who disobey seem to create an individualistic representation of themselves outside of the conformity of the society. Dealing directly with the Satanic and Demonic, John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus seek to portray and define the characteristics of the character’s that perform such actions within their communities and their position in that world after the fact. Both Doctor John Faustus, though his swelling desire for knowledge, and Satan, in his unsuccessful usurpation and rebellion against God, utilize …show more content…
The first conclusion relies on Milton’s presentation of free-will and its relationship with omnipotence. Although Milton does emphasize the notion of free will, meaning that Satan did choose to directly disobey God’s wants, God’s omnipotence ultimately does not allow for the complete separation and individualized power that Satan seems to think he possesses. God, within his commentary on Satan’s fall, directly calls Satan “our Adversary” (Milton 4.81). And well God’s “foreknowledge had no influence on [his] fault,” the label “Adversary” and Satan as the deceiver of mankind already exists within God’s creation and thus within his apparent rebellion, Satan still exists under God’s plan and rule (Milton 4.118). As an all knowing, all powerful, all present being, everything ultimately is of God’s creation. Satan, no matter how powerful, how rebellious, or how adversarial, is still a creation of the Father, the all-powerful being, and can never surpass him in the hierarchy; he can merely disrupt his other creations. Much like Faustus’ forewarning of his …show more content…
More importantly, Satan and Faustus use these attributes to create themselves as powerful and unbounded in their individuality. However, it is their pride and breaking outside their roles that ultimately reassures their submission to a higher power. Ultimately, both Milton and Marlowe are writing within the same world- view. As proponents of puritanical and Calvinistic views of predestination, both authors present structured literary worlds that reflect their own world’s view on the place of people and the consequences of overreaching. Satan, in Paradise Lost, is ultimately the creation of the Father and meant to be subservient to him even within his apparent rebellion. Doctor Faustus ultimately reaches into a forbidden knowledge, one that is inherently against God, and therefore overstretches his bounds within his place in the world. Satan and Doctor Faustus exist within an established order and place system within their worlds, and when they overreach those established bounds, they fall. However, their fall does not place them out of their order, but rather uses punishment to identifying the wrong doing and reassert their place within the grand scheme of everything. Overall, both Marlowe and Milton establish a world structure with strict hierarchies, the breaking of which is considered a satanic action, punishable only