If God is all powerful, how does one argue against him? First, God’s authority needs to be taken into question. If all is not as God says it is, then reality is whatever one makes of it. Milton tackles this question in Paradise Lost. In Christian tradition Satan is the first to go against God. Milton’s Satan needs to make an appealing argument to convince others to follow his lead. He does this by championing a world view opposite of God’s. In some ways, Satan is the first idealist to counter God’s firmly realist philosophy.
Satan accomplishes his ambitions through his speech, his rhetoric relies on clever manipulations of one of Aristotle’s means of persuasion, pathos, to make his audience more willing to listen to his ideas. Satan is a master …show more content…
Hell. He knows he needs to portray Hell in an inviting manner so he and his followers will not be discouraged by the defeat they just suffered. He first acknowledges that Hell is not an ideal location: “farewell, happy fields...Hail, horrors!” (249-250) This move not only recognizes the hardship the devils have faced in supporting him, but also elicits sympathy from his wider audience. Milton, here, is reaffirming the fact that the reality of Hell is bleak; Satan and his followers are very much removed from the light of Heaven. Then, however, the passage shifts, “profoundest Hell / Receive thy new possessor” (251-252). Milton’s use of the word, profoundest, is very peculiar; it means something of great nonmaterial, usually intellectual, depth. Hell perhaps, Satan implies, is not as shallow as it first looks. Yes, Hell is located in the depths of the universe, but it also has more substance than that. Satan looks beyond Hell’s physical appearance and suggests that Hell can be something else entirely. This manipulation of reality is continued when Satan expands on his alternate view of the world: “not to be changed by place or time / The mind is its own place” (253-254). Satan hints at what he believes to be true. His mind controls how he reacts to his surroundings, not the other way around. Following this logic the mind, then, is separate from reality. The world does not control me, Satan implies, I control the world. Satan rejects an absolute reality, or one that God endorses. He instead confirms that his reality is whatever he makes of it: “the mind...Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven” (254-255). Satan’s true colors are displayed at last. This bold statement labels his school of thought as firmly idealist. Satan subscribes to the belief that the mind, and its perceptions, hold more weight than the objective reality of a
Satan accomplishes his ambitions through his speech, his rhetoric relies on clever manipulations of one of Aristotle’s means of persuasion, pathos, to make his audience more willing to listen to his ideas. Satan is a master …show more content…
Hell. He knows he needs to portray Hell in an inviting manner so he and his followers will not be discouraged by the defeat they just suffered. He first acknowledges that Hell is not an ideal location: “farewell, happy fields...Hail, horrors!” (249-250) This move not only recognizes the hardship the devils have faced in supporting him, but also elicits sympathy from his wider audience. Milton, here, is reaffirming the fact that the reality of Hell is bleak; Satan and his followers are very much removed from the light of Heaven. Then, however, the passage shifts, “profoundest Hell / Receive thy new possessor” (251-252). Milton’s use of the word, profoundest, is very peculiar; it means something of great nonmaterial, usually intellectual, depth. Hell perhaps, Satan implies, is not as shallow as it first looks. Yes, Hell is located in the depths of the universe, but it also has more substance than that. Satan looks beyond Hell’s physical appearance and suggests that Hell can be something else entirely. This manipulation of reality is continued when Satan expands on his alternate view of the world: “not to be changed by place or time / The mind is its own place” (253-254). Satan hints at what he believes to be true. His mind controls how he reacts to his surroundings, not the other way around. Following this logic the mind, then, is separate from reality. The world does not control me, Satan implies, I control the world. Satan rejects an absolute reality, or one that God endorses. He instead confirms that his reality is whatever he makes of it: “the mind...Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven” (254-255). Satan’s true colors are displayed at last. This bold statement labels his school of thought as firmly idealist. Satan subscribes to the belief that the mind, and its perceptions, hold more weight than the objective reality of a