{"data":[{"id":"48e3a611-3ba5-4484-afbe-6b7fb087f2c1","type":"articles","attributes":{"title":"Sympathy, Spice, or Spite for the Devil? Satan in 'Paradise Lost'","slug":"sympathy-spice-or-spite-for-the-devil-satan-in-paradise-lost","body":"

If you recall, a few months ago I wrote an introductory blog for my research on modern day readers of John Milton’s Paradise Lost (you can read it here). Since then, a few of you were bold enough to buy yourselves a copy of the epic poem. I must take this opportunity to say that I am very sincerely sorry for the absolute chaos that I predict it unleashed on your brains. I TOLD YOU IT’S TRICKY.

So, in this light-hearted, banter-heavy blog, I thought I’d introduce you to one of the epic’s main characters: Satan. WHO is he? WHAT is he? Well, I mean, he’s a pretty big deal, and we’ve all heard of him, but let’s give the devil his due.

An architect of misery, the once loved and forever fallen angel, failed to yield and took up arms against God. \"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven\" (Book I, l. 263) Satan exclaimed, standing tall and proud, crowning himself with dominion over the fellow-fallen who followed him onto the path of revolt. This act of defiance secured Satan a hateful haven in Hell, and he has been God’s nemesis since.

However, where folks once trembled at the thought of the king of Hell reigning over them, now that relationship seems to have changed. Fear has dwindled into something new, something sexier. And every day… we stray further away from God’s light. Kidding (kind of). Satan features often, and quite frequently, in popular culture. The Simpsons say he’s a red faced, black horned dude with a six-pack. No kidding. The television show Lucifer goes further, casting a tall, semi-attractive (don’t let my dad read this) white man, as a conflicted, crime-solving protagonist, who gives up his hedonistic ways and slowly becomes more human.

Exhibit A, the devil looking kinda fly?:

$\"Devil$

Exhibit B, the Lucifer lad:

$\"Lucifer$

But what does Milton say? Funnily enough, the apples haven’t fallen THAT far from the tree. Okay, maybe a little, but it is no surprise to see that many have taken inspiration from the Miltonic blueprint for Satan. This is evident in the world of sound, where the fascination with the fallen is found in Mumford and Sons’ song “Darkness Visible” dedicated to an excerpt from Book 1 in Paradise Lost, where Satan being punished for defying God is described. People are really out there vibing to his pain. Wow. Though you’re probably wondering, aren’t we supposed to hate this guy? Well, no, actually. Perhaps the one thing Paradise Lost is best known for is its ability to invite us to think about the character of Satan in a new way.

“Me miserable! which way shall I flie

Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire?

Which way I flie is Hell; my self am Hell;

And in the lowest deep a lower deep

Still threatning to devour me opens wide,

To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav’n.”

- Satan (Book IV, ll. 73-78)

Milton’s intention was to make us understand why Satan rebelled against God, and in doing so the poet crafts a self-aware creature, who at times is filled with remorse. By giving us access to Satan’s complex interiority, we are made to sympathise with the devil. Critic Stanley Fish argues that this is all part of the plan, stating that we are attracted to Satan because we ourselves are fallen, and as readers we need to experience the Fall just as Adam did. Yikes, good to know. The dichotomy between readers loving and hating the character of Satan is a storm that may never settle. This, of course, is a reason why Paradise Lost has been critiqued as being problematic for some readers of faith. But it is also the very reason why it was, and still is, praised so highly.

My hunt to uncover modern day readerprints and understand what respondents think of Satan’s character has been no easy feat. It’s all a giant mess, and sympathy, spice, and spite are camps visited, and often revisited, by our readers. But whatever camp they, and you, do choose to sit in, we must admit, sympathy for the devil does have a pretty nice tune.

So, why are we drawn to darkness? Perhaps it’s because sometimes, just sometimes, it tells a better story, and the light shines brighter there. Or maybe it’s because we’re all just really messed up. But let’s go with the light.

Title Image: Engraving by Gustave Dore, accessed here

Exhibit A Image: The Devil from TV show The Simpsons, accessed here

Exhibit B Image: Tom Ellis as Lucifer from TV show ‘Lucifer’, accessed here

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We’ve all heard the story of Adam and Eve, or at least some version of it, right? Long story short, it goes something like this:

God creates the world and everything in it. Man (Adam) meets Woman (Eve) and they fall in love. Satan, an enemy of God, is absolutely NOT okay with this. He causes chaos by disguising himself as a talking snake and tricks Eve into breaking the ONE rule they had, which warns them not to eat the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. *Sigh* Adam follows suit and God is not happy. As a consequence, the couple are banished from Eden, and life on earth begins.

This tale is one that has echoed through the ages, giving meaning to many on where it all began, and how we humans came to be conscious of good and evil. In the 17th century, an English poet named John Milton took the story a step further and wrote Paradise Lost to “justify the ways of God to men” (Book 1: l. 26). This risky and monumental task proved to be Milton’s greatest work, and the revered literary masterpiece crowned him as a king of English literature for many years to come.

I, a Muslim reader, first encountered the classic rendition of the Genesis story during my second year as an undergrad and was instantly mesmerised by Milton’s words. In my final year, we studied the epic poem at great length and each week, our seminar class was bustling with fascinated takes on where the metaphysical journey across heaven, hell, and the garden of Eden had taken us. No two people had the same experience, and each character meant something different to us all. It was in that classroom, studying that text, that I realised we all had our own unique readerprint.

It sounds like a pretty simple conclusion, I know. But the fact is, when you’re someone who has almost always looked a little different to your peers, and you discover a sense of unity in a text that equally baffles and enchants you all in fantastically distinctive ways, you can’t help but dig deeper. Even though Milton’s story deviates from the Quranic account that I believe in, the poem spoke profoundly to me and I was riddled with wonder on whether others felt the same.

Since then, I have embarked on a PhD on the subject with the hope of uncovering how we shape texts, and how they shape us. My research has led me to collect data across Higher Educational institutions in the UK and North America, where I investigate how the canonical work is read and understood today. To appreciate modern Muslim engagements with English literature, I place close emphasis on Milton’s female Muslim readers from BAME backgrounds and examine how reading experiences are influenced and coloured by cultural and/or religious formations, and question how they inform our ever-changing negotiations of identity.

To my delight, I have discovered a rich range of diverse experiences in my respondents from both religious and non-religious backgrounds. Whilst some readers report that they are not fooled by Satan, others admit that they find him captivating. As each reader wrestles with questions on morality posed by Milton, the deeply introspective poem causes some to experience a crisis of faith. Loved by most and found troublesome by others, one thing that we can all agree on is that Paradise Lost is a text that stays with you forever.

So, what about you? Have you ever encountered a work that questions the foundations on which you stand and lean on? If so, what does your readerprint look like?

Image: Detail from ‘Satan Watching the Endearments of Adam and Eve’ by William Blake (1808)

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