Satan IN Paradise Lost

For the past three hundred years, both the Satanists and the anti-Satanists have given diverse views on the character of Milton’s Satan. From Dryden to Empson and from Johnson to C.S.Lewis and Stanley Fish, we see that both parties have interpreted and stressed the case in their favour. But the dispute continues … As we read Paradise Lost we realise that in the beginning, Milton certainly presents Satan as the heroic, powerful prince …

…is to show an extraordinary naïveté. One cannot deny that the figure of Satan arouses a certain amount of empathy in many readers, and that Milton delves much more into this character than he does God. But for Milton, God is perfect with none of the flaws thus Milton spends more time in dwelling on the character of Satan. The suggestion then that Milton harboured any sort of affinity with Satan is clearly erroneous.