In my AP English 4 class we just finished reading the book Paradise Lost, by John Milton. We were then assigned questions to be discussed during our Socratic seminar. One of the questions was “Who, if anyone, is the hero in the book? Why?” Well my answer to the question was Satan.
Is this possible? Was the first thing I thought to myself. I had never considered that Satan could be a hero. When we did the seminar there were other students who agreed with me. If you look at the character, it does seem like he is the hero, and because Paradise Lost is an epic this make Satan an epic hero. I have never heard of an evil epic hero, or for that matter any evil hero.
According to my literary criticism, and spark notes Adam and Eve are the heroes of the book. My problem with that, is they aren’t the main characters, and don’t do anything heroic. My teacher said something along the lines of “Milton was on Satan’s side without knowing it,” and I would have to agree. I believe that Milton meant for Adam and Eve to be the heroes, but that is not how the book turned out.
Well I just thought that Satan being a hero was an ironic concept. If anyone else has some insight into the book, feel free to share it. And don’t fill this up with a lot of religious stuff, that is not what this post is about. I simply want people’s reaction to this book, and not your personal faith.
I have not read the book, but I'm a little confused as to if you use the term "hero" as a protagonist or someone who does something brave for what they believe is right.
This is the definition Wikipedia uses to define an epic hero, and is what I am basing my post on.
An epic hero is a larger than life figure from a history or legend, usually favored by or even partially descended from deities, but aligned more closely with mortal figures in popular portrayals. The hero participates in a cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey, gathers allies along his journey, and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. The epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society from which the epic originates. They usually embody cultural and religious beliefs of the people. Many epic heroes are recurring characters in the legends of their native culture. Epic heroes are superhuman in that they are smarter, stronger, and braver than average humans. An epic hero can also be a warrior of some sort who performs extraordinary tasks that most find difficult. This hero is strong, smart, and brave.
Satan is larger than life, close to God, goes though challenges, and reoccurs in many tales.
Steven Brunst wrote a book based off of Paradise Lost. It's titled To Reign in Hell. I highly recommend it to you. It's an interesting take on The Fall and the events leading up to it... and a little easier to follow than the epic writing you just read. That is, if you have time to read it. This one time, I took AP classes. Yikes. Good luck to you. :-)
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
I haven't read the book yet (its slowly moving its way to the top of my to-read list), but I have a possible way that someone evil (not necessarily Satan in the specific case since I don't know anything about it yet) could be a hero.
An evil being could be a hero by emphasizing bad choices and actions. This way everyone else in the novel is able to learn from the evil character and improve their own way of life.
Milton could also (again haven't read yet so I'm just going on a guess here) have made Satan the hero in order to show us as readers that there is some inherent good in everyone. Even the most dastardly, conniving, truly wicked entities have some good in them. When push comes to shove, these evil characters demonstrate the ability to make a good decision, giving hope to the educated (literate) community.
I'm really looking forward to the book now!!!
I can see how satan could turn out to be the hero in a story. I have not read "Paradise Lost", but im buying it right now on amazon :)
-Sean Ryan Donnelly-
Have a great day :)
Comments and ratings are always appriciated :) thank you
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/seandonnelly
There is a book called master and margarita though i dont remember the author, it was an amazing book. you have to get the transation from russian so it is a little odd to read, but it paints satan in a similar light(at least from what i gather from this blog).
I definitly think an evil character can be a hero. A protagonist doesn't even have to be redemable. After all, it really depends on the authors perspective.
and committed athiest Isaac Isamov (it's been a long time since I read anything by him, and I could have spelled his name wrong) once wrote that he believed Paradise Lost to be the first science fiction novel, and that Satan, with his understanding of science and math and distrust for athority figures, fit the description of most science fiction heroes.
"when you hold a pen, you are at war" Attributed to Voltaire