To Taste Despair: Satan's Capacity for Sorrow in Paradise Regained

Le Génie du Mal (1848)

by Guillame Geefs

One of the topics that I've been looking into as I've compiled my resources for my research paper on the Satan figure in Paradise Lost is his capacity for despair and doubt. Within Paradise Lost itself, there are numerous occasions where it seems almost as though Milton sympathizes with Satan, recognizing his pain and presenting it as masked human emotions. As early as book 1, for example, Milton writes, "So spake th’ apostate angel, though in pain, / Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair" (I:125-126, emphasis mine). Milton emphasizes the inner pain and discouragement that Satan experiences, painting in a way that makes him seem almost human--saying one thing but feeling another, putting on a brave face while cowering within.

As one might perhaps expect, this idea of despair carries over into Paradise Regained as well. I was struck by a particular passage in Book III, where Milton described the tempter as "inly racked" (203). Satan remarks, "[A]ll hope is lost / of my reception into grace; what worse? (204-205). This again shows the conflict between Satan's emotions and his words, though in this instance, the reader understands a bit better the emptiness in his words; we realize that those same words which he's speaking are the words that rack his soul and conscience. The verb "to hope" in Latin is spero, and so de-spair then becomes a state wherein one is deprived of hope. This mirrors the words of Milton's adversary, who says "all hope is lost." He recognizes to some extent the futility of his own struggle, realizing that whether or not Christ reigns, Satan himself is still damned and that success will not bring him out of his despicable state.

Knowledge: Boon or Bane of Mankind?

The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo 
Creative Commons

Carmen made a really interesting post that touched on the idea of ignorance and knowledge and how the two go together toward our happiness or misery. I wanted to expand on this briefly with some quotes from this weekend's readings of Books 7 and 8 of Milton's Paradise Lost. I'll start I guess with a couple of quotes:

Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid,
Leave them to God above, him serve and fear
. . .                                        joy thou
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
And thy fair Eve; heav'n is for thee too high
To know what passes there; be lowly wise:
Think only what concerns thee and thy being;
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
Live, in what state, condition or degree,
Contented that thus far hath been revealed
Not of Earth only but of highest Heav'n. (167-68, 170-77)

Introductions, and Literature of Loss

Well, hello there, everyone. My name's Greg Bayles, and in case there was any doubt in your mind, the bespectacled fellow to the left is, in fact, me. I'm from Las Vegas, NV, and I'm a senior (yikes!) studying English. I love reading and writing, and I have aspirations to write novels (though during school, I mostly write poetry because of time constraints). Among other hobbies are pretty much all water sports, swimming being the most prominent of these; playing and composing on the piano; riding my bike at night; and making new friends. I'm also an unabashed Slavophile, and I speak Russian fluently. Generally, I like to think that I'm a fairly easy-going guy most of the time, though that's probably a common sentiment among the up-tight and crotchety as well. In any case, I'm excited to get to work with everyone, and I'm really glad for the chance to dive into Milton.