Is Miltons Satan the hero of Paradise Lost in any way other than being Research Paper

Is Miltons Satan the hero of Paradise Lost in any way other than being the effective protagonist Is it possible to sympathize with him - Research Paper Example The paper will give an account of Milton’s treatment of Satan, while taking into account the critical tradition and debate represented by some of Teskey critics mentioned above. Like other epics, Milton’s poem, Paradise Lost celebrates a culture or a religion he fervently fought for. Satan is one character who has and still provokes emotions such as loathe, despise, and terror. However, these emotions are mainly elicited by the societal reflections on Satan and not from individual experiences. Generally, Satan is a character who is admired by some writers due to his reputation of pursuing evil. Milton is one such writer who demonstrates Satan as a hero though in a negative way (Herman and Sauer 50-54). Milton did not intend to popularize the evilness associated with Satan. On the contrary, he wants to establish Satan’s motive of wanting to be above his peers. While describing the Creation and Fall of Man, Milton focuses more on roles of Satan other than those of God. However, he is able to defend God’s superiority and virtuous intentions and portray Satan as malicious and compelling. Milton’s depicts Satan as one who understands our interests and plans to use this knowledge to deceive us into believing that he cares for us ("Answerable Style": The Genre of Paradise Lost Web). According to C. S. Lewis, â€Å"Every poem can be considered in two ways- as what the poet has to say and as a thing which he makes. From the one point of view it is an expression of opinions and emotions; from the other, it is an organization of words which exists to produce a particular patterned experience in readers† (Milton and Gordon, â€Å"Paradise Lost: Authoritative Text, Sources and Backgrounds, Criticism† 404). Milton’s poem has different variations of epic conventions, which makes it prevalent. In Paradise Lost, Satan is one of the characters whom some critics such as William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley consider the epic hero of the poem. This