A Masterpiece of grotesque horror- Milton's Paradise Lost, Book II, The Way I Have Liked To Evaluate..

JOHN MILTON’S PARADISE LOST (BOOK-II)

The violation of the normal English word-order and other elements in Milton’s epic
blank-verse, which have upset some purists, are carefully and systematically
employed in order to achieve different kinds of emotional pitch, to effect continuity
and integration in the weaving of the epic design and all to sustain the poem as a
poem and to keep it from disintegrating into isolated fragments of high rhetoric.
David Daiches: The Use of Blank –Verse in Paradise Lost.

It is a well-known complaint among the readers of Paradise Lost, that they
can hardly keep themselves from sympathizing, in some sort, with Satan, as
the hero of the poem. The most probable account of which surely is, that the
author himself partook largely of the haughty and vindictive republican
spirit, which he has assigned to the character, and consequently, though
perhaps unconsciously, drew the portrait with a peculiar zest.
Josiah Conder: The Hero of Paradise Lost.

To Adam and Eve are given, during their innocence, such sentiments as
innocence can generate and utter. Their love is pure benevolence and
mutual veneration; their repasts are without luxury, and their diligence
without toil. Their addresses to their Maker have little more than the voice of
admiration and gratitude. Fruition left them nothing to ask, and Innocence
left them nothing to fear.
Johnson.

To read Paradise Lost with appreciation and understanding, those readers of
the poem who have been deprived by twentieth century doubts and denials
of the privilege of reading it with a faith comparable to its author’s must
accept the story as they accept Homeric fable. Whether we believe in a
family of gods on Olympus or not, we must accept them as agents in
Homer’s story. Whether we believe as Milton does, or whether we do not, in
the interference in the affairs of men of a personal God, his son, his angels
and his enemies, we must accept them as agents in Milton’s story.
John S. Diekhoff: Intimate Knowledge of the Bible Necessary for a Proper
Understanding and Enjoyment of Paradise Lost.

Three poets in three distant ages born
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed,
The next in majesty, in both the last.
The force of nature could no farther go:
To make a third she joined the former two.
John Dryden.

The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at
liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the
Devil’s party without knowing it.
William Blake
“would be quite surcharged with her own weight,
And strangl’d with her waste fertility;
Th’ earth cumber’d, and the wing’d air dark’t with plumes,
The herds would over-multitude their Lords,
The Sea o’refraught would swell…”

While the former (Shakespeare) darts himself forth, and passes into all forms of
human character and passion, the one Proteus of the fire and the flood; the other
attracts all forms and things to himself, into the unity of his own ideal. All things
and modes of action shape themselves anew in the being of Milton; while
Shakespeare becomes all things, yet for ever remaining himself.
S.T. Coleridge

OF MAN’S FIRST DISOBEDIENCE, AND THE FRUIT
OF THAT FORBIDDEN TREE, WHOSE MORTAL TASTE
BROUGHT DEATH INTO THE WORLD, AND ALL OUR WOE,
WITH LOSS OF EDEN, TILL ONE GREATER MAN
RESTORE US, AND REGAIN THE BLISSFUL SEAT,
SING HEAVENLY MUSE, THAT ON THE
SECRET TOP
OF OREB, OR OF SINAI, DIDST INSPIRE
THAT SHEPHERD, WHO FIRST TAUGHT THE CHOSEN SEED,
IN THE BEGINNING HOW THE HEAVENS AND EARTH
ROSE OUT OF CHAOS:

Of smallest Magnitude close by
the Moon.

“Since first this Subject for Heroic Song
Pleas’d me long choosing, and beginning late;
Not sedulous by Nature to indite
Wars, hitherto the onely Argument
Heroic deem’d, chief maistrie to dissect
With long and tedious havoc fabl’d Knights
In Battles feigned; the better fortitude
Of Patience and Heroic Martyrdom
Unsung.”

-------What surmounts the reach
Of human sense, I shall delineate so,
By linking spiritual to corporeal forms
As may express them best; though what if earth
Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein
Each to other like, more than on earth in thought…

High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth or Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous east with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
To that bad eminence; and, from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught,
His proud imaginations thus displayed:
MY ANALYSIS

THE ARGUMENT
The consultation begun Satan debates whether another battle be to be
hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it, others dissuade. A
third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan- to search the truth
of that prophecy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and
another kind of creature, equal, or not much inferior, to themselves, about
this time to be created. Their doubt who shall be sent on this difficult
search: Satan, their chief, undertakes alone the voyage; is honoured and
applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways and
to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the
time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell-gates; finds them
shut, and who sat there to guard them; by whom at length they are opened
and discover to him the great gulf between Hell and Heaven. With what
difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the Power of that place, to
the sight of this new World which he sought.
The genius of the lamented person to whose memory I have dedicated these
unworthy verses was not less delicate and fragile than it was beautiful ;
and where cankerworms abound, what wonder of its young flower was
blighted in the bud? The savage criticism on his Endymion, which
appeared in the Quarterly Review, produced the most violent effect on his
susceptible mind; the agitation thus originated ended in the rupture of a
blood-vessel in the lungs; a rapid consumption ensued, and the
succeeding acknowledgements from more candid critics of the true
greatness of his powers were ineffectual to heal the wound thus wantonly
inflicted.
The circumstances of the closing scene of poor Keats’s life were not made
known to me until the Elegy was ready for the press. I am given to
understand that the criticism of Endymion was exasperated by the bitter
sense of unrequited benefits; the poor fellow seems to have been hooted

from the stage of life, no less by those on whom he had wasted the promise
of his genius than those on whom he had lavished his fortune and his
care. He was accompanied to Rome, and attended in his last illness, by Mr.
Severn, a young artist of the highest premise, who, I have been informed,
‘almost risked his own life, and sacrificed every prospect to unwearied
attendance upon his dying friend. ‘Had I known these circumstances
before the completion of my poem, I should have been tempted to add my
feeble tribute of applause to the more solid recompense which the virtuous
man finds in the recollection of his own motives. Mr. Severn can dispense
with a reward from ‘such stuff as dreams are made of.’ His conduct is a
unextinguished spirit of his illustrious friend animate the creations of his
pencil, and plead against oblivion for his name!
It is my intention to subjoin to the London edition of this poem a criticism
upon the claims of its lamented object to be classed among the writers of
the highest genius who have adorned our age. My known repugnance to
the narrow principles of taste on which several of his earlier compositions
were modeled prove at least that I am an impartial judge. I consider the
fragment of Hyperion as second to nothing that was ever produced by a
writer of the same years.
John Keats died at Rome of a consumption, in his twenty-fourth year on
the ---of ---1821; and was buried in the romantic and lonely cemetery of
the Protestants in that city, under the pyramid which is the tomb of Cestius
and the massy walls and towers, now mouldering and desolate, which
formed the circuit of ancient Rome. The cemetery is an open space among
the ruins, covered in the winter with violets and daisies. It might make
one in love with death, to think that one should be buried in so sweet a
place.
The very subject matter of the epic lends itself to the grand manner. The
result is that Milton’s style and presentation touches now heights of
sublimity. He leaves his mark throughout the epic with his grand style and
remarkable use of blank verse.
“Poison came, Bion, to thy mouth, that thus was

poison-stained. How did it come to the lips of one like
thee and was not made sweet? And what mortal, was so
cruel as to mix for thee the poison, or give it thee, while
thou didst sing? Surely he is one who fled from music.”
Moschus: Epitaphium Bionis
It may be well said that these wretched men know not what they do. They
scatter their insults and their slanders without heed as to whether the
poisoned shaft lights on a heart made callous by many blows, or one like
Keats’s composed of more penetratable stuff. One of their associates is, to
my knowledge, a most base and unprincipled calumniator. As to
Endymion, was it a poem, whatever might be its defects, to be treated
contemptuously by those who had celebrated, with various degrees of
complacency and panegyric, Paris, and Woman, and A Syrian Tale, and
Mrs. Lefanu, and Mr. Barrett, and Mr. Howard Payne, and a long list of
illustrious obscure? Are these the men who in their venal good nature
presumed to draw a parallel between the Rev. Mr. Milman and Lord
Byron? What gnat did they strain at here, after having swallowed all those
camels? Against what woman taken in adultery dares the foremost of these
literary prostitutes to cast his opprobrious stone? Miserable man! You, one
of the meanest, have not wantonly defaced one of the noblest specimens of
the workmanship of God…Nor shall it be your excuse that, murderer as you
are, you have spoken daggers, but used none.
Book-II of Paradise Lost is easily Milton’s most outstanding writing in
poetry. The epic poem contains high drama, crisp narrative, vivid
description and striking character portrayal.
The conclave gives Milton the opportunity to come out with realistic
portrayal of his characters. Satan sets the tone for the debate by asserting
his position as the first among the fallen angels. In this debate Milton
brings to bear his scholarship and study of oratory giving the participants
majesty of eloquence both in its sweep and dimension.
The high water mark of Book-I is its heightened narration and
description. Book II has high drama, sharp characterization and

sustained descriptive and narrative qualities. The canvas is vast and Book
II gets off the ground with a major conclave of fallen angels planning how
to salvage their fall.
….Or if Sion Hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa’s Brook that flow'd
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous songs
The most notable thing in the portrayal of the leaders of the fallen angels
is that they impress us with their indomitable courage and unflinching
determination. Milton describes the might, wisdom and eloquence of the
fallen angels with such sublime power that the defiance that they hurl
towards the vault of Heaven seems for the moment something more than
an empty boast. They actually effect one great conquest in Hell: the victory
of unconquerable will over adversity.
The fallen angels respond nobly to call of their great leader and rouse
themselves with matchless fortitude from their physical and mental
prostration. Such an undaunted struggle against the force of adverse
circumstances cannot fail to attract the deepest sympathy. Natural
tendency of human nature to sympathise with the weaker side often makes
the reader of an epic poem feel more affection and admiration for the
defeated adversary than the victorious hero.
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime
As the leaders of the fallen angels deliver their harangues it becomes clear
as its usual on such occasions that the views of the leader are going to
prevail. Satan emerges from the conclave as the unquestioned leader. In a
few deft and powerful touches Milton has given every leader a distinctive
personality and an approach of his own. The debate gives the poet an
opportunity to draw finely contoured beings. The participants are acutely
differentiated so that their speeches stand neatly on platforms of party and
principle. Each suggestion put forward by the leaders reveals the
characteristic virtues of its advocate-courage in Moloch, clarity in Belial,

self-reliance in Mammon’s plan for economic development and in
Beelzebub an echo of Satan.
Satan’s journey through Chaos has the makings of epic adventure. As he
starts on his journey he raises the hopes of the fallen angels about a turn
in their fortunes. Milton’s description of the fallen angels while their
leader is away on an expedition to the new world is one of the grandest
things in the whole epic. When their minds were lifted to some extent by
the hopes mixed by Satan, they broke up their military formation and
engaged themselves in various pursuits. Some of them spent their time on
the plain, some uplifted on the wing sported in the air, and some entered
into a race- like the Olympian or Parthian games. As armies rush to battle
in the clouds so the fallen angels contended on the plain and in the air.
Others with more fury began to rend up rocks and hills and swept through
the air like a whirlwind.
The strong point about Book Ii is its narrative which grips and sustains the
reader’s interest till the very end. Though an epic, the call to action
creates intense reader interest. The announcement about the creation of a
new world and a new type of being called ‘man’ in it has all the interest
and curiosity of science fiction. Satan throws the gauntlet before the
assembled audience that the new world should be discovered and the
creature called man should be lured to join the revolt against God.
The significance of Book II lies in the use of superb epic similes, each a
wonderful picture in itself. Moreover these similes are not merely
decorative, they have undertones of meaning. Milton’s description of
Chaos and Satin’s journey through it form one of the grandest and most
original portions of the epic. The final passage of Book II describes how
Satan passes through the gates of Hell and makes his way through Chaos
through the newly created universe. Heaven, Earth and the underworld
are traditional settings in epic poetry but Chaos, Milton’s fourth setting,
has no precedent. Mason says about Milton’s description of Chaos that
every part of this description of the deep of Chaos as seen upwards from Hell
Gates is minutely studied and considered. Altogether it would be difficult
to quote a passage from any poet so rich in purposely accumulated
perplexities, learned and political, or in which such a care is taken and so
successfully, to compel the mind to a rackingly intense conception of sheer

inconceivability. In his description of Chaos, Milton suggests that it is not
so much a place or something occupying space but a state of mind. There is
nothing innately evil about this real. Evil is the perversion of order. Hell
founded on the principle. Evil be thou my Good, is a parody of Heaven.
Chaos on the contrary is a state of simple disorder.
Milton’s style of writing has a sense of grandeur about it, a style that suits
epic poetry giving both his thought and expression the highest sublimity.
The two definitions of epic give us the elements, both of form and style of
the epic: “a narrative poem, organic in structure, dealing with great
actions and great characters in a style commensurate with the lordliness
of its theme, which tends to idealise these characters and actions, and to
sustain and embellish its subject by means of episode and amplification.”
The epic in general, ancient and modern, may be described as “a
dispassionate recital in dignified rhythmic narrative of a momentous
theme or action fulfilled by heroic characters and supernatural agencies
under the control of a sovereign destiny. The theme involves political or
religious interest of a people or of a mankind. It commands the respect
due to popular tradition or to traditional ideals. The poem awakens the
sense of the mysterious: the awful, and the sublime; through perilous crisis
it uplifts and calms the strife of frail humanity.”
Hell seemed to burst with a wild tumult. Others milder in character took
themselves to a silent valley and sang angel songs to the accompaniment
of a harp. Others sat on a hill and carried on discourses. Some others
explored the vast region of Chaos to see if they could discover a softer
climate. It has been stated that Milton was only following classical
convention in describing the occupations of the fallen angels. It must be
accepted however that Milton’s aim in giving this description was not only
to follow a classical convention but to give a significant place to this
episode in the epic. The episode is full of striking imagery that captures the
reader’s mind.
Then there is Satan’s confrontation with Sin and Death- a description that
reveals the characters of all three and is at the same time revolting.
…thou from the first

Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Certain passages in Book II have a positive moral appeal and without
being moralistic, these passages convey the meaning sought to be
conveyed. This is because Milton conveys his message discreetly and
indirectly only when there is need to do so and when the reader’s moral
strength needs to be strengthened.
In Paradise Lost, we find all the familiar features of the epic such as
war, single combats, perilous journeys, beautiful gardens, marvelous
buildings, visions of the world and the future, expositions of the
structure of the universe, and scenes in Heaven and in Hell. Yet all these
are so transformed that their significance and even their aesthetic
appeal are new. The reason is that Milton has grafted his epic manner
on to subject which lies outside the main epic tradition. By taking his
subject from the Bible he had to make the machinery of epic conform to
a spirit and to a tradition far removed from Virgil. Before him the best
literary epic had been predominately secular, he made it theological,
and the change of approach meant a great change of temper and of
atmosphere. The old themes are introduced in all their traditional
dignity, but in Milton’s hands they take on a different significance and
contribute to a different end.
Book II, like Book I, has a number of epic similes. Indeed there are as
many as ten similes of this kind here. In this kind of simile, a writer starts
with a comparison between, say A and B; but the second member grows
bigger and bigger until it eclipses the first, with the result that while the
comparison is effectively made the first, with the result that while
comparison is effectively made and the idea conveyed successfully, the
attendant imagery seem to be even more important.
Paradise Lost may properly be classed among the greatest epic poems,
though its theme is neither mythical nor historical. The theme of Paradise
Lost is biblical and religious. This poem is undoubtedly one of the highest
efforts of the poetical genius; and in respect of majesty and sublimity, it is

by no means inferior to any known epic poem, ancient or modern. It
follows the Greek model of epic poetry. The central event of this epic poem is
the fall of man. The subject is derived from the Old Testament; and it is
astonishing how, from the few hints given in that scripture, Milton was
able to raise so complete and regular a structure in his poem.
Indeed there are as many as ten similes of this kind here. In this kind of
simile, a writer starts with a comparison between, say A and B; but the
second member grows bigger and bigger until it eclipses the first, with the
result that while the comparison is effectively made the first, with the result
that while comparison is effectively made and the idea conveyed
successfully, the attendant imagery seem to be even more important.
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the heighth of this great argument
I may assert eternal providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
When the meeting of the fallen angels has come to an end, Satan’s
supremacy is described to us in words which heighten our impression of his
greatness in the midst of his infernal peers, he seems to be their mighty
paramount; he seems to be alone the Antagonist of Heaven; he seems to be
no less than Hell’s dread emperor with pomp supreme and God-like
imitated state. Round him at this time are a cluster of fiery seraphim who
carry their bright and horrendous weapons. Thus not only has Satan
spoken in a tone of self aggrandisement. But his dignity and majesty have
been emphasized by the author also. Of course, this does not mean that
Satan is the true epic hero; but this that does mean that he has been
endowed by Milton with a number of heroic traits.
One important effect of such similes is to contribute to the grandeur of the
poem and thus to heighten its epic character. For instance, the murmur of
applause which comes from the fallen angels at the end of Mammon’s
speech is compared to the sound of raging winds which have subsided. This
simile leads us to imagine hollow rocks, a storm which has been blowing

furiously over the ocean all night, a number of tired sailors who have kept
watch all night, a boat which now lies anchored in a rocky bay. A little
later, the sounds which are heard in a valley when the clouds have
dissolved and the sun has begun to shine brightly once again.
A characteristic of Milton’s literary style in Book II of Paradise Lost is the
extensive use of the epic simile to convey to his readers the grandeur and
the sweep of the epic poem. In this matter Milton has the benefit of his
predecessors like Homer, Virgil, Spenser and others. Milton was influenced
by them to such an extent that he often borrowed their similes. However, he
comes out best as the user of the epic simile when he is original and his
treatment of nature, myth and legend, travel and science and technical
arts.
And found no end in wandering mazes lost,
Here again the comparison does not just end here, but develops into an
elaborate and lovely Nature picture. In another comparison, we are made
to visualize Satan burning like a comet in the sky. Another simile brings
to our minds the fury of Hercules who, in his agony began to uproot the
pine-trees of Thessaly and who flung his servant Liches into the ocean. In
this way the epic similes or the long-tailed similes as they are also known,
add to the interest of the narrative and enrich the poem.
The first simile is seen in the murmur of applause which comes from the
fallen angels at the end of Mammon’s speech. This is compared to the
sound of dying winds after a storm, heard among the caves and rocks of
the coast that still retain the sound of the wind because though the storm
has ceased, the wind still continues murmuring among the rocks though
elsewhere it seems to have died away. An elaborate nature picture has
been drawn and this simile has drawn laudatory references from critics.
An epic simile as used by Milton is as long comparison of an event, object
or person with something essentially different. In the hands of Milton the
epic simile becomes a means to produce the desired effect. The writer starts
with a comparison say between A and B. as the comparison progresses, B
becomes bigger than A until it completely eclipses the first. This kind of
comparison is known as the epic simile, the long-tailed simile or the
Homeric simile.

Some critics have suggested that Milton makes use of the epic similes for
their own sake and as a result they are not integral to the epic. This
criticism may be discounted because the simile as used by Milton
conspicuously heightens the grandeur of the poem. Nor would it be correct
to state the similes are too highbrow or pedantic to go down well with the
general reader.
In the hands of Milton, the epic simile becomes a thing of pure joy. His art
lies in choosing the right word and packing the maximum meaning in
the minimum of words. Milton uses the simile to drive home a point
through an elaborate manner of presentation. It at once makes the
meaning clear through a vivid presentation. Milton makes use of a
natural occurrence, a classical allusion, a historical or actual event as
the basis for his similes. The means may be different in each case, but the
end is the same-the simile contributes to the epic grandeur of the poem.
In the next epic simile a comparison has been drawn between the athletic
contest of fallen angels and the strange appearances of the Aurora
Borealis in the sky which in the old days was supposed to portend wars and
which to the fanciful mind has the appearance of the armies fighting in
the sky. The simile reminds us of those strange sights which are sometimes
seen in the sky and which are supposed to signify ill fortune to human
beings. Milton here suggests by comparison the devilish activities of the
fallen angels who are no longer angels but have become devils. There is
another simile drawn from Greek mythology when due to an error
committed by the wife of Hercules he met with a painful death. The
purpose of the simile is to suggest that the angels are driven to feats of
desperation born of the agonies of hell.
Another celebrated simile compares Satan with outstretched wings to a
fleet of the largest ships then known-the Indiamen. It is an elaborate
picture that Milton has drawn and shows his love of exotic scenes and
associations. Just as a fleet of ships would appear to a distant observer to
be floating above the water and hanging in the clouds, so seemed Satan,
as he fled in the far distance pushing forward to cross the bounds of Hell.
It has been described as one of the most striking of Milton’s similes.

In the second epic simile the sounds of the joys of the fallen angels are
compared to the joyous sounds which are heard in a valley when the
clouds have faded away and the sun shines brightly again. The joy felt by
the fallen angels provides an occasion for Milton to bring before the
reader’s mind a most pleasing scene of Nature. The simile is important
because it marks a transition from the infernal debate of the fallen angels
and suggests a renewal of hope among them.
Satan has been compared to various objects. In confrontation with Death
he is compared to a comet with its horrid tail portending national
disasters and war. On another occasion the encounter between Satan and
Death is compared to two black clouds hovering “front to front”. It is a
nature picture showing nature red in tooth and claw.
In the hands of Milton, the epic simile is not a trick of style but comes alive
through a richness of comparison and an imaginative intensity of feeling.
The next simile relates to the figure of Sin. The dogs which surround the
figure of Sin at the waist are compared to the dogs which tormented the
monster Scylla and then to the dogs which attend on Hecate, the queen of
witches. Here the reference is to classical mythology.
On a third occasion Satan flying through the air is compared to the
monster Gryphon who is half-eagle and half-lion who chased the one-eyed
man who had stolen the gold kept in the custody of the Gryphon. The
comparison is brought out that Satan was travelling with the same
expectancy as the Gryphon.
As Milton depicts him there is something majestic about Satan as he sits
high on a “throne of royal estate”, ready to make the first speech to the
assembly of fallen angels gathered in the hall of Pandemonium.
Satan rises to his full height as a leader as he by turn humours, cajoles
and ultimately wins the confidence of the fallen angels. Satan may have
been expelled from Heaven with his fallen angels but it has not affected his
spirits. In fact he sees himself as the leader of the fallen angels. Yet he is
careful enough not to make the other angels feel that he has usurped this
position. As one used to the art of double speak he plays it both ways. He
lauds the fallen angels for making him their leader of their own choice.

In the same breath he talks of his leadership position almost as a matter of
divine right and in accordance with the fixed laws of Heaven. In order to
ensure that what he says goes down well with the fallen angels, he holds
forth on the hazards of his leadership where he stands exposed to greater
risks and dangers than all of them. As such he believes there will be no
need for any of them to feel jealous of his position. Ostensibly he asks his
followers to choose between an open war against God or action through
“covert guile”. But of, Satan has already made up his mind about his
strategy and is cleverly covering up his decision by giving it the
appearance of a consensus.
Mammon is the next speaker after Belial and he more or less underwrites
whatever Belial has said. He rejects the concept of war against God and is
in favour of maintaining the status after, the expulsion from Heaven.
However, he does not subscribe to Belial’s idea that God in course of time
will have mercy and withdraw the punishment imposed on them. He comes
out with an original suggestion that having been consigned to Hell they
should exploit the hidden treasures of the place like gems and gold and
create in Hell a place, equal in magnificence to Heaven. His proposal
draws a round of applause from the fallen angels.
Belial who follows Moloch is not Milton’s favourite for Milton introduces
him with the remark that his thoughts are low, that he understandably
has no time for noble deeds. But of, Milton says he is the handsomest of the
angels. The stand he takes is contrary to that of Satan and Moloch. Both
“open war” and “covert guile” are anathema to him and he believes in
making the best of a bad situation. For him total annihilation is much
worse than eternal suffering. He argues that if they accept their present lot
submissively, God may have pity on them and reduce their punishment.
Even if this does not come about, they would in course of time get
conditioned to their suffering in Hell and then it would not be as painful
as it is now.
Moloch is the first to speak after Satan. Milton profiles him in very
impressive language. Described as the “sceptured king”, he is strongest
and the fiercest spirit who had rebelled against God. Moloch is a militant
and he stands for an open war. His stand is based in his belief that the
fallen angels have nothing more to fear from God’s wrath, for the outcome

can be only annihilation which would be preferable to their present state
or some new state of existence and since no state of existence could be
worse than the present state that would be an improvement. He is all in
favour of an all out war against God using the very method which he has
used to torture them. Like Satan he panders to the vanity of the fallen
angels by saying that according to their nature, they must ascend and
rise and not descend and fall. As Moloch speaks he dilutes his concept of
total war to a type of guerilla warfare. None the less he swears by plan of
revenge against God.
Beelzebub who is the last speaker to address the conclave acts as the echo
of Satan. He does not exactly fall in line with Satan’s call of an open war
against God but at the same time he considers the peace policy of Belial
and Mammon as one of appeasement. He is all for taking revenge against
God and supports Satan’s idea of action in the new world to turn the newly
created race of man against God. Milton portrays Beelzebub in glowing
colours. He occupies a high seat next only to Satan. He radiates wisdom in
his outlook and compels attention in his address.
Since there are no volunteers Satan takes the floor again to tell them that
he fully understood the reasons for their reluctance to undertake such a
hazardous journey. As their leader, he adds, it is his duty to undertake the
journey for his position draws not only laurels but also dangers. He ends
up by stating that they should do all they can to make their present
condition tolerable for as long as they have to stay there.
He uses the devices worked out by Satan to win over the fallen angels. He
addresses them as “Thrones and Imperial Powers, offspring of Heaven” and
congratulates the angels for supporting his proposal of an invasion of the
new world. He calls for volunteers to undertake the journey to the new
world stating at the same time that it is fraught with the gravest of
dangers.
How subtly to detain thee I devise;
Inviting thee to hear while I relate;
Chaos is shown as having complained that at first Hell stretching far and
wide was carved out of his dominion, that is God created Hell out of space

formerly occupied by Chaos. Thus Chaos loses a certain proportion of space
when God created a new place called Hell. Thus the division of space was
between Empyrean, Chaos and Hell. Chaos suffered a further loss when the
new world with its planetary spheres was created.
Soon after his address Satan terminates the meeting fearful that there
may be a volunteer for the trip and that would endanger his position.
The word Chaos denotes a formless void or a great deep of primordial
matter. There is no real bottom of Chaos and this means that it had no
fixed dimension or boundaries. All above was Empyrean, all below was
Chaos.
Chaos is made up of four elements which are the four possible
combinations of the four principles, hot cold, moist and dry which Chaos
form chance combinations. Chaos is an ambiguous world and its moral
quality is no exception. Chaos has no power to resist evil and not being a
part of the creation it exhibits a curious affinity with the evil which
conquers it, an affinity symbolized by Satan’s pact with Chaos.
And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st ;
Milton holds that nothing once created can be annihilated by the next
chance. It will be seen there is no positive vocabulary for the description of
Chaos. Milton produces his effect by negatives; without bound or dimension
where there is no length or breadth, no time or place neither earth, air,
fire or water.
Satan’s journey through Chaos heightens not only the formless nature of
Chaos but the very hazardous nature of the journey he undertakes, no
doubt projecting Satan’s own courage, in going through with such a
mission.
Satan’s journey through Chaos requires all the courage and strength even
of Satan. He finds himself for a time falling through what was later to be
called airpocket only to be carried aloft again by a tumultuous cloud. His
ears are assailed on all sides by stunning noise. He has no idea what
direction to take until he finds the throne of Chaos and Satan’s chance

meeting with him distracts from the sense of loneliness that marks the rest
of the journey through a realm held in a sway by the monarch Chaos and
his eldest child, Night.
Satan’s meeting with the ruler of this realm is significant. Like Satan
Chaos also sits on a throne and his other name is ‘Anarch’. Like Satan he
too can be described as a prince of darkness. He shares the throne with
Night, the first of all created things. Other denizens of Chaos are tumult,
confusion, rumour and discord, making a complete mix of disorder and
desolation that Chaos is.
There is complete disorder in Chaos with the elements fighting against one
another for mastery. The elements press the embryonic atoms in their
service. The atoms are divided in their loyalties. No sooner does an
element win a victory than another civil war begins. Chaos the monarch is
himself the judge to give his decision as to which of the elements is the
winner at a particular moment. But of, Chaos being itself the
personification of confusion gives controversial decisions, thus making the
civil war an even more confused affair. Next to Chaos the highest judge is
Chance which determines the fate of everything. The confusion and
conflict in Chaos can only end if God decided to create more worlds. Only
then would harmony replace the confused fighting and disorder
prevailing in Chaos.
Milton falls back on myths and legends to chart out Satan’s journey
through Chaos. Similar journeys have earlier been undertaken by Ulysses
and Jason mainly as sea voyages. That is why we find so many allusions to
the sea in Satan’s voyage. To give him a greater dimension, Milton makes
him fly through the air also, but as he hears his destination, he is very
much like a weary seaborne traveler reaching his destination.
Chaos is agreeable to immediately come to a working arrangement with
Satan. He informs him that the new world hangs from Heaven by a golden
chain and he does not have to travel very much to reach it. Chaos is
indeed happy if Satan’s succeeds in his mission of winning over the new
world and thus taking his revenge on God.
Seeing this conglomerate in Chaos, Satan shows his caliber in not
buckling down to them. At the same time, he throws a bait to these as he

seeks their cooperation to find his way to the new world created for man by
God out of carving out a part of the empire of chaos. The bait he offers
Chaos is attractive enough. If chaos helps him find his way to the newly
created world he will find ways of restoring to Chaos, the part of the empire
that was taken away by God to create the new world.
Chaos is integral to the epic power and its significance lies in that it
becomes an ally of Satan only because they share a common hatred for
God. It gives Milton an opportunity to use his powerful imagination and
description in giving us the firm contours of this formless shape.
From Milton’s description of the ruler of Chaos the reader gets the
impression that he is opportunistic enough to let others battle for him
while he gives himself importance in proclaiming that he resides on the
frontier of Chaos so as to be in a better position to defend his empire
against encroachments.
Chaos like Hell is a state of mind and Milton has a purpose in delineating
it. While Hell has been depicted as a place of torment and torture, Chaos is
far removed from Hell and has been presented by Milton duly as a realm of
disorder. In fact Milton offers some consolation by stating that God carved
out a territory from Chaos to create his new world for Man.
Hell as described in Book I was a place of torture. Though a flaming
inferno there was in it just as much -light as to make the darkness visible.
The light also served to show the other regions of? Hell, the regions of
sorrow where a flood of fire raged fed by the ever burning sulphur that was
never exhausted. This was the Hell created by God after the revolt of the
angels in preparation for their inevitable defeat.
By indicating that Hell is both a state of mind and a place Milton gives his
conception a double dimension in accordance with prevailing religious
beliefs. He meets the religious requirements of those who believe that Hell is
an abode of damned souls along with the fallen angels. For those who
accept that Hell is a state of mind Milton gives the place a symbolic or
allegorical significance. Hell for this school of thought exists in this very
life and not the next life. When a sinner commits sin and has the remorse
of guilt on his conscience, he is already in Hell. The mental torture that
the sinner goes through is symbolized by the everlasting flames of Hell. The

fallen angels themselves symbolically represent the sinners of this earth
with one difference that while the sinners can repent for their sins, the
fallen angels are unrepentant.
In Book II Milton strengthens his description because Hell is an
inseparable party of the format of the epic poem.
In keeping with his own environment, Milton depicts Hell in the grimmest
of colours. It is the universe of death because those angels who rejected God
must experience a living death even as God is a source of life for those
angels who were loyal to him. When the fallen angels enter Hell and
discuss it as a place of evil for the first time they come face to face with the
plight of their position in Hell. This realization becomes worse with the
knowledge that this state of suffering will last for ever.
While Milton conceived the story of Paradise Lost from, the Bible, Hell had
to remain an integral part of his scheme. For his description of Hell Milton
had to rely upon two sources, the Bible itself and classical mythology. In
both he found the description adequate. In Book II of Paradise Lost he has
enriched this with the strength of his imagination. The outcome is that
hell becomes the fit dwelling place for all those monstrous and abhorrent
sinners who are considered more monstrous than the Hydras and the
Chimeras of classical mythology. By placing in it all conceivable
instruments of torture Milton has fallen in line with religious thinking on
the idea of hell because it fitted in admirably with his conceit of the
situation. That is why both sin and death have been placed in this abode
because Milton thought it proper that these figures with their horrific and
frightening shapes had to find their proper place in the configuration of
Hell. Both of them have a role to play in sending people to Hell and this
accords well with Milton’s views on the subject.
Milton’s depiction of Hell gives life to the view that Hell is a state of mind
as well as a place by his accurate juxtaposition of the mind to the place.
The freedom with which the poetry moves from the exterior to the inner
landscape obliges us to give each word in it a continuous extension of the
significance. Other poets have elaborated conventionally on the torments
of Hell but not everyone has been able to give their description an inner as
well as architectural meaning.

The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed
This friendly condescension to relate
Things, else by me unsearchable; now heard
With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,
With glory attributed to the high
Creator.
There is also a river called Lethe, a river of forgetfulness, and beyond it is
frozen continent torn by storms of whirlwind and hailstone. The continent
contains a gulf and a marsh and serbonis which has swallowed up whole
armies who tried to cross it. In the continent the damned souls feel at once
the intense cold and the scorning heat. Milton gives a purpose in placing
the river Lethe in the contours of Hell. The damned souls have to cross the
river by a boat. Though drinking the waters cause one to forget all pain
and suffering, the damned souls cannot drink the water because it moves
away from them when they try to drink it. A monster called Medusa is
another deterrent to the damned souls if they try to drink the waters.
Milton has introduced four rivers flowing through Hell and discharging
their waters into the burning lake. There is a river called Styx which is the
river of bitter hatred. There is Acheron, the river of woe the waters of which
are black and deep. There is Cocytus, a river for wailing and lamentation
and there is Phlegethon, the waves of which are made of flames of fire.
In describing the horrors of Hell, Milton puts apt descriptions in the
mouths of various speakers. Moloch refers to Hell as ‘this dark opprobrious
den of shame’ and ‘the prison of God’s tyranny’. Belial speaks of the
eternal woe which the fallen angels have to experience. In another place
he speaks of the ‘rim fires’ which are burning in Hell. There is another
graphic description of the cataracts of fire which the firmament of Hell
can spout forth. Mammon is shown as wondering what he can get out of
Hell specially from the diamonds and gold which he believes lie buried in
the soil of Hell. Like other speakers both Beelzebub and Satan are obsessed
by the flames of Hell. Beelzebub describes them as corrosive fire and Satan
refers to Hell as a ‘huge convex of fire’.

In drawing the geography of Hell Milton has departed from previous
allusions on the subject. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, Hell is situated in the
centre of the earth but Milton has located it in the lowest regions of Chaos.
Milton tells us as much when he brings out in Satan’s talks with the
Anarch that Hell was originally a part of Chaos and was carved out by
God after the revolt of the angels to be their dwelling place fitted with all
the instruments of torture. In Milton’s concept Hell is situated below
Heaven, a fact which is confirmed with many references to the rebellious
angels who descended from Heaven after their revolt.
The disobedience of man is brought about through Satan; as an indirect
agent: he seduces man in revenge for the punishment inflicted on him
and his crew for their disobedience to God. Therefore, the action of the
poem takes place not in one spot, but in three different places separated by
infinity of distances: the Material Universe, Hell and Heaven, and
between all of them lies Chaos. The vast comprehension of the story, both in
space and in time leading up to the point of Man’s first disobedience
makes Paradise Lost unique among epics, and entitles Milton to speak of it
as involving “things yet unattempted in prose and rhyme.” Milton was
confronted with the problem of rendering all this incomprehensible
infinity plausible and credible, and he did it by presenting it symbolically
in terms of human experience. The poet himself is careful to stress the point
that he has been obliged to place the spiritual on the material plane, and
that his pictures are purely symbolical, not literal, since human language
must be employed to describe what is beyond human understanding. Once
he has thus excused and explained himself, he is quite clear in his mind as
to the divisions of Infinite Space. He proceeds about his business with
mathematical precision even. His pictures therefore are well-defined.
Book II gives the fullest picture of the deep of Chaos the “lower” part of
Infinitude, but in words which are at best symbolical. Its appearance is
struck off in about half-a dozen lines of the most beautiful poetry. It is ‘a
huge, limitless ocean, abyss or quagmire, of universal darkness and
lifelessness, wherein are jumbled in blustering confusion the elements of
all matter, or rather the crude embryons of all the elements ere as, yet they
are distinguishable. Therefore is no light there, not properly Earth, Water,
Air, or Fire, but only a vast pulp or welter of unformed matter, in which all
these lie tempestuously intermixed.’

Satan’s experience does not belie his fears. He is environed round on all
sides with these fighting elements. He is harder “beset than when Argo
passed through Bosporus, betwixt the jostling rocks, or when Ulysses on the
larboard shunned Charybdis, and by other whirlpool steered.”
It is the hoariest in Infinite Time, having existed coeval with Heaven.
From it other worlds have come into being- first Hell, later the Material
Universe. Thus it is the womb of Nature and, when these worlds shall again
be destroyed, her grave as well. Being illimitable and unbottomed, the
way through it is described as long and hard. The turbulence of the
elements in their embryonic state is so fierce that there is the danger of an
object being crushed and reduced to its atoms, if caught in their welter.
Satan fears as much when he describes the difficulties of the adventure in
the assembly.
It is possible to distinguish, though symbolically, some of the regions of this
vast abrupt from the description that Milton gives of Satan’s voyage
through it. The resistance of this nameless consistency is felt less by Satan
in the first stage of his adventure, when he seems carried upward
effortlessly, as in a cloud-chair, buoyed up by the surging smoke from the
furnace mouth of Hell. But of, soon he comes upon a region which appears
to be a complete vacuity, for “all unawares, fluttering his pennons vain,
plumb-down he drops ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour had
been falling,” were it not for an unexpected accident. In this region where
Chance rules as governor, he alights upon a “tumultuous cloud”, charged
with fire and saltpeter and signed by it, he is shot upward till another
accident drops him in a boggy Syrtis, where the flame which seemed to
consume him is quenched. Thence it is neither sea, nor good dry land, but
bog and cliff, an atmosphere which is at once “strait, rough, dense or
rare”, and Satan is obliged to use all his limbs to keep himself adrift. Here
are the frontiers of Chaos, but they are yet so far removed from Heaven
that it is darkness all round. The last lap of Satan’s journey has yet to be
passed through the warring elements, before the extremity verging on
Heaven is reached. In this farthest verge, dimly lit by Heaven’s brightness,
Chaos has retired, ‘as from her outmost words, a broken foe, with tumult
less, and with less hostile din.” Resistance here is very little, and Satan can
waft himself as it were on calmer wave in dubious light till he reaches the
outermost shell of the Material Universe.

Milton divides Infinite Space roughly into two regions, the “upper” being a
region of light, Heaven or Empyrean, and the “lower” being a region of
darkness, Chaos. The impression we get of Heaven from Book II is that it is
“undetermined square or round, with opal towers and battlements
adorned, of living sapphire.” It is the bright and boundless region of
Light, Freedom, Happiness, and Glory, which the fallen angels regret
having lost altogether. It is fortified by impregnable walls, which are
closely guarded by ever-wakeful sentries; yet the sacred influence of its
light diffuses on the verge of Chaos, so that Satan arriving here in his
flight to the world finds it more easy to traverse. In the midst of this region
the Deity, though omnipresent, has His immediate and visible dwelling.
‘He is surrounded by a vast population of beings, “the Angels” or the “Sons
of God”, who draw near to His throne in worship, derive thence their
nurture and their delight, and yet live dispersed through all the ranges
and recesses of the region, leading severally their mighty lives and
performing the behests of God, but organized into companies, orders, and
hierarchies. But of, Heaven at large, or portions of it, are figured as tracts
of a celestial Earth, with plain, hill, and valley, wherein the myriads of the
Sons of God expatiate, in their two orders of Seraphim and Cherubim, and
in their descending ranks as Archangels or Chiefs, Princes of various
degrees, and individual Intelligences.’
Such is the stupendous picture that Milton gives us of this hoary deep.
Heaven and Chaos divided the Infinite of Space between them at the
beginning of time: but soon a need arose for the creation of more worlds.
Chaos, the Anarch himself, refers with regret to it, when he speaks of God
having made inroads into his domain, and first scooped off a space called
Hell, and later “another world hung o’er my realm, linked in a golden
chain to that side of Heaven from whence Satan and his legions fell.”
The atoms being in a perpetual state of war, their collisions fill the
atmosphere with loud noises. Satan’s ears are pealed “with noises loud and
ruinous”, more clamorous than those made by the battering engines of
Bellona bent on raising a city, or by the Earth when she is torn from her
axle by the fall of Heaven. As he approaches the throne of Chaos his ears
are assailed by “a universal hubbub wild of stunning souring and voices
all confused.” These noises become still only in the confines of Heaven.

Hell is pictured as a region shut in by a “convex of fire” and barred by
thrice three-folded gates, guarded by two Shapes- Sin and Death. The
gates are described in some detail. Three folds are of brass, three of iron,
and three of adamantine rock. They are impaled with circling fire and
protected by a portcullis which none but Sin could draw up. The gates are
fastened by bolts and bars and secured by a lock of a very intricate
pattern. Sin has to turn all the intricate wards with her key, and then “on
a sudden open fly, with impetuous recoil and jarring sound the infernal
doors, and on their hinges grate harsh thunder that the lowest bottom of
Erebus shook.” The wide –open gates can give passage to a whole bannered
host with its extended wings, horse and chariots ranked in loose array.
Out of the mouth of Hell, as from a furnace belch forth, “redounding
smoke and ruddy flame.”
The ruler of this Infinite Abyss is Chaos. ‘Though the presence of God is
there potentially too, it is still, as it were, actually retracted thence, as
from a realm unorganized and left to Night and Anarchy; nor do any of
the angels wing down into its repulsive obscurities. The crystal floor or wall
of Heaven divides them from it; underneath which, and unvisited of light,
save what may glimmer through upon its nearer strata, it howls and rages
and staggers eternally.’
Of the other world, the Material Universe, there is not much of a
description in Book II. The rumour of its creation was long current in
Heaven, before it actually came into existence. The moment of its creation
arrived when a void was created in Heaven by the fall of Satan and his
crew. God then sent His Son forth, and with his golden compasses, he
centered one point of them where he stood and turned the other through
the obscure profundity around (VII-224-231) (. Thus were marked out, or
cut out through the body of Chaos, the limits of the new Universe of Man,-
the Starry Universe which to us seems measureless, and the same as infinity
itself, but which is really only a beautiful azure sphere or drop, insulated
in Chaos, and hung at its topmost point or zenith from the Empyrean.
Chaos mentions it as hung by a golden chain from that side of Heaven
whence Satan and his legions fell.
Hell is described in the book as stretching far and wide beneath Chaos. It
is a kind of Antarctic region, distinct from the body of Chaos proper. It is a

vast region of fire, sulphurous lake, plain and mountain, and of all forms
of fiery and icy torment. In the midst is the bottomless lake of fire on which
Satan and his crew were hurled down on their fall. Into it pour the four
rivers- “Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Sad Acheron of sorrow,
black and deep; Cocytus, named of lamentations loud heard on the rueful
stream; fierce Phlegethon, whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.”
Around the lake a vast space of dry land extends, formed of solid fire, with
mountains, fens and bogs, full of mineral wealth. On one of these hills
Pandemonium has been built entire, which rose out of it, when formed,
like an exhalation. The City of Hell is afterwards built round
Pandemonium on this dry ground of fire, and the country round the city
is broken with rock, and valley, and hill, and plain. Further on, in
another concentric band, we catch a glimpse of a desert land, “a frozen
continent”, beat with perpetual storms of whirlwind and dire hail, which
on firm land thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems of ancient pile.”
The damned are brought hither by a “harpy-footed Furies,” and they are
make to feel “by turns the bitter change of fierce extremes, extremes by
change more fierce, from beds of raging fire to starve in ice their soft
ethereal warmth, and there to pine immovable infixed, and frozen round,
periods of time, thence hurried back to fire.” Lethe, the river of oblivion,
flows round this region, and rolls eternally her watery labyrinth. The
damned, on their way to and from the region of solid and liquid fire and
this icy desert, have to cross this sound, and, parched and fry as their
throats are, the moment they stoop to drink of its waters, they roll back
from their lips. Medusa and Gorgonian terror guards the ford, and
prevents the sufferers from allaying their thrust.
The contours of this region are thus defined by Milton-“dark and dreary
vale”, “region dolorous”, “frozen and fiery Alp”, “rocks, caves, lakes, fens,
bogs, dens, and shades of death”.
The new universe does not consist merely of the Earth, but the entire
firmament of planets, stars, etc. in mapping it, Milton adopts the
unscientific conception of the universe then current, which had been
propounded by the Greek astronomer, Ptolemy, in the second century A.D.,
and later expanded by Alphonso X king of Castile in the thirteenth
century. According to this teaching the Earth was fixed in the centre of the
Universe. It was also the centre of a system of concentric Spheres, not

solid, but of transparent space , each of which carried with it one of the
seven planets, in the following order-the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun,
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Beyond these seven Spheres was an eighth
Sphere, containing the Firmament of the fixed Stars. The Crystalline Sphere
was a ninth Sphere that was invented to account for the very slow
“precision of the equinoxes”, one revolution of which occupied over 25,000
years; and beyond this was the last and tenth Sphere, the only one that
was material, being absolutely opaque and impenetrable. This outer shell
was called the Primum Mobile, the first moved, because it was believed to
be the first created Sphere to be set in motion.
Milton’s daring conception is yet further revealed in linking the Material
Universe with Hell. Satan had to wing his way through the abortive gulf
and run through many risks in doing so. But of, to facilitate the passage
to and fro of the human race, on the one hand, and the devils, on the
other, a bridge was built across Chaos between Hell and the Material
Universe by Sin and Death soon after Man’s fall. It is “of wondrous length,”
writes Milton, “from Hell continued, reaching the utmost orb, of this frail
world.”
There prevailed at the time, indeed, a more accurate conception of the
Material Universe, which was formulated by Copernicus, a Polish monk
and astronomer of the fifteenth century. It taught that Earth and the
other planets revolve about the Sun. Milton was familiar with it also,
through his acquaintance with Galileo. But of, in mapping his universe in
Paradise Lost, he preferred the Ptolemaic to the Copernican system,
because it was more generally known and universally adopted. ‘Yet as to
the proportions of this world to the total map Milton dares to be exact. The
distance from its nadir or lowest point to the upper boss of hell is exactly
equal to its own radius; or in other words, the distance of Hell- gate from
Heaven-gate is exactly three radii of the Human or Material Universe.’
Satan once again impresses us as being fit to be an epic hero. At the very
outset in Book II, he is described as being seated on a “throne of royal
state” in the midst of great splendor. We are told that from his despair he
has been “uplifted beyond hope” and that now he is aspiring to rise even
higher. He is insatiate to pursue his war against Heaven even though his
war is doomed to fail. He tells his comrades that he has not given up

Heaven as lost; and he gives them as assurance that they would rise again
to Heaven and would, in fact appear to be more glorious and more awful
than if they had not suffered and fall. In his second speech Satan again
impresses us greatly, this time by offering to undertake a hazardous
journey in search of the new world created by God. While none of the other
fallen angels comes forward to undertake this arduous and dangerous
task. Satan is ready to go. He speaks of the royal powers and the royal
privileges which he enjoys as their leader and he therefore believes that it
is his duty to undertake the task and that has been proposed. This
certainly raises him in our estimation. He is not even prepared to take a
companion with him: “This enterprise none shall partake with me.”
And how would the Ptolemaic theory stand? In the light of this knowledge
how much more absurd it would be that their Stellar Firmament with its
immeasurable radius of over 100, 000 light-year “turns about once every
twice twelve hours.” And if they found it difficult to believe this of the
“great round Earthly Ball,” how would they taken to the discovery that the
planet Jupiter, over 1300 times as large, turns round in ten hours?
Milton’s cosmography is not entirely imaginary. ‘For the material data
which he found necessary to his representation he restored to all manner
of sources and to his own invention, employing Scriptural suggestions
wherever possible and taking pains to add nothing which would be
directly contrary to Holy Writ. It is not to be thought that he offered such
details as the causeway from Hell to Earth, the chain by which the visible
universe depended from Heaven, or the spheres themselves which encircled
the earth and carried the planets and fixed stars, as obligatory to the
understanding. They were simply imaginative representations which
might or might not correspond to actuality. Sometimes he is deliberately
vague, as when he says that Heaven is “undetermined square or round.”
Often his concrete detail or measurement is useful only for the moment
and defies adoption into the general scheme, as where he says that the
distance from Hell to Heaven was three times the distance from the centre
of the earth to the pole of the uttermost encircling sphere.’
For these reasons it is misleading to consider the plan of Milton’s Infinite
Space as one of his deliberate convictions. One wonders how he would have
arranged his ideas in the light of modern discoveries. Distances in the

Universe (according to these discoveries), are so enormous that the mile
must be discarded entirely as the unit of distance, its place being taken by
the light-year, i.e., the distance through which a ray of light, travelling at
186,000 miles a second, is propagated in a year. Yet for star systems and
nebulae have been discovered by the camera at the inconceivable distance
of 100,000light-years, and there are others still beyond, supposed by some
astronomers to be separate universe, but still within the limits of the
material creation. What would Milton have bought had he known this?
Would not Raphael’s words to Adam (VIII, 110-114) have taken on a new
meaning?
Both Sin and death are conceived and presented with propriety. Sin which
is delectable in commission and hideous in its effect t, is aptly pictured as
a woman fair from the waist upward but foul downward, ending her
body “in many a scaly fold, voluminous and vast, a serpent armed with
mortal sting.” Around her middle cluster a pack of hounds which never
cease their barking. They are her offspring, and when disturbed they
kennel in her womb, still continuing their howls within her body. They are
described as horrid in appearance, and worse than those that afflicted
Scylla, or which accompanied the night- hag, when she came riding
through the air to dance with the Lapland witches. They feed on her
bowls, and are a constant vexation to her. The description of the
appearance of Sin reads like a visible embodiment of these words of
William Dyer, a contemporary of Milton: “There is more bitterness in sin’s
ending that there edger was sweetness in its acting- If you see nothing but
good in its commission, you will suffer only woe in its conclusion.” Whereas
in Hell-hounds that afflict her within and without, her own offspring, we
see the symbolical presentation of the consequences of sin.
These are some of the stunning discoveries made by modern astronomy
even of that Material Universe, which Milton planned with such perfect
simplicity. If these take our breath away, then what must be those
undiscovered bourns, Heaven, Chaos and Hell, about which modern
science is yet skeptical? Milton’s scheme looks insignificant and incoherent
before all this knowledge. Yet what a staggering and stupendous
conception he has given it all! The imagination is properly impressed by
the infiniteness of the conception, and, with Theseus, in Shakespeare’s play,
we are prepared to sympathise with him, and to regard “the best in this

kind” to be no more than a shadow, “and the worst no worse, if
imagination amend them.”
Into a poem which deals very largely with supernatural agents, Milton
introduces two shapes, the sinister figure of Sin and the grim and horrid
monster, Death, who meets Satan at Hell-gate, and prevents his egress. The
adequacy of their portraiture has been praised, but their consistency as
allegorical personages has been questioned. Stopford A. Brooke, for
example, writes thus: “Death’s image has claimed admiration and justly;
but if the lines, which leave him indefinite, yet ‘terrible as Hell’, are
sublime, the rest of the allegory of him and of Sin is so definite, so
conscious of allegory, that it loses sublimity.” Addison was the first critic
to draw attention to the inconsistency of the representation. While
admitting that it is a “very beautiful and well-invented allegory,” he
added, “I cannot but think that persons of such a chimerical existence are
proper actors in an epic poem; therefore, there is not the measure of
probability annexed b to them which is requisite in writings of this kind.”
Finally, Johnson regarded the allegory as ‘unskilful’’ and complained
that it is broken when “Sin and Death stop the journey of Satan, a journey
described as real, and when Death offers him battle.” “That Sin and Death
should have shown the way”, he continued,” to Hell, might have been
allowed: but they cannot facilitate the passage by building a bridge,
because the difficulty of Satan’s passage is described as real and sensible.
And the bridge ought to be only figurative.” A careful analysis will show
that Milton has secured consistency of portraiture, though in the
allegorical significance that we read into it, the sublimity of the episode is
a little detracted.
Death, the grisly horror, which all of us dread, but which cannot be
imagined by us in any form, is properly presented as a shape that is
shapeless. The vagueness with which it is invested is in perfect keeping with
our own conception of it. “Black it stood as Night, Fierce as ten Furies,
terrible as Hell, and shook a fearful dart.” Coleridge has well remarked:
“The grandest effects of poetry are where the imagination is called forth to
produce, not a distinct form, but a strong working of the mind, still
offering what is still repelled, and again creating what is again rejected:
the result being what the poet wishes to impress, viz., the sublime feeling of

the imaginable for the mere images.” Such a stupendous feat of the
imagination is this animation of what man dreads most instinctively.
The allegory, here, does not consist in the mere personification of an
abstraction, but in its relation to Sin. We read in the Bible that the wages
of sin is death, and Milton had made Death the offspring of Sin, just as he
had made Sin the offspring of evil thought and the consort of the devil.
Interrupting the mortal combat of Satan with Death, which would have
ended either or both, Sin relates her history. To Satan who has forgotten
her, she recounts how she rose from the left side of his head, like Juno, on a
day in Heaven, when he was complotting rebellion against God.
But of, Milton does not stop with rendering in visual form what merely
passes in the mind. He shows also how we become reconciled to sin and
finally hardened in it. “Amazement” seized all the heavenly host, she says
continuing her narrative to Satan they reconciled in fear, and called her
Sin, and held her for a portentous sign. But of, when she had grown
familiar, she pleased “the most averse” among them, “and with attractive
graces won thee chiefly , who full oft thyself in me thy perfect image
viewing becam’st enamoured; and such joy thou took’st with me in secret,
that my womb conceived.” The allurements of sin are here well bodied
forth, and the whole passage reads like an artist’s picture of the text: “Sin
is first pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful, then frequent, then
habitual, then confirmed.” The association with and the commission of sin
lead inevitably in the end to hideous death; and so the offspring of Sin in
the poem is the grim monster, Death. The final ruin, with all its throes and
travail, is befittingly, presented in the picture o Sin’s confinement.
Milton completes the picture of Sin and Death by remarking further that
just as sin ends in violent death, so death is passionately fond of sinners.
Hence he makes Death, as soon as he emerges from the womb of Sin fall
lustfully in love with her, and become the father of all that brood of
hounds, the affliction of sin, we have noticed above. The poet seals their
permanent union in the words he places on the lips of Sin, that Death
would have destroyed her.
Death shall cease when Sin becomes extinct. The destruction of the one
involves the ruin of the other. Milton thus a perfect picture of the origin of

sin in the mind of man, his being hardened in it, the evil consequences
that follow, and the violent end to which it finally leads him.
The adequacy of the portraiture and its vividness cannot be doubted. But
of, while genesis of sin is sublime enough, its later history is full of such
gruesome details that it tends to detract from loftiness. It cannot but be
otherwise, since there is nothing elevated in the consanguinity of Sin and
death. The representation, however, is hideous enough and impressive.
The characters of sin and death are thus firmly drawn, once their reality
is granted, all their deeds become plausible; there is nothing inconsistent
in them, as Dr. Johnson contended. It is but natural that Death, the
shadowy giant, should bar Satan’s way, and offer to fight him, for death
makes no distinction between saint and sinner. Sin does well to remind
Satan that Death’s dart is mortal, that he is unconquerable except by him
“who rules above”. Neither is it strange that Sin should be the first to fall a
victim to Satan’s temptation. He offers to bring her to the place “where
thou and Death shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen wing
silently the buxom air, embalmed with odours,” and she jumps at the offer,
while death, the gourmand, smacks his greedy lips in joyous anticipation
of the goodly feast he shall soon have. Sin hastens to open the three-folded
gates; the portcullis slides to her touch, her key swiftly turns the intricate
wards, and every belt and bar of massy iron or solid rock unfasten with
ease. There is no inconsistency either in these persons quickly spanning the
distance from Chaos to the Earth by a bridge, for they are eager to get into
the new habitation. Thus Milton’s presentation of these two characters
doesnot impinge rudely upon our credulity. On the other hand, they are
satisfying portraits of the two deadly evils of this world.
He takes the fallen angels on an ego trip when he tells them that Hell will
not be able to contain them because of their angelic nature.
At the same time pandering to their vanity he tells them that after rising
to Heaven again, they will never have to fear a second fall. And he
establishes his supremacy over them by asserting that he has risen to his
high position not only through his own merit but also because he deserved
this position according to “the fixed laws of Heaven.”

In order not to rub the fallen angels on the wrong side he at the same
time tells them that they have elected him as their leader of their own,
“free choice”.
Milton makes use of Beelzebub to bring out some of the more repulsive
facets of Satan’s character. Beelzebub rejects Moloch’s idea of an open war
and goes all out in support of a plan aimed at confounding the race of
mankind in one root and at mingling and involving Earth with Hell to
spite the great creator. To highlight Satan’s craftiness Milton tells us that
such a wicked plan could only emanate from “the author of all ill.” By
making Beelzebub come forward with the proposal, Satan wants some
devilishness of the scheme to rub on Beelzebub’s shoulders so that Satan
can comparatively shine in a better light.
Every word that Satan utters is loaded with meaning. “O Progeny of
Heaven” he calls the fallen angels in his second address to them hoping
against hope that their expulsion from Heaven will not make a dent on
them. He can almost congratulate himself on the success he has achieved
for the fallen angels bow to him “with awful reverence” and extol him
“equal to the highest in Heaven”.
Another aspect of his character is brought out in his dealings with Sin and
Death. At first Satan tried his bluff and bluster on Death but when he
realized that death was not unbearable, he pragmatically came to terms
with them. He tactfully solicits the help of Chaos to carry him to the new
world where he hopes to plan his revenge on god.
In depicting Satan’s character, Milton has deliberately not indicated
whether the logical flaws in Satan’s opening speech are the result of a
conscious effort to soothe his followers or due to a genuine self delusion.
According to one critic, the utterances of Moloch, Belial, Mammon and
Beelzebub represent not merely individual contributions to a debate but
also a train of thoughts which passes through the mind of Satan.
Macallum shows up the inconsistencies in Satan’s speech and the change it
reveals in his character. There is a contrast and a touch of duplicity
between what Satan says when he is alone with his second in command,
Beelzebub, and what he says when he is speaking in public. Milton brings
this out in a very subtle manner showing clearly Satan’s power of double

think. At one moment the leader of the fallen angels is convinced that his
fallen angels are invincible while at the same time he accepts that
constant vigilance is necessary to prevent its overthrow. Another example
of his double think is seen in the ability of the fallen angels to strike back
at God. His confident words to his fallen angels have a veneer of deception.
Quite often one gets the feeling that Satan becomes a victim of his own
propaganda and it is difficult to tell whether he is speaking out of
conviction or he becomes a victim of his deceit.
Milton’s portrayal of Satan is in conformity with the progress of the action
ion the epic.
In the early scenes of Book II Satan is portrayed as a defiant leader
shedding his charisma on the fallen angels. As the epic advances, a
gradual change overtakes Satan as he begins his downward slide from the
moments of high grandeur of the early scenes. As Satan is caught in the
work of his own self-destruction, the effects of his fall becomes evident as
the epic moves to its inevitable conclusion.
“Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught, ‘’
Many eminent critics of the twentieth century have
explained the hollowness of the romantic attitude towards the character of
Satan that was held in the nineteenth century.
Milton has endowed Satan with all the traits of double think and double
speak. In fact this comes so naturally to Satan that one could look upon
him as faithful representative of the politicians of our own day. He is cast
in this mould and his very first utterance as he opens the debate is typical
of him. He addresses the fallen angels as ‘powers and dominions’, ‘deities
of Heaven’. The address is typical of his egoism. He panders to the vanity of
the fallen angels by addressing them with the same attributes that they
once possessed. He is clever enough to adopt this posture to stress the fact
that there has been no change in their status even though they have been
expelled from Heaven.

Similarly, when Satan goes on to argue that Hell will be unable to hold
them because of their angelic nature, the assumption is that they remain
heavenly although expelled from Heaven, which seems somewhat
unrealistic. When he continues with the comment that when they do rise,
they will be more glorious than if they had fallen one notices that Satan is
confusing military glory with the true glory of Heaven.
It has been pointed out very clearly that the speech of Satan is full of
inconsistencies and his character has undergone a major change, change
for the worse. Alan Rudrum has analysed Satan’s opening speech in Book
II: “The debate is opened by Satan, seated as Chairman ‘high on a throne
of royal state’. The tone and substance of his speech is foreshadowed in the
very first line, in which he addresses his colleagues as ‘powers and
dominions’ deities of Heaven.’ This in itself contains no direct statement,
but the implication is that no radical change has occurred as a result of
their rebellion and defeat at the hands of God. It is as futile as if a
number of demoted officers were to agree that among themselves they
should keep up the pretence of retaining their former rank, a comforting
gesture but ultimately pointless because they are out of touch with reality.”
We cannot rebel against a government and at the same time derive our
position among our followers from the dignity we once held within it.
Satan seems on surer ground in pointing out that no one will envy him his
leadership in Hell because leadership there involves pre-eminence in
suffering, but note the argument he develops from this. He says that as no
one in Hell will envy him his position, there will be unity and strength
among the fallen angels, and they will therefore, be more likely to succeed
in claiming their ‘just’ inheritance than if their initial rebellion had been
successful.
From this it seems natural for him to go on to reassert his position of
leadership among the fallen angels, and we certainly concede that he is
audacious when we hear him deriving his leadership from the ‘fixed laws
against which he had rebelled.
It is difficult to decide whether the logical flaws in Satan’s opening speech
are the result of a conscious attempt to deceive his followers or due to
genuine self-delusion. At all events, Satan’s recklessness, and his apparent

inability to face facts are carried over into Moloch’s speech, which
immediately follows. One critic has usefully suggested that the utterance of
Moloch, Belial, Mammon and Beelzebub represent not merely individual
contributions to a debate, but also a train of thought which passes
through the mind of Satan. Between them they canvass all possibilities but
repentance, and the conclusion they arrive at, given their initial
assumptions, is the only feasible one. Revenge, on some terms, they must
have and as they cannot hurt God directly they will injure man instead.
Quite apart from the fact that there is no evidence that their initial
failure was due to dissensions within the ranks, this is simply ‘double
think’- unless we concede that God has treated them unfairly, had
displaced them from a ‘just inheritance’, unless in fact we can see ground
for agreeing that their rebellion had been justified. Probably Satan’s
speech should be read as a ‘morale booster’ and the true hopelessness of the
matter can be gauged from its inaccuracy as an analysis of the situation.
It will emerge later that Satan has a different idea in mind, but for the
moment he wants his followed to discuss their reascent to Heaven, and
invites their opinions as to whether open war or covert guile, will best
bring this about.
Satan has already chalked the mode of revenge he will adopt in his war
against God but he wants to make the fallen angels believe that he is
being guided by them in charting out their future course of action. Very
adroitly he says,” who can advise may speak” as he invites their opinions to
wage open war or convert guile to bring about the objectives. He doesnot
utter an unnecessary word but he ensures that what he says goes home.
Like one born to leadership he is quick to point out that no one will envy
him his leadership he is quick to point out that no one will envy him his
leadership in Hell because he would be exposed to much greater suffering
from God than any one of them. On the other hand, they had their just
inheritance to achieve if they adopted the right means.
Macallum has drawn our attention to the inconsistencies in Satan’s speech
in Book II and the change it reveals in his character. The contrast
between what Satan says when he is alone with his second in command,
Beelzebub, and what he says when he is speaking in public draws attention
to this duplicity. He is, after all, the father of lies.

Milton’s treatment of satanic description is extremely subtle and deserves
careful attention. Satan possesses the capacity that George Orwell, in his
study of totalitarianism in 1984 described as the power of ‘double think’-
the power of entertaining two contradictory opinions at the same time.
For example, the ideal member of the ruling class is convinced in part of
his mind that his party is invincible and omniscient, while with another
part of his mind he recognizes that constant vigilance is necessary to
prevent its overthrow. In a similar manner Satan both does and doesnot
believe in the ability of his army to strike back against God. His
encouraging words to his troops are half deception. Like many dictators
he shows a tendency to believe his own propaganda and it is impossible to
distinguish clearly at any given moment between his real convictions and
the sophistry by which he controls his followers. In cutting himself off from
God, Satan has rejected the sources of reason and consequently he loses his
grip on reality.
Although he still has a few moments of grandeur left, the general progress
of his development is downward. Milton shows us Satan’s admirable

qualities first, then explores the manner in which his denial of God’s
perverts his virtues and turns his power into weakness.
A further word has to be said on the paradoxical view that Satan is the
hero of Paradise Lost. This appears true only if we accept the traditional
epic idea of the hero as a great warrior and leader. But of, Milton as he
stresses everywhere in the poem, had a very different idea of the heroic.
The hero as martyr, who suffers patiently and refuses to the death to
renounce hi God, is the central idea of Paradise Regained and Samson
Agonistes as well as of Paradise Lost. His idea of the heroic, along with his
own heroic temper, is what puts Milton among the great poets of the world.
Undoubtedly Milton found inspiration for the figures of Sin and Death in
a biblical passage: “Thus when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin,
and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth dead”. From this cryptic
statement Milton has visualized and etched the allegorical figures of Sin
and death. Both are drawn with a wealth of detail. Sin is part woman,
part serpent while Death a shadowy monarch who wields a dreadful dart,
is made brightening by reason of his lack of clear and solid shape. Milton
has painted both of them with lurid colours, specially their origin.
Sin and Death are no mere decorative pieces in this epic poem. Through
their presence and their allegory the poet drives home the point that evil
turns back on itself endlessly repeating the same sterile and self-destructive
acts. He adds a further significance to their characters by his
description. Death is shown to be something awful and mysterious. He
doesnot depict any details but leaves the readers with a vague terrifying
impression of a misty, shadowy but nevertheless a majestic presence.
And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.

This is the best example of what Macaulay calls “the dim intimations of
Milton”. He begins by calling Death a shape, then he qualifies this by
saying that it had no shape- a shapeless shape. Then he adds that this
shapeless shape could not be called a substance or shadow. He doesnot
speak of his head or his crown but what seemed his head had on-the
likeness of a kingly crown. The impact of the description is black and
menacing and becomes the more sinister because it just a shadow.
The portrait drawn by Milton of sin is ugliness personified. The poet has
used the female form to represent Sin and one can rightly call it Milton’s
masterpiece of filth. Sin describes how she sprang fully grown from the brow
of Satan at the moment of his rebellion in Heaven. Satan has an
incestuous relationship with her. She is mistress as well as daughter and
from this union is born death, so aptly labeled by Milton as “this odious
offspring”. The incestuous relationship continues with Death becoming the
lover of his parent. His progeny are the yelling monsters that continuously
torment their mother.
Alterbury in a letter to Pope challenged to show in Homer anything equal
to the allegory of Sin and Death. On the other hand Johnson believes that
“this unskillful allegory appears to me one of the greatest faults of the
poem.” Hanford describes the episodes as loathsome but believes it has a
purpose by making us aware of the real ugliness of Sin and Death.
Macaffery suggests that Sin and Death inhabit a necessary borderline
between myth and allegory, “between a world where physical and spiritual
forces are identical and a world where spiritual force is merely indicated
by physical.” Summer is happy about the characterisation specially as it
places Satan in perspective and establishes the necessary relation in the
epic between the comic, the heroic and the tragic.
But well thou comest
Before thy fellows, ambitious to win
From me some plume, that thy success may show
Destruction to the rest:

Satan’s heroism, like his outward luster, grows less dazzling as the action
proceeds: the general is not as impressive a figure as the defiant
individualistic of the first scene. Milton doesnot treat Satan as a static
figure; on the contrary Satan is constantly changing because he is caught
in a process of self destruction. The effects of his fall are made increasingly
evident in the course of the action.
Milton cleverly weaves a web of intrigue between Sin, Death and Satan
when they confront each other at the gates of Hell. As Sin sees a
confrontation between Satan Death building up, she intervenes to stop the
clash. She then discloses the relationship between Satan and Death and
impresses on both the futility of their mutual antagonisms. Sin counts on
Satan to tackle her to a new world of bliss and pleasure in his company
and with this hope she opens the gates of Hell to let Satan go out.
In assessing the part of Sin and Death in the poem we have to accept that
they are integral to the poem. By depicting them in the most grotesque of
forms Milton tries to project the moral purpose of the whole episode. By
placing them in Hell he suggests that they rightly belong there. The double
incest shown between father and daughter and son and mother makes Sin
and Death all the more horrifying and repulsive. Such an impact could
only be conveyed through an allegory and Milton has done just that. It
must be remembered that Paradise Lost even if is close to the truth, is not
literally true and is at the most a symbolic poem. Milton’s portrayal of Sin
and Death has led to sharp differences among his critics. One set of critics
has led to sharp differences among his critics. One set of critics led by
Addison is of the view that though the allegorical descriptions are
arresting enough, the two figures look out of place in the epic. He raises
doubts whether persons of such chimerical existence are proper actors in
an epic poem.
By throwing magic herbs into the sea where Circe was bathing, the witch
transformed Scylla’s body from the waist down into a mass of barking
dogs.
It is through symbolism that Milton wishes to convey the horror of the
encounter between Satan and Sin and Death. Hell has become the abode

of the fallen angels. The introduction of Sin and Death and their
encounter with Satan at the gates of Hell carries the epic forward. The
figure of Sin, half-woman and half-serpent with a number of barking dogs
at her waist and creeping into her womb whenever they like has
predecessors in Elizabethan poetry. Milton also had another model before
him. This was Spenser’s description of Error- half a horrible serpent and
half a woman’s shape. Similarly Milton was beholden for his description of
Death to similar earlier descriptions. However, the difference is that
Milton’s description evokes terror and alarm by his description of a
shadowy nothing. But of, Milton does transcend the indistinct image when
he describes it as brandishing a dreadful dart just as the serpent in the
lower half of Sin is described as being armed with a deadly sting. Milton’s
model for Sin was the sea nymph Scylla after her transformation by the
witch Circe. His next argument is that of a military strategist. As a
debater, he forestalls the objection that ascent to the Empyrean on their
ruinous expedition, may be difficult. But for, no! if they bethink them how
their descent had been difficult when they fell, they can naturally infer
that ascent is their proper motion. Let them not doubt, therefore, their
ability to soar back to Heaven.
The Council in Hell has correctly been described as a superhuman
parliamentary debate, as majestic in eloquence as it is momentous in the
consequences involved. Milton brings to bear upon the account a lifelong
study of statesmanship and oratory in the leaders of the Revolution. His
council is a magnified image of those human deliberations on which the
fates of nations hang. Besides, Milton brought to his task his own mastery
in the art of dialectic which dates from his Cambridge days, when his
degree depended on his ability to argue both sides of a question. Satan
has called his council to consider how best they may revenge themselves on
the Almighty, whether by open war or convert guile. But of, Satan does not
only propound the question; it is his will that dominates secretly the
assembly. ‘Individuals may voice their convictions and display their
passions, each with a type of eloquence appropriate to his personal
character and temper, but the ultimately policy is predetermined.’ Four of
the chiefs express their views, each in his own characteristic manner, but it
is the last, Beelzebub, who unfolds the master’s mind.

His final argument shows that contempt of danger which would enable a
commander to lead his forces to victory. He doesnot allow the fear of worse
consequences to daunt him from his war path. What can be worse than
their present anguish? he asks. The worst can only be annihilation, and
that were “happier far than miserable to have eternal being.” But at, can
they ever cease to be? He has heard it said in some quarters that their
substance is eternal, and if thus there is no fear of annihilation, there can
be no fear too of a worse state than the present, since “we are at worst on
this side nothing.” Their present strength then is equal to wage war
Heaven; let them rise, therefore, and if they do not gain a victory, they
shall have the satisfaction at least of revenge.
Moloch, the belligerent type, the personification of pure and unalloyed
hatred of the Almighty, is of the die-hard cast. Deeming himself equal in
strength with the almighty, and indifferent even to his existence if he
should be regarded less, he advises open war, with all the bluntness and
outspokenness of a Colonel. Unskilled in tricks himself, he is impatient with
those who those who would sit and contrieve in Hell’s dungeon, suffering
all the pangs which God’s tyranny can inflict on them. Theirs is the
courage to do, he tells them, and therefore let them arm themselves, even
with hell flames and tortures, the weapons of destruction invented by their
enemy, and point them against himself. Let the noise of his thunder be met
by the noise of infernal thunder; his lightning be opposed with black fire
from Hell, and His very throne be surrounded by hell-fire and sulphurous
flames. Thus in the hectic fury of his vindictive hate, he draws a picture of
the destruction upon which he is bent.
Moloch’s speech is impetuous and fiery, and well may it have been the
utterance of an Ironside commander in the councils of Oliver Cromwell. It
may be worthwhile to observe,” wrote Addison, “that Milton has represented
this violent impetuous spirit, who is hurried on by such precipitate
passions, as the first that rises in the assembly to give his opinion upon
their present posture of affairs. Accordingly he declares himself abrupt for
war, and appears incensed at his companions for losing so much time as
to deliberate upon it. All his sentiments are rash, audacious, and
desperate such as that of arming themselves with tortures and turning
their punishments upon Him who in inflicted them. His preferring
annihilation to shame or misery is also highly suitable to his character,

as the comfort he draws from their disturbing the peace of Heaven, that if
it be not victory is revenge, is a sentiment truly diabolical, and becoming
the bitterness of this implacable spirit.”
Belial’s arguments partake of his nature. Gifted with a smooth tongue
that “could make the worse appear the better reason,” he delivers a
backhanded blow at Moloch. He tells the assembly that he would himself be
much for open war, if what has been urged the main reason for it, itself
doesnot dissuade him most. They have been told that even if they cannot
be victorious, their vindictiveness yet can be satisfied. But of, he asks, what
vengeance can possibly be? The towers of Heaven are impregnable, being
constantly guarded by armed angels. There is no hope of intimidating
them either, for quite dauntlessly they scout far into the regions of Chaos.
Or, were it possible for them to approach Heaven, batter its strong walls,
and force their resistless way in, and with Hell-flames and black fire
attempt to obscure the glory of “Heaven’s purest light,” still God’s mould
being of ethereal substance, it can never be stained, and by own special
virtues it will expel all baser fire and contamination. Thus, what can be
left for the rebellious angels except blank despair? Revenge, therefore, is
out of the question.
Belial, the next to rise after Moloch, is in every respect his antithesis.
While Moloch is essentially a spirit of action, Belial is chiefly a spirit of
inactivity. While Moloch has a contempt of travail and danger, Belial can
hardly think of them without a tremor passing through his frame, for he is
essentially slothful and sensual. While Moloch’s mind is wholly refractory
and bellicose, Belial’s is sometimes speculative full of those “thoughts that
wander through eternity.” Finally while Moloch is curt and plain-spoken,
Belial is specious and artful. Moloch is the aggressive militarist, Belial the
meek pacifist. Mammon’s speech reminds one of the pioneers and gold
diggers who set out of England in the seventeenth century to distant lands
and helped incidentally to fling wide the Empire of their country. His plea
is the typical gold-digger’s plea; his dream is to make an El Dorado of
Hell. Doubtless there must have been money-grabbers in the Long
Parliament, who helped Charles I to raise his ship-money, and other
obnoxious taxes. Mammon must have been drawn from one of them. There
are financiers and stock-brokers today who could vie with Mammon in
speculation. They are of true descent.

His next argument exposes the fallacy in the hope of annihilation which
Moloch had held out as a cure in their present distress. Quite pleasant-humouredly,
Belial ridicules the notion, for no one, however great his
then suffering may be, would ever like to be deprived of his intellectual
state, with all those thoughts that wander through eternity, and wish to be
swallowed up and lost in obscure extinction. Even if such an undesirable
state is devoutly to be wished for, by any freak of imagination, it is
doubtful whether God can give it to them, or even if He can, whether He
would. For, in the first place, being immortal angels, whether God can
extinguish them totally is uncertain, but, for his part, he is more than
certain that he would never destroy them. When he first routed them and
drove them into Hell, he consigned them to eternal suffering. Sure he will
not deflect from His purpose and give them the annihilation which they so
eagerly for.
The third argument of Belial is a further refutation of Moloch. He had
said that their sufferings were already the worst and they had nothing
more to fear, if annihilation were impossible. But of, is it true that what
they are going through is the worst? Let them examine their present
condition. They have been permitted to rise from the lake of burning fire;
they have recovered from their stupor, they have built Pandemonium, and
they are now sitting in deliberate council. This, surely, is not the worst
than can happen to them. They may have been worse than what they are
now, if they had lain, for instance, chained to the lake of liquid fire, or, if
worse tortures had been inflicted on them. That would have been the
worst, and they may reasonably dread them yet.
Having thus quashed his adversary’s arguments, Belial next proceeds to
formulate his plan. His answers to Moloch show a true understanding of
the current state of affairs, though they have all been inspired by his love
of slothful ease, his passion for existence, and his cowardly fear of direr
consequences. His plan too, partakes of the same characteristics of his
nature.
A war on Heaven can have only one of two objects-either to unseat God
from His throne, or to regain their lost possessions. The first is a very remote
possibility, and is never likely to happen, unless irrevocable Fate should
give up its sway to fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife. If Heaven’s
king cannot be unseated, it is vain to hope for the reconquest of their

A Masterpiece of grotesque horror- Milton's Paradise Lost, Book II, The Way I Have Liked To Evaluate..

A Masterpiece of grotesque horror- Milton's Paradise Lost, Book II, The Way I Have Liked To Evaluate..

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