Satan-Critics

Question 1

What does Percy Bysshe Shelley state about Milton’s Satan and God?

Answer 1

1)”Milton’s Devil as a moral being is as far superior to his God”

2) God “inflicts the most horrible revenge upon his enemy”

3)Satan is the “true hero” of the poem

Question 2

What does Godwin suggest the reason is for why Satan rebels against God?

Answer 2

1)”no sufficient reason for that extreme inequality of rank and power which the creator assumed.”- Satan’s ambition

Question 3

What does C.S Lewis say about Satan? (2)

Answer 3

1) “tangled in contradictions” - trying to overthrow God but hes omnipotent and “he wants hierarchy and does not want hierarchy”
2) Satan undergoes a “progressive degradation”: (“from hero to general… and thence to a thing that peers in at bedroom or bathroom windows, and thence to a toad, and finally to a snake—such is the progress of Satan”)

Question 4

What does Margaret Keane suggest Satan embodies?

Answer 4

-“MADE SATAN HEROIC BY ALIGNING HIM WITH REPUBLICAN
IDEALS OR THAT HE WISHED TO ‘FRAME’ REPUBLICANISM BY
MAKING SATAN ITS MOUTHPIECE”

Question 5

What does Gilbert’s say about Satan’s seduction of Eve?

Answer 5

-“fatal seduction”

Question 6

What does Neville say about Satan’s rebellion ?

Answer 6

-“Satan becomes a hero for having the courage to stand up to an authority he questions the strength and legitimacy of”