The purpose of this research is to examine Paradise Lost by John Milton. The plan of the research will be to explore the thesis that Milton's concept of Satan is superior to his concept of God, which is to say that Satan becomes the true hero of Paradise Lost, instead of God, God's son, or Adam and Eve. How the plan of the work makes this clear will proceed from a setting-forth of the general pattern of ideas in the work, and the means by which Milton makes these ideas emerge in the work.
To develop the thesis that Satan is the true hero of Paradise Lost, it is useful to examine the principal line of action of the poem, which is in epic format and divided into twelve books. The first notable fact is that the action of the story moves almost exclusively for the reason that Satan, also called Lucifer, is the prime mover of action, either the principal agent of action on his own or the motivation for the actions of others, in particular the fall of man from God's grace. In Book I, Milton explains this directly, noting in the Argument that the serpent is the "prime cause" of the fall. The power of Satan to affect events is illustrated in the situation of the opening chapter, which is that the fallen angels have been cast from heaven and into Chaos. But even as he surveys the "darkness visible" (I, 63), Satan finds the bitter strength to utter "bold words" (I, 82) of defiance against the very God who has cast them out. Admitting to being startled by the force of God's wrath, Satan declares himself down but not out:
Who knew the force of those dire Arms? yet not for those, Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage
Can else inflict, do I repent or change,
Though chang'd in outward luster . . .
And to the fierce contention brought along
That durst dislike his reign, and mee preferring,
His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd
In dubious Battle on the Plains of Heav'n,
And shook his throne. What th...