behavior of Milton's anthropomorphic Satan reflects the smallness of sins that intrigue readers and of which they may be more than capable. Put simply, Satan lives the life that is promised to those who, succumbing to his temptations, use their free will to select that "open alternative" that guarantees damnation.
Few people would disagree that Milton's Satan is a magnificent character. This is true so far as his status as a literary creation goes. But some have argued that this character "is or ought to be an object of admiration and sympathy, conscious or unconscious, on the part of the poet, his readers or both" (Lewis 197). This position, while it is a strong tribute to the power of Milton's ability to create a character, makes little sense in light of what it is that Satan actually does and says in the course of the poem.
Leaving aside preexisting knowledge of the story and background of Paradise Lost (although this is impossible for anyone raised with any awareness of who Satan is believed to be), it is difficult to imagine that an objective judge of his behavior could find much that was admirable, or sensible, in it. A character who willfully throws away everything that any member of creation, by definition, must value most highly is certainly suspect from the beginning. In addition the very language of contrast between his former situation and the present, and between the facts and his perceptions of them, renders Satan absurd. As Stein notes, in the context of the battle in Heaven, Milton subjects Satan to ridicule and many times the absurdity of his actions is even "intended to induce laughter in the reader" (269). In general, however, Milton "subordinated the absurdity of Satan to the misery which he suffers and inflicts" (197). But, whether it is intended comically (as it is on occasion) or as epic in proportion and consequences (as it is in general), the absurdity that characterizes Satan's behavior is bas...