Rebellion in Paradise Lost
User Rating: 0 / 5
- Details
- Hits: 15895
Rebellion in Paradise Lost
Rebellion is defined as defying the outlined norms that govern how things are done. It may also mean refusing to uphold the ideas of an individual in order to show him the unwillingness to cooperate or emphasize defiance. Defiance is the major mechanism in which rebellion manifests. Several times the rebel knows what is right, but may want to prove a point to the one he or she is defying. Being myopic in terms of how an individual views life or issues in life may also significantly influence defiance or rebellion. Some of these features of rebellion are clearly manifested in Paradise Lost poems.
Rebellion forms the central aspect in the Milton’s Paradise Lost. The main theme is based on the fall of man, Adam and Eve, while in Eden. The two fall from grace and lose favor with God. There are several things happening behind the scene, which Satan has planned and orchestrated to realize the fall. It was all because of disobedience. This paper will seek to look at disobedience, Satan’s role in orchestrating it, and the consequences thereof.
Disobedience and defiance of Eve and Adam in the book of Genesis happens after a series of a well-orchestrated plan by the devil. Disobedience was out rightly punishable by God. All the creations of God right before creation of man were given free will to pay allegiance to God. Through their gift of free will, they were to choose to render or not to render gratitude and obedience to God. Satan had disobeyed God before the creation of man. He had deceived a number of the Angels in Heaven to follow him and defy God. Together after the disobedience, they are chained in the eternal lake of fire, Hell. The story seeks to elaborate on the events that happen, finally leading to the fall of Adam and Eve.
Milton uses three creatures, which use their free will to disobey God. The disobedience comes with an inclination to some ill motive. Either colleagues or other beings base this on inclination following deception and influence. Each act of disobedience appears to have a specific inclination to motives that are traceable to something existing in nature that God has created. It appears that the writer is blaming God for creating his creation with vulnerable nature to fall. Will to choose freely between evil and good, to obey and to disobey, gives these people much freedom. He blames God to have given the creation the freedom to choose disobedience along with the inclination to do so. Adam and Eve are not aware of the existence of such an inclination before they consume the fruit God has warned them.
Each inclination has the ability to turn into a motive. It can be argued that freedom, inclination, and occasions are sufficient to give man the freedom to either stand or fall. The freedom of will enables the creation to withstand the inclination to disobey, however strong it may be, hence making God’s justice fair. With the inclinations given by God to his creation, his justice is not impugned at all with all of them. The inclination was particularly to enforce obedience in the creation. This is to make his justice non-refutable (Dink 56).
God’s justice system would be less harsh. The inclination to disobedience was not meant for other purposes; hence turning in the direction of the inclination is considered a blasphemy and perversion from the right path. Disobedience is an act of free will; so is obedience. Therefore, every creature that disobeys is held responsible hence, no one can complain against God when he judges. Disobedience manifests in three characters: Satan, Adam, and Eve. All of them had the inclination. Milton’s Poem has twelve books with each book dealing with different subject and category of characters.
Satan’s fall is delayed until we get to Book V through the narrative of Angel Raphael sent by God to go warn Adam after Satan’s first attempt to tempt Eve to disobey God. Warnings were just part of the mission that brought Angel Raphael to Adam and Eve. Several allusions are made where references are given to Satan’s disobedience that led to his fall. Through soliloquy, monologues by Satan himself, and other public speeches, we come to get information on Satan’s fall. Satan further rebels against God by reaching out to God’s wonderful creation: human beings (Danielson and Milton 20).
Pride becomes center stage in igniting rebellion and disobedience that we see in Satan. Satan had wanted to set himself above all Angels. He thought he could rise to be equal with God. When the son of God is exalted high second in command after God, the former’s exaltation, and ego is threatened. He rises against the monarchy of God by finding same-minded angels who join him to form an army against the Kingdom of God. They together rise opacous of war in heaven, but all become vain attempt as he is arrested together with other defiant Angels and cast into the fire of hell.
In the poem, in the first speech of Satan with his colleague fallen angel Beelzebub, he speaks of ‘’ a sense of injured merit” as the influences that made him to compete with the God. The question that this raise is what does the phrase sense of injured merit mean. It probably meant that he is justified to desire for a higher position. The external excellence is completely different with a place of hierarchy that the excellence merits. God approves of this matter of distinction, as he is just (Dink 24).
The justice of the relevant correspondence must exist between two sides, both to the rebel and the one rebelled. God the creator of all angels determines their intrinsic excellence and their place of hierarchy in the protocol of his Kingdom. Satan seems to be convinced that on his part existed a discrepancy. Two hypotheses can explain this phenomenon of reasoning (Marshall 61). The hypothesis are that God created angels but unjustly assigned the two aspects, intrinsic excellence and position of hierarchy or God allowed the angels to determine intrinsic excellence while had the authority to grant each position of hierarchy. These may the possibility that triggered Satan to rebel. The angels were all expected to obey God without discrimination (Milton and Danielson 22).
In Angel Raphael’s account of Satan’s rebellion, he outlines elements of the rebellion that are in agreement with these two theories of arguments on the motivation towards the rebellion. He identifies the immediate trigger of the rebellion as placement of the son of God as second in command after God. God calls an assembly of the heavenly host to bow to him and makes an announcement to all declaring his Son as anointed Messiah King. Every knee of the hosts is to bow to the Son God (Millicent and Wayne 53). Those who did not do so risked being cast out into complete darkness without liberation. This announcement appears to be contradicting the earlier known hierarchy. The devil felt he is impaired by this change in hierarchy as creation of another position above him lowers him away from the supreme authority that God holds.
Secondly, he sees this as an addition of another authority above him whom he is expected to render obedience (Wayne 55). The devil seeks allegiance from his followers in rebellion against God. Satan includes these two points of view as he mocks God’s address as he repeats the list titles that God uses and allude that the tittles have been declared meaningless by exaltation of the Son of God. He makes in assertion to the ranks and privileges that come with each position in the hierarchy (Dink 8).
He further points out to the angels that the insertion of the Son of God in the position increases the burden of obedience demanded of them. He argues in protest against the requirement of prostration and knee yet to be bowed. He says that the demands are too much to be endured by the angels. This is to stir anger and outrage from these angels to join him in his rebellion. He then presents an argument, which he cannot determine, its validity. He argues that since all are free they should share the rule equally. This ideology is deception as Satan is seeking to have a rule over his follows. Therefore, he lies to them to win them over. He himself cannot accept to have equal authority with his followers (Danielson and Milton 55).
Abdiel one of Satan’s subordinate angels realizes the lie and fronts arguments with Satan. He reminds them that his first place above his colleagues is owed to God because God has freely assigned him a place in hierarchy. He further points that the same way God has assigned the position he has the absolute power to assign his son position as well. He tells off Satan that that argument he is fronting is underrating the fact that God is the source of hierarchy (Marshall 100).
Abdiel informs them that no creature can dispute justice and law with God the creator because the creator has made both the creation and the law that apply to it. He passionately defends the move of God to elevate the son as a move to unite the angels under the leadership of the son. He informs them that secondly the son is greater than all angels are as their creation was through the son. These make Satan to retreat but defiantly deny creation of angels by God. This shows how determined he wanted to get his way (Nyquist 56). However, he does not triumph even though he manages to make Adam and Eve sin. Eventually he is promised he will be thrown into the lake of fire that will never dwindle. The promise does not scare him nor sway him from misleading God’s creation continuously, for he is yet to know the implication of such an eventuality.
Milton views the pride of Adam in terms of intentional defiance. Once the couple have ignored God’s warning and allowed Satan to lie to them, sin enters the world. Eve asserts her eyes are now open. After eating the fruit God had said they keep off, she becomes extremely delighted. The new perception of the tree she experiences when she eats the fruit is entirely different from the one to which she had clung hitherto. She can be seen addressing the tree directly as if it had turned animate and got a spirit of its own. At this time, she stands by to praise the tree, promises she will tend it, and then takes off to give a portion of the fruit to her husband (Dink 86). By now, the meaning of the tree and its fruit is quite familiar. what had acted as an important figure central to the relationship that was there between God and man is to Eve an idol because of this; it does not remind her of God, her creator any more. In turn, her perception of the other creation is significantly altered. As she becomes intent on her own taste, one important event escapes her notice: the mark of the event of consumption of fruit. Hence, disobedience transformed man into a being that no longer feared sinning. The generations that came from Adam and Eve continued committing sins. In fact, their son Cain killed his own brother, Abel (Dink 87).
The son of God that they allied against comes and crashes their organization. In the context, the inclination of Satan is the pride pertaining to the position he holds. The motives that the inclination initiates are the desire to set him above all creation without following the right channel. He counts himself to be equal to God. One known thing about the character of God is that he never shares his glory with anyone. In the hierarchy of Angels, he ceases to occupy the highest position. Most probably, the reason for was the pride. It has become too much for God and fellow angels to tolerate.
The kind of influence with which Satan has been bestowed is vast. This might be because of the position God gave him among his fellow angels. He manages to convince a large portion of angels to rally behind him against God. He was at the cream where any promotion one-step higher would put him above the rest of the creatures. His aim to be equal to God becomes the major reason for waging war against God’s rule. The kind of worship that God received from the angels and the cherubim was extremely attractive (Danielson and Milton 120).
Satan feels he had his merit injured when he contended against God. The only surprise is that instead of mending fence with God, he plunges himself into further rebellion. It is customary that in the heavens, one is paid honor in proportion to the position he or she holds. Such an honor and reverence is appealing and tempting to receive. One would imagine if being in the position he now holds brings such a thrill, a higher position would be better. The free will to choose to be content with the position one holds lays in the level of humility the person. Satan lacked such humility to be content with his position.
Rebellious attitude had already grown within him, but was just waiting for a trigger to come out. It is then that the trigger came by elevation of the son of God to position of second in command. This position seems to have been a target of Satan. Contesting with the mighty son of God appears more appealing to Satan than waiting. It becomes the worst mistake he makes. The desire to rise to higher levels comes along with the justification of one’s actions. It is usually based on merit. This is when true justice is done, rather than embraced in heaven. It seems he is not interested in justice, but in personal glory through thick and thin.
The couple of rebels done despite the knowledge they previously had on such defiance. Such knowledge is evident in Adam’s exceptional ability to interpret dreams. Just before this fall, Milton’s Eve experiences a dream; Adam had a similar dream in the past. This occurs before the latter disobeys God. Man increasingly has awareness on how faculties in human beings can be useful, as well as how man may choose to use them either properly or improperly. Adam accounts rightly for his wife’s dream a product of her fancy, which had grown uncontrollably until it became unchecked. There is astounding evidence Adam understands the psychology of Theists and the distinction between doing evil and knowing. Remarkable knowledge of intuition is inherent, and Adam is no exception, but his has come because of his state of his not having yet fallen. The understanding of the dream’s nature is partly learned because he has experience of such a dream. Rebellion featured quite prominently when an analysis of the dreams was made.
At the beginning, it was a dream he considered being of fairest fruit; the latter was extremely tempting. Adam takes time to recount this dream to Raphael. During the narration, the language he uses is reminiscent of the account Eve gave for her dream. Adam’s dream is interpreted by God himself, the latter of whom takes time to assure him that he is free to enjoy fruits from any tree in the beautiful garden that will please him, but he should avoid fruits borne by the tree from which they eat. Adam relates his wife’s dream to his own, and the subsequent interpretation God gave him. He deeply contemplates the lessons derived from that dream. By so doing, there is a context on which to base the Eve dream. However, it can be seen there is still a number of lessons Adam has to learn. One entails that an imminent fall is just about to take place.
The inclination that is given to every creation by God was to test if he can choose to obey God. The Satan and his fellow Angels are the rebels depicted in this tale the Paradise lost. At the end of their rebellion, they find themselves chained in the Lake of fire in Hell. Their rebellion begins when they free themselves from the chains and flies to the earth. There they make discovery of minerals. They use these minerals to build for themselves a Pandemonium, which would be their meeting point. They meet inside the Pandemonium, and in there they discuss whether to begin a second war with God. Beelzebub, once an Angel but now a devil, suggest that they corrupt God’s favorite creation called human kind. Satan who was together with the defiant angels and devils defiantly agrees with his colleagues, volunteering to accomplish the mission. He does thorough preparation. As he leaves, he picks his children at the gate of Sin and Death. Together, they build a bridge between Hell and Earth to access human beings, the new and dear creation of Man.
As this happens, an aspect of obedience is taking place in another context in heaven. Being all-knowing God He convenes a meeting to inform the heavens of Satan’s plan. The son of God volunteers to be a sacrifice for the human kind being targeted by the devil. In the meeting, a narration of this fall is first made. Man’s rebellion is said to have automatically ruined the relationship that had been there between God and man. At first God had called out for them, but they remained quiet. He had descended to the garden, and on realizing He could see them they hid. On enquiring why they were hiding, Adam told Him they were naked. Therefore, disobedience made man realize some of his weaknesses. Just as the Biblical account explains, Milton’s story also contains evidence such a meeting was held.
Satan furthers with his agenda by hiding and traveling through the night to reach the earth. As he approaches the Arch Angel Uriel, the angel who guards the sun, he disguises as a cherub from heaven. His disobedience manifests, as he lies that he has an interest to see and give praise for God’s creation. He manages to get the assent to pass through to the earth. Instead of having pleasure to see the paradise, he feels pain. He arrives at this feeling after taking sufficient time to reflect on the amazing work on the paradise earth. The disobedience then manifests again; instead of seeking to do well, he reaffirms to continue with evil, and even goes to make evil his good. Satan jumps over the wall of paradise, a band that takes the form of a large bird. He perches onto the top of the life tree. Arch Angel Uriel notices the unstable emotions in this imposter calling himself cherub and immediately warns other Angels of the presence of a foreigner in Paradise masquerading as one of the cherubim. The Angels agree to do “a search of the garden for an intruder” (Millicent and Wayne 78).
All along Adam and Eve were tending the garden, strictly obeying God’s supreme order not to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge. Satan takes the form of a toad in the garden and begins to whisper defiance to Eve. In the process, Angel Gabriel finds him and orders him to leave the garden. Satan in his disobedient nature starts a fight with the Angel instead, but before he began the battle, God makes a sign to appear in the sky, the golden scales of justice. Upon the appearance of the scales, Satan fearfully runs off the justice of God. His running away does not depict that he obeys God, but rather the fear he has for Him. Fear, obedience, and reverence vary. Eve, who has been in sleep, wakes up and shares with Adam her dream where an Angel was tempting her to eat from the forbidden tree. Immediately after this narration, God sends Raphael to go to paradise and teach Adam and Eve the danger they face with Satan being on earth.
Adam and Eve are taught about the defiance of Satan to God’s Authority. Raphael takes a meal with Adam and Eve. Through Raphael's story to Adam and Eve, the root of Satan’s defiance against God is revealed. It was after the appointment of the Son of God as second in command that triggered great envy in Satan. Satan from his envy gathered Angels who were also angered by God’s move and together they planned war against God. Abdul one of the Angels in their midst refused to join the army of Satan, but went back to God.
In defiance, Satan began the war in heaven with Michael and Gabriel who were serving as co-leaders in heavens army. The battle took two days. The war ended when God sent his son to end it. The son then released Satan and his army, the rebel angels, to hell. Raphael tells them the motives of the Satan to corrupt their minds. They are warned to be careful with Satan. Adam becomes inquisitive to learn the story about the creation. Raphael warned Adam about his unquenchable search for knowledge. Adam was to learn only enough; the rest were not meant for man to comprehend. The first memory of Adam comes out including warning not to eat from the tree of knowledge. Adam reveals his intense feeling towards Eve, but Raphael warns him that he is expected to love Eve more purely and spiritually (Marshall 47).
Even after banishment in the paradise, Satan does not give up on his mission to target human beings. He is determined to make man defy God to ensure that disobedience enters the paradise. He closely studies the animals in the paradise then decides to take the form of a serpent. Initially, Adam and Eve used to work together. However, on this particular day, Eve suggests they work separately to accomplish the tasks on time. Adam, full of love for Eve, becomes hesitant, but finally agrees to the suggestion. Satan looks for and finally finds her; he is happy to find her alone. Satan, in his cunning means, flatters and compliments Eve in order that he catches her attention. Eve is amazed to find an animal that can talk.
On inquiring how the serpent was able to speak, Satan lies to her that she has acquired the capability by consuming the fruit from the knowledge tree. Satan goes ahead and lies to her that God actually wants her and Adam to eat the fruit. He asserts God would like them to take the fruit, but just want to test their courage. Through this lie, Eve buys the idea of wanting to eat the same tree of life. Before deciding to eat fruit, Eve was resistant at the beginning but finally she reaches out to the fruit and eats. She immediately looks for Adam whom she finds making a wreath of flower for her. Adam immediately gets horrified that Eve has fallen, the wreath of flower he was making drop from his hands. To our surprise instead of him refusing to fall, he follows suit and eats the fruit reasoning it was better for him to fall with Eve rather than remain pure and lose her. Immediately the way Adam looks at Eve changes; he now looks at her in a lustful manner. Ultimately, each person looks at the other lustfully (Millicent and Wayne 305).
In conclusion, rebellion forms a principal theme in Paradise Lost. Milton describes it, as the inclination that brings everyone to temptation, where whatever is forbidden appears to appeal to a person. Eve had the chance to choose to obey their God rather than the anxiety of wanting to have knowledge. In fact, without the inclination that most of the tome creates, there would be no temptation. God takes time to ensure that man understands whom Satan is and how he has fallen from grace. A strong warning is given to them not to spend time with the Satan.
Adam has a great chance of refusing to fall as he has already realized that Eve has fallen. He has no contact with Satan to rebel against God, but because he has this strong desire towards Eve, he decides to fall not to lose her. Adam is at the cross roads to choose between God and Eve. For God, Adam considers Him responsible because the creature he gave him had made him sin. The expectation is that he would rather choose God. Once a heart is attracted away from, the pull towards what the heart adores is strong. However, the strength of the mind can still overcome this.
As the temptation comes in their lives, they lack an excuse to give for their rebellion against God. God is justified to judge them harshly as he drives them out of paradise. Rebellion is, therefore, a personal choice of the rebel.