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| Plate 24 from Gustave Doré's illustrations of Paradise Lost, depicting Satan beaten back and fallen after sustaining a severe blow from the Archangel Michael's sword which "in half cut sheer [...] / All his right side" (VI.325, 327). This is the first instance in which a being of God's creation felt hurt, suffering, and "pain [that] writh'd him to and fro" (VI.327-328).
This moment is vastly significant for a number of reasons... For this journal entry, please detail your reaction to the utter chaos, din, and hullaballoo which erupts in Heaven during Satan's rebellion. As we have now read the first 800 or so lines of Book VI, you are well suited to comment upon the futile nature of the battle itself and the utter folly of Satan's attempts to usurp God's Throne.
Lastly, consider and comment upon the following words of the epic poem's speaker, who is Milton indeed... Here you may certainly tie any of the course and textual themes which we have discussed throughout the class! I Might relate of thousands, and thir names Eternize here on Earth; but those elect Angels contented with thir fame in Heav'n Seek not the praise of men: the other sort In might though wonderous and in Acts of Warr, Nor of Renown less eager, yet by doome Canceld from Heav'n and sacred memorie, Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell. (Milton VI.373-380) |
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
JR#3 - The Birth of Evil, Sin, Death, and Pain...
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The battle in heaven was so great and terrible that it seemed as if Milton himself had trouble picturing and verbalizing the chaos. Although he does manage to describe the first two days of the war in which Michael cleaved Satan in two with an angelic sword, he stumbles over the image of the messiah, stating "So spake the son, and into terrour chang'd / His count'nance too severe to be beheld" (VI. 824-825). Tired of the battle and deeming three days a long enough time to fight, God decides to send the Messiah to end it by driving the rebellious demons out of heaven. If God had the power to simply "get bored" of the battle and then proclaim it over, what chance did Satan have against fighting him? God himself declared the war over and whether or not the angels or Satan was winning, it simply ceased. Furthermore, even if Satan had, hypothetically beaten the angels and made his way to God, there would have been nothing he could do. As God's creation, Satan is, in essence weaker than God and less powerful. He had no chance of ever gaining heaven from God or the angels and God knew that all along. Yet God had to allow the war to happen because once Satan internalized the idea of rebellion, free will had been created.
ReplyDeleteThe War in heaven is futher trivialized by the lack of "war like" consequences for both sides. There is no death and all wounds can be recovered from so unlike human war, there seems to be less on the line for Satan and his demons. Yes, they could be banished, but as seen with the case of Abdiel, God is willing to forgive following repentance, so as long as the fallen angels regret their actions, those very same actions have literally no consequences for them.
If Milton is indeed the narrator of the the text above and not Raphael, then it seems as if he is passing judgement on Satan and is the fallen angels. He condems them to hell, saying "In oblivion let them dwell." Milton is contradicting his earlier form of narration in which Satan is simply the understood not quite protagonist but not really the antagonist either. Here, there is clear black and white, angels and demons, Satan and God. It's almost as if Milton is trying to redeem himself in the eyes of the reader of any potential blasphemy which he might have committed earlier on when discussing the fall from heaven.
The first thing that struck my mind while reading Milton’s depiction of the war on heaven were the similarities to depictions of warfare in general. Whereas a war between angels is certainly inconceivable, a war betweens humans seem almost equally inconceivable because of the tools we have today was well as the awe-some nature of countless human soldiers in a determined battle; whereas the angels have mountains to throw at one another, we have explosives of even more destruction at our disposal today.
ReplyDeleteEven the concept of millions, be it angels or humans or bacteria, becomes abstract to the human mind because of the sheer size of the number itself. Additionally, the power and destruction of war becomes difficult to describe concretely whether it is the destruction of heaven or the annihilation of civilizations.. The fiery weapons and swords that the angels use to send each other flying seem as though they have unreachable power, and yet in our 8th grade reading The Things They Carried similarly recognizes soldiers’ equipment as follows: “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried” (O'Brien). This shows how war, regardless of the participators, is beyond comprehension by nature.
Milton also makes this point by making war the next child of angels (although less directly). If this is indeed the first war, war is the next creation of angels after death and sin. Milton makes the commentary that war is inherently inconceivable to humans, like its siblings death and sin, and yet we can commit to it nonetheless. When we enact war we harness the power of angels, which is a terrifying yet fitting way to describe the nature and awe of war in general.
The core of the futility of the war is the structure of power in Heaven. God is more powerful than Satan or any number of his own creations, and so any attempt to usurp his throne is and always will be doomed. This is true regardless of God or Satan’s moral integrity. If God were cruel, one might say that Satan’s rebellion is justified, if pointless. However, considering that Heaven’s hierarchy is inflexible and eternal, one might also say that Satan’s war causes needless suffering. Satan is more than willing to sacrifice the comfort of happiness of angels who believe in and trust him for a doomed enterprise, which is itself cruel. The battle rages for three days, at the end of which God decides that is time for him to win. Never once was there a chance of Satan’s victory. God chooses to allow suffering by postponing his own victory by three days, but Satan also allows suffering by refusing to surrender and salvage his- and his millions of followers’- place in Heaven. It is because of both God and Satan that Satan and his followers land “nameless in dark oblivion.” Is a war against a cruel, all powerful God ideologically justified? Is it materially justified? How does one weigh the costs of unwinnable war against an unjust peace? Satan chooses war and falls- but perhaps his motives are not entirely pure. After all, perhaps he is nameless in Heaven, but he is king in Hell if nowhere else, and he never could have worn a crown in Heaven.
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