《失乐园》中撒旦形象的双重性分析

An Analysis of the Dual Character of Satan’s Image inParadise Lost《失乐园》中撒旦形象的双重性分析[摘要]在约翰.弥尔顿所有的著作中，《失乐园》是最复杂，最难理解的一部作品，并为他赢得了永久的荣誉。

在《失乐园》中，撒旦的形象是最生动，逼真的，他的巨大影响力和矛盾的情感，以及其复杂性，掩盖了其他所有的形象包括上帝。

作为《失乐园》中最重要的形象，撒旦显然是令人钦佩的，而且有着巨大的影响，这种矛盾的情感吸引了众多批评家的目光，引起了几个世纪的争论。

这篇论文将要把撒旦的双重形象分成三种类型进行分析：第一种类型是把撒旦作为革命者的形象；第二类是把撒旦作为魔鬼的形象进行分析；第三类是以评论家的观点，保持中立，认为撒旦的形象，除了是由人们构想的，是抽象的以外，撒旦带给我们更多的是好与坏的混合体。

而且本论文还将要查明影响撒旦双重性格形象的因素，从分析正文看作者的写作意图；从十七世纪的社会背景看弥尔顿个人的经历和信仰。

更多的是那些潜在的读者的背景和他们独特的欣赏力，也被作者考虑在内。

所有的这些分析得出的观点是，撒旦是一个仅有的英雄和一个真正的恶魔，从他所有的看法和情感得到一个多方面的性格。

他的矛盾情感鲜明的遍及整个诗篇。

[关键词] 《失乐园》撒旦革命者魔鬼清教徒An Analysis of the Dual Character of Satan’s Image inParadise Lost[Abstract]All of John Milton’s great works. Paradise Lose is the most complicated and most profound one, which wins him endless honor. The image of Satan in Paradise Lost is supreme vivid, powerful, ambivalent and complex, overshadowing all the other characters including God.As the main character of Paradise Lost, Satan is obviously impressive and powerful, whose ambivalence catches all critics’ eyes and leads to centuries’ disputes. This dissertation will analyze the dual character of Satan’s image into three groups: The first group that the image of Satan as a revolutionist, the second group that the image of Satan as a devil, while the third group of critics, stand in the middle, seeing both sides of Satan. They identify Satan either as an abstract conception or else, more immediately, as someone who is an evil mixed with good. On the other hand, check the factors that influence his dual character of image, from the analysis of the text to the author’s intention, from the 17th century social background to Milton’s personal experiences and belief. What’s more, the potential readers’ background and individual taste will also be taken into consideration. And all these analysis lead to the point that it is too simple and arbitrary to say Satan is a mere hero or a pure devil, since he is a round character full of thoughts and emotions. His ambivalence is obviously throughout the whole poem.[Key Words]Paradise Lose Satan revolutionist devil puritanContentsIntroductionChapter 1 The Bual Character of Satan’s Image1.1 The Image of Satan as a Revolutionist1.1.1 Sadan owns the spirit of hero as a revolutionist1.1.2 Sadan’s wisdom and emotion1.2 The Image of Satan as a Devil1.2.1 Sadan is vicious and furious1.2.2 Sadan’s other wrong deedsChapter 2 Historical Factors Contributing to the Dual Character of Satan’s Image2.1 The Influence of the puritan movement2.2 The Influence of the restorationChapter 3Potential Readers’ Influence on the Formation of the Dual Character of Satan’s Image3.1 Puritans’ view of Satan3.2 Revolutionists’ idea of Satan3.3 Neutral modernists’ interpretation of SatanConclusionAcknowledgementReferencesAn Analysis of the Dual Character of Satan’s Image inParadise LostIntroductionJohn Milton, one of the greatest poets of the English language, is a political commenter of the English Bourgeois Revolution, whose importance is acknowledged all over the world. His powerful, rhetoric prose and the eloquence of his poetry had an immense influence especially on the 18th century verse. He is the last rearguard of the Renaissance and the primary promoter of Enlightenment and he is the love of every form of human culture and the steadfast devotion to duty as the highest object in human life have shaped his entire career.Of all his great works, Paradise Lost is the most complicated and most profound one, which wins him endless honor. It is indeed the only generally recognized epic in English literature since Beowulf and a heroic poem in Renaissance style. It recounts the story of Satan's rebellion against God, and of the disobedience and fall of Adam and Eve. It deals with revolt from God, with sin and fall, and with the possible salvation. It presents the author’s views in an allegoric religious form, and readers will easily discern its basic idea—exposure of the ways of Satan and justification of the ways of God to men. It is a reflection of the reactionary forces of Milton’s time and the passionate appeal for freedom.As the main character of Paradise Lost, Satan is obviously impressive and powerful, whose ambivalence catches all critics’ eyes and leads to centuries’ disputes. Those critics can be classified into three groups. The first group mainly consists of revolutionists.They traditionally read this epic with strong political inclination, thinking Satan as the protagonist and considering him a symbol of revolution (Fowler 45). They are generally called pro-Satanists. They think Satan is infinitely superior to man, entirely different from the devil of the miracle plays, and completely overshadowing the hero both in interest and in manliness (Danielson 134). The secondgroup is formed by the anti-Satanists. They follow the theme of sense and regard Satan’s hubris without sense as the cause of his own tragedy. They view Satan as an absolute devil, the root of our immense pain from generation to generation. Though his lingering traces of angelic nature and his assertion of implacable defiance at the beginning of the poem disguise him as a righteous liberator, it can’t change Satan’s evil nature (Huang Delin 52). He is doomed to destruction by the flaw of self-love and over-ambition. Both pro-Satanists and anti-Satanists have evidence to support their statements, but neither of them can prove their points of view with sufficient details. While the third group of critics, such as John Carey, stand in the middle, seeing both sides of Satan. They are apt to believe that Satan’s ambivalence is intended by Milton to achieve depth (Danielson 160). They identify Satan either as an abstract conception or else, more immediately, as someone who is an evil mixed with good.Based on the critics’ points of view, this dissertation will analyze the dual character of Satan’s image and check the factors that influence his dual character of image, from the analysis of the text to the author’s intention, from the 17th century social background to Milton’s personal experiences and belief. What’s more, the potential readers’ background and individual taste will also be taken into consideration. And all these analysis lead to the point that it is too simple and arbitrary to say Satan is a mere hero or a pure devil, since he is a round character full of thoughts and emotions. His ambivalence is obviously throughout the whole poem.Chapter 1 The dual character of Satan’s imageHistorically and traditionally, Satan is considered the symbol of evil, however, in John Milton’s epic—Paradise Lost, we can find a completely new image of him. Here he is no longer a simple-minded devil. He is a round character full of thoughts and emotions. Although in his spirit some evil genes still exist, he is gifted with more heroic characteristics. That is, Satan is a tragic villain hero driven by ambition.1.1 The image of Satan as a revolutionistRevolutionists are always courageous to fight against the uncoordinated factors of the society; they aren’t reconciled to being dictated to the mighty power. They make good use of their courage and wisdom to strike for the equality and freedom, which stand for a sound and positive society. They are confident that the victory belongs to them. In Paradise Lost, Satan demonstrates these personalities of a revolutionist in his strong desire for freedom, equality and his wisdom to fight against the tyranny of the God.1.1.1 Sadan owns the spirit of hero as a revolutionistSatan, originally called Lucifer，was one of the greatest angelic beings who serve God in Heaven. He is the most beautiful angels and God’s first-hand man, steadfast angel and the sublime grandeur of a graceful but tremendous spirit. Nevertheless, he is tired of flattering God and takes arms to fight for freedom. When being faced with God’s tyranny and mighty power, Satan doesn’t act as a coward. On the contrary, he appears even braver. He is not afraid of losing everything. Failure will only strengthen his will and his confidence.“All is not lost; the unconquerable will, /And study of revenge, immortal hate, /And courage never to submit or yield (Jin Fashen 10)”he declares, “Since through experience of this great event, /In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced, /We may with more successful hope resolve /To wage by force or guile eternal war /Irreconcilable to our grand Foe. (Jin Fashen 10)” There is undoubtedly something thrilling as he summons up his defeated powers, collects together the scatter legions of the lost angels, addresses them with words of defiance of God “Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war, /Hurling defiance towards the vault of heaven” (Zhang Boxiang 384). The sense of being lost, far from causing him to slump, propelshim with furious energy. This is how fear and despair are turned into courage. Clearly, such a turning of hell to fortitude is admirable. It is no cheapening of the heroism to say that it consists in making energetic resistance out of despair. It is not that the heroism of Satan’s defiance is bogus. On the narrative level, we cannot but admire Satan’s courage in venturing into the unknown, which shows the transcendent glory by his superior courage and abilities.If we listen to Satan as he wishes to be heard, his speech asserts equality, freedom, and nobility of soul. He appears to demand a kind of heavenly democracy; hence, he sees that God disturbs freedom as the first step toward slavery. Compared with Satan, God’s feature seems much duller. He is the ruler of heaven but “holds the tyranny (Jin Fashen 12)” by saying “what I will is Fate (Jin Fashen 86)”. He has the mighty power but still doubts it while facing Satan’s defiance. He is the creator but prevents human beings from reaching the Tree of Knowledge. He is selfish. He wants to control all the creatures under fatuity and backwardness so that he could maintain his sole reign. He leaves the fallen angels to go on falling forever and has no mercy on his people. He hates everything that would challenge his power. Belial counsels acceptance of God’s will, but his acceptance is informed by fear and sloth, not by love. Their consciousness of worth and intolerance of servitude are seen when the fallen angels claim, “rather seek /Our own good from ourselves, and from our own /Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess, /Free, and to none accountable, preferring /Hard liberty before the easy yoke” (Jin Fashen 20).It is no exaggeration to say that everything in heaven has a hellish travesty. However, Satan is just the opposite there. He looks forward to equality, to freedom and to knowledge. He poses,“…Knowledge forbidden? /Suspicious, reasonless! /Why should their Lord Envy them that? /Can it be sin to know, can it be death? /And do they only stand /By ignorance? (Jin Fashen 52)” Thus, in some way, Satan has become a speaker of the human beings. What he does is to help people to gain wisdom and to find their true happiness. In this sense, Satan, under Milton’s description, is no longer the symbol of evil but stands for the justness, liberty and equality. He stands as republican and atheist in heaven, appealing to an aristocratic notion of established status and constitutional rights. It is the liberty for which Satan iscontending and which the Father’s imposing of a new king threatens, not least by his implying that all dignities and titles are owed to the sovereign and so may be resumed or altered by him at will. From all these words, we can see the essence and virtue of a hero in Satan.1.1.2 Sadan’s wisdom and emotionAnother aspect worthy noting is Satan’s wisdom. A good example is his tempting Adam and Eve to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge against God’s instructions. Satan disguises himself in the shape of snake and approaches Eve (not Adam, who is more sensible) at the very time she works alone. He starts the conversation with praise for Eve’s beauty, which is woman’s favorite, then comes to the target topic, and makes the emotional Eve loss her last line of defense and cannot wait to eat the fruit and touch her bright future. Another evidence sparking is when the God announces, “Your head I him appoint; /And by myself have sworn to him shall bow /All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord. (Jin Fashen 66)”,Satan’s brilliant feedback: “Who can in reason then or right assume /Monarchy over such as live by right /His equals, if in power and splendor less, /In freedom equal (Jin Fashen 68)? /our puissance is our own (Jin Fashen 70)”.This is not only a challenge to God, but also a summon for right and liberty, which is rather inspiring. What’s more, Satan is also emotional and human. For instance, when he sees Adam and Eve in love, he is moved first to admiration and love and then to pity. And at the sight of the suffering of his fellows, he bursts into “Tears such as angels weep (Danielson 168)”. Sympathy is aroused immediately by such kind of sensibility. Satan also has the determination to enjoy the happiness and share the tears together with his dear followers by promising, “Joined with me once, now misery hath joined (Jin Fashen 8)”. We do continue to admire him, not just for his bravura performance, but because we see ourselves in Satan. And rather than consider ourselves devils, we consider him human.1.2 The image of Satan as a devilAlthough Satan shows the positive character of his image, he still has some intrinsically evil genes. A leopard cannot change his spots. As the curtain rises, he is already literally and symbolically fallen: evil exists in opposition to good.“Withambitious aim”, he is “Against the throne and monarchy of God, /Raised impious war in /Heaven and battle proud with vain attempt. (Jin Fashen 4)”1.2.1 sadan is vicious and furiousPride, we are told, leads Lucifer to envy, envy to revolt, and revolt to expulsion from heaven. Looking into the following example, the motive for this slight of tongue is pride: “Our being ordain’d to govern, not to serve”, since if all are chiefs, who are the Indians (Miller 87)?If an ordination takes place, who, among equals, does the ordaining? It shows that Satan has violated the law by which he lives; his ensuing career is tragic study in the negative will bound in its own error. He tells us of feelings of pride and envy, which make Satan unable to bear the Son’s exaltation. Lifted up high, he wishes to take a higher step. However, trying to step higher from his bright eminence in heaven makes him lose his perch and the things he have had. “Lost of happiness and lasting pain torments him; /round he throws his baleful eyes, /that witnessed huge affliction and dismay mixed /with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. (Jin Fashen 6)” It is the case of self-suggested temptation and fall.The slogan of Satan’s rebellion is freedom and independence, but freedom and independence lie in obedience, not in self-assertive rebellion. We can no longer admire Satan, because he is a fool seeing his free will only in terms of self-assertion. In the unfallen world, the rule is that creation returns thanks to the creator, and this return is made freely by good will at once indebted and discharged, as Satan did before his rebellion. However, to bad will, debt becomes extortion, and the return of gratitude sticks in Satan’s throat, “in a moment quit / The debt immense of endless gratitude, /So burdensome still paying, /still to owe (Jin Fashen 42)”. In his loss, Satan speaks with a moral understanding of both the freedom of gratitude and the unfreedom of resentment. So Satan converts what is a source of gratitude and freedom into a source of resentment and constraint. In this circumstance, whatever we think of heaven’s free love, through Satan’s eyes its goodness seems compelling; this attitude makes him more and more evil. So the study of Satan’s evil is the corruption of good. Satan has violated the conditions for true liberty. The rigid authoritarianism is Satan’s and freedom lies in faithful obedience to God. To be free is precisely the same thing as to be pious. Satan’seagerness to justify his position as leader has ineptly undermined his stand as libertarian. Satan makes a false heroic idea. The idea of him destroys his innate goodness and makes his hero comes to seem childish.1.2.2sadan’s other wrong deedsHe is tragic, however, not just through the resonance of his anguish, but because he makes a choice that destroys him. As God is made up of all virtues, Satan is composed of contending fragments of evil. Those fragmented aspects of the devil are represented in medieval art by the seven deadly sins: wrath, pride, lust, envy, sloth, avarice, and gluttony. Correspondingly, in Paradise Lost, Belial symbolizes sloth; Mammon, avarice; Moloch, hated. The concluding episode of book2 compresses those many evils into three personalities: Satan, Sin, and Death. Respectively, they represent cause, act, and effect, and their chaotic family tree is an obvious perversion of God’s own begetting of the Son. Sin is Satan’s daughter-mistress and his act of disobedience, while Death is the outcome of their incest. The trinity—Satan, Sin, and Death—shown to the reader is the demonic one. Death sits within hell’s gate. When Satan first sees Sin and Death, he fails to recognize his daughter and to acknowledge his son. To Sin, he says he has never yet seen “Sight more detestable than him and thee” (Miller 97). Readers share his reaction as he recognizes the dim, primordial monsters as obscenities locked from the light of civilization. In recognizing Sin and Death, Satan admits to his own perverse deformity. When Satan leaps into chaos, he thinks that he has left Sin, Death, and hell behind. Only later does he realize that he himself is hell: Satan as cause contains both act (Sin) and result (Death) in his every fiber. Sin is the way to be damned, but also that a reprobate like Satan, who tries to avoid submission and punishment, can only do so through further sin, incurring further damnation and punishment, “for within him Hell /He brings, of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue! (Jin Fashen 40)” and “Which way he fly is Hell (Jin Fashen 44)”. There is no room for sympathy since Satan has made the bed in which he lies.In short, Satan’s image is of dual character. By seeing from the textual level, Satan’s wickedness and heroism are crossed. On the one hand, he poses as a revolutionist fighting bravely for liberty and equality with his wisdom and emotion. Onthe other hand, he exposes his ambition and pride, holding a false idea of freedom and right, begetting Sin and Death, spreading evil and seducing human creatures. Satan is an archangelic being with perfect intelligence, but doomed to operate imperfectly.Chapter 2 Historical factors contributing to the dual characterof Satan’s imageA work cannot be interpreted correctly regardless of its related environment. Similarly, the vague image of Satan has its root in the turmoil of the time during which Paradise Lost was written. This part will check the factors that influence the image of Satan. It consists of examining the 17th century social background and the author’s experiences and belief for a better understanding of Satan’s image.2.1 The influence of the puritan movementThe Puritan movement, in its broadest sense, may be regarded as a second or greater Renaissance, a rebirth of the moral nature of man. The very Renaissance had been essentially pagan and sensuous, accompanied by a moral awakening especially in England, that greatest moral and political reform which ever swept over a nation in the short space of half a century. It had two chief objects: personal righteousness and civil and religious liberty, which is quite similar to the purposes of heavenly rebellion led by Satan.That was a transitional society, full of violence, revolution, tyranny and many unstable factors. People doubted about their future and their value. Some of them submitted and only lived for life’s sake, just like some angels yielding to God’s authority and flattering him to maintain their glories. But still many of them stood out and devoted all their life to the course of freedom and happiness, the same as Satan and his followers do. Milton was one of the revolutionists. He supports his motherland’s revolution against king’s tyranny for human liberty with his wisdom and sharpened pen. He works so hard against the European reactionaries in order to vindicate the action of beheading the king CharlesⅠthat he losses his sight, but even in such kind of condition, he still sticks to his struggle. He creates lots of great masterpieces to present the truthand reality with his imaginations, to encourage English people. This kind of perseverance can find its reflection in the image of Satan, since even when he has lost all the glories around him and been driven out of Heaven, he still holds on to his belief. According to the bigotry, bellicosity, obstinacy and radicalness reflected during the course of fighting for his personal pursuit, Satan is blind, but it is just in such defect where his lofty and self-respect lay (Ma Haijian). So was Milton. He is not only a pious puritan, but also a revolutionist eager to fight. He allows the revolutionary in himself to take root in Satan. The conflict between Satan and God is, in fact, the one that between the Parliaments which are on behalf of liberty---which Milton was advocating--- and the stubborn despotic royal force. The revolutionary spirit is quite obvious. Milton’s pursuance of freedom and equality is exactly that of Satan.At the beginning of the epic, Milton “assert Eternal Providence, /And justify the ways of God to man”(Jin Fashen 4), but the description of God and Heaven is totally different from the poet’s original intention. God is the symbol of authority while the angels are all obsequious without personality. Unsatisfied with God’s tyranny, Satan takes arms to challenge the authority and asserts civil right. That is quite in accordance with Milton’s attitude—people have their right either for the governor or against the governor, so long as they wish. Satan’s first challenge is to God. Though he know at the very beginning the margin between him and God, Satan is not afraid of performing the course he thought righteous. That makes his angelic image more glory and his deed more admirable. Even when Satan seduces our forefather, we do own thanks to him, for it is him who lets us become wit and experienced. The demanding of Adam “yet sinless, with desire to know /What nearer might concern him, how this World /Of Heaven and Earth conspicuous first began (Jin Fashen 84)” makes us feel “wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. (Jin Fashen 30)”and doubt “is knowledge so despised? /Or envy, or what reserve forbids to taste? (Jin Fashen 58)” Satan’s great courage, rebellion spirit, perseverance and wisdom are highly praised here, which makes him the real central figure in this epic.But naturally, as a national movement, Puritan Movement had its extremes and excesses. And the intensity of the struggle against despotism made men narrow and hard.In the triumph of Puritanism under Cromwell, severe laws were passed, many simple pleasures were forbidden, and an austere standard of living was forced upon an unwilling people. Next, Cromwell conquered Ireland and Scottish, unifying the three counties. And the supreme authority was in his hands as his closest followers declared Parliament dismissed in December 1653. He thus assumed the title of Lord Protector. Another autarch had replaced the former one. The initial righteous rebellion turns to be an ambitious aggression. The Movement essentially failed, since no liberty and civil right are realized. Satan shares the same process with Cromwell. They are both preservers and destroyers. As he reins the Hell, Satan becomes more extreme and more destructive. The case is genuine heroism wrongly used in relation to himself and others.A leader of liberty is transformed to a ruler of despotism, and then is damned further.2.2 The influence of the restorationUnfortunately, in 1660, when CharlesⅡsuccessfully achieved the Restoration of the kingdom, all Milton’s labors and sacrifice for humanity were apparently wasted. He was immediately marked for persecution, and his books were burned by the public hangman. His daughter, upon whom he depended in his blindness, rebelled at the task of reading to him and recording his thoughts. All the policies that he had worked for so passionately had suddenly been abrogated. So he couldn’t help sighing with strong emotion: “If you beest he—but O how fallen! (Jin Fashen 8)” The Republic came to an end; the Restoration brought people another turbulence. The whole Britain suffered total reversal again. The failure urged Milton to soul-searching. And it was the time when God’s authority resumed, and Satan was transformed to a serpent.In literature, the Age was definitely the one of confusion. The spiritual gloom, which sooner or later fastened upon all the writers of the age, was due to the breaking up of accepted standards of government and religion. That led the literary men of the time to look backward for their golden age unconsciously. This could also be a clue to understand Satan, since Milton mixed reason in Puritanism with morality and constituted Puritan Humanism, and the thought was reflected in his Paradise Lost. As the last rearguard of the Renaissance and the primary promoter of Enlightenment, he endowed his introspection to humanism on his greatest image of Satan portrayed in thispoem. Although Milton’s study of the will focused on the inner world of temptation, guilt and repentance, he treated these things not just as they borne on one’s relation to oneself or to God, but to others also. Satan’s fall corrupted others as well as himself, so no grace would be extended to him. Milton’s was a disciplined, rational, responsible moral freedom beyond the reach of most political activists. (Fowler 43)His individual emphasis is on the freedom of the disciplined life: obedience is freedom; independence is slavery. In heaven, political loyalty is religious loyalty, and Satan’s republicanism violates both. So Satan’s rebellion for freedom turns to be a path to slavery. Will is free, determined neither by divine predestination nor by subliminal psychodynamics. Satan has the free will to stand but he chooses to fall. And in Milton’s view, virtue is not cloistered innocence untroubled by passions, but rather the difficult experience of rationality, of perpetual rational choices between seductively deceptive alternatives (Fowler 37). So, no matter how just the excuses are, Satan does spread evils and bring torment to human beings. Satan’s formidable intellectual powers are engaged in what is self-deception before it turns to deception of others. The process of negation takes him from heroic denial of the order of heaven to a perverse and mean form of resistance, and ruses of concealment and self-deception re-enter in ignoble, self-corrupting forms. Here is a committed revolutionary, a supporter of regicide, who nevertheless makes his rebel angels devils.So far, Milton was lost into great ambivalence. On the one hand, instead of withdrawing from society, Milton remained social, no longer participating directly in politics, but continuing to host foreign visitors and work closely with friends and acquaintances as he produced some of his greatest writings. On the other hand, because of the force of the society, whatever he tried, he was doomed to receive more strikes and despair. He suspected of the meaning of his endeavor. So in this way we can realize why the feature of Satan is ambivalent. The author has infused his own spirits and passion into Satan’s character. Satan’s fights with God are just like Milton’s fights with the society. Satan becomes a prolocutor of the author. They both are eager for freedom and both can’t escape from the unavoidable failure. That’s the tragedy—a hero’s tragedy. To Milton, it is the reality that he hates. He has worked so hard and enthusiastically for the。