Critical Appreciation of Satan’s five speeches in Paradise Lost

Book 1

In John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, Satan is one of the glorious
examples of political leadership and political oratory. His speeches are
the key to his character and his art of oratory excels the best of Roman
rhetoric. He is the leader of the rebel-angels in Heaven and the
uncrowned monarch of Hell. By following his lead, the fallen angels are
deprived of “Happy fields, where joy forever dwells”. Satan has now the
task of retaining their loyalty and does so by the sheer magic of his
high-pitched oratory. There is a certain pathetic grandeur of injured
merits in them which wins the hearts of his followers. Around the
character of Satan, Milton has thrown a singularity of daring, a
grandeur of suffering and a ruined splendor, which constitute the very
height of poetic sublimity.
Satan is the first to recover from the stupor into which all the rebel
angels fall. Soon he notices his first lieutenant, Beelzebub, weltering by
his side. He finds what his compeer is much changed. So he makes
cautious approach, for he is not sure whether his friend is in a mood to
blame him or he still loves him
Satan’s first speech in Paradise Lost is a reflection of pure Miltonic
lyricism. The first speech showed the leadership quality and apostasy of
Satan. He encourages and motivates his followers, (Fallen Angels), to
stand against God. In the opening line of the speech, he shows wonders
and takes pity about the changes found in Beelzebub. Then, he refers to
their friendship of the hazardous enterprise in Heaven and in their
present misery. He feels ashamed to accept the power of God; reminds
Beelzebub of the glory in heaven and compares it to present sorrows.
He believed that God insulted his esteem and promised to not change
his nasty mind against God.
As for the battle, it has been an equal match and the issue is uncertain.
It is not their want of merit but God’s new and secret weapon that won
the war. Throughout the speech, Satan uses rhetorical figures like irony
that make it impressive. His historical “high disdain” and “sense of injured
merit” have overtones of the ludicrous. It seems weak and childish.
Satan’s first speech revolves around; being immortal, eternal war against
God and ego and pride. Satan keeps encouraging his followers by saying
that just one match doesn’t decide who the winner is. So Satan defies
the power of God and did not accept the victory of God. We lost just
one match does not mean that we lost everything.
“What thought the field be lost?
All is not lost, the unconquerable will,
And the study of revenge, the immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
And what is else not to be overcome?”
Satan shows excessive pride and ego. These lines contain a ray of hope
and Satan seemed to be more optimistic. In the first line, Satan’s
question is an exposure of himself and his inability to act in any other
way other than what he enumerates. He, who failed to conquer these
things cannot be said to be victor at all. Defeat is complete only when
the spirit and the will too are subjugated. He denied accepting his loss.
He states that bowing down before God is more shameful than defeat.
So, he is determined to wage eternal war by force or guile. The last part
of the speech shows his inability to do anything except regret his
excruciating life. Throughout the speech, there is barrenness; no
suggestion of action at all except to brood on revenge and hate.
Revenge will be eternally studied and has sustained yet it is so grandly
expressed that we are thrilled by the implied suggestion to wage
ceaseless war against hopeless odds, this appears as admirable.
In Satan’s second speech, he again addressing to Beelzebub. He tried
to remove all the doubts from Beelzebub’s mind. He continued by
saying that we will convert all the good into evils and returns them to
God.
“To be weak is miserable, doing or suffering.”

If God attempts to turn evil into good, it must be the sacred duty of the
fallen angels to foil his attempts and turn all good to evil.
This speech undoubtedly shows heroic qualities in it. He soon shows his
stubborn nature and added,
“Ought to good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight”.

God has now withdrawn all his forces and is in a confounded state.
They should not let this opportunity slip. It is imperative that all of them
should assemble and consult how they may hereafter most offend their
enemy, best repair their own loss. The audacity and superb self-
confidence of Satan are well brought out in these words.
In the 2nd speech, he shares his upcoming plan with Beelzebub. Satan is
striving to keep his followers confident and brave that’s why he infuses
fresh courage and motivates them as well. He grabs the opportunity to
deploy his forces once again, conscious of the squashing defeat that he
and his followers have suffered.
Satan’s third speech is also addressed to Beelzebub. After winning over
Beelzebub and putting new courage in him, Satan asks him whether
they are forced to exchange this mournful gloom for celestial light. Now
that they have become avowed enemies of God, the farther they are
from him the better. So, he welcomed the dismal horrors of the infernal
world. It is very important speech and some lines of this speech are
very famous and often quoted. This speech is very inspiring. He, here,
shows his love of freedom and hatred of slavery which is the dream of
every man and especially of Milton.
“Farthest from him is best” is a statement of heroic defiance and of moral
alienation. Once again the appeal is to the law of nature and God’s
monarchy is presented to be based on force not on reason. The line
“Receive thy new Possessor” is characteristic of the Satanic mind and its
passion for over lordship. For him Hell is as good a place as Heaven, for
his mind remains unchanged by place or time. He calls himself the new
owner and ruler of Hell claims that he brings
“A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of hell, a Hell of Heaven”.
This is one of the noblest qualities of human nature. As a lover of
freedom he says, in Hell, they are free from servitude.
“To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.”
His speech is full of ringing phrases expressed with a deliberate
sonority. Such statements are admirable and praiseworthy. The brief
elegiac note gives way to rhetorical assertion of self-confidence. Again
irony underlines the rhetoric. The ringing line ‘ better to reign in Hell then
serve in Heaven’ with its melodramatic tone scarcely conceals the
mixture of pride and spite which it expresses. Satan considers himself
to be equal of God. God is the ruler of Heaven hence Satan will not like
to serve in Heaven. He is so arrogant he cannot think of being a
subordinate even to the Almighty. God who is superior to him only
because he has a store of thunder at his disposal.
Satan’s forth speech is addressed to the fallen- angels who lie
confounded on the bed of the fiery lake. In this speech, he shows himself
as a commanding leader. He addresses the fallen-angels with a
resounding voice. He directly touches their ego by calling them,
“Princes, Potentates, Warriors, the Flowers of Heaven.”
As if they were still in possession of their thrones and dignities in
heaven. He asks them whether they are sleeping thus on account of
physical exhaustion or in despair. He exhorts them to “wake, arise or be
forever fallen.” These addresses though seem to be sarcastic but Satan’s
intention behind using them is to encourage his downcast and hopeless
fallen-angels. If they are reminded of their past glories, they are sure to
get some strength and courage from their blissful past. He, further,
warns them that they remain passive and inactive; God’s swift pursuers
will transfix them to the bottom of Hell. With the help of these rhetoric
and high sounding encouraging words, he makes his followers ashamed
of themselves for their passivity, and they seem to be ready to do as
directed by their leader- Satan. His speech is so commanding and fiery
that his followers are roused out of their stupor.
Satan’s last and fifth speech in book 1 of Paradise Lost is also
addressed to the assembled angels. It is also an encouraging and
stirring speech. He is filled with pride to have so many comrades. He
calls the fallen-angels
“O myriads of Immortal Spirits! O Powers
Matchless, but with the Almighty!”
He declares that the battle they have fought with God in Heaven was
‘not inglorious’ though the result was disastrous and dire. None could, on
the basic of knowledge of past or experience of present, have
anticipated that such a united and mighty force of angels could ever be
defeated by God. In this way he restores their confidence in these
fallen-angels, his comrades. Satan also tells them that still there is a
bright hope for them to regain the blissful seat of Heaven. These
powerful forces of the fallen-angels whose exile has emptied Heaven,
will surely repossess their native seat, because God is the ruler of
Heaven only consent or custom or his regal position. They were
defeated by God because they were not aware of the true strength of
God which He kept concealed from them. No doubt, Satan
underestimates the power of God. But he declares that ,now, he and
his comrades have come to know the real strength of God, they will not
provoke any war against Him but if a war is thrust on them by God ,
they will not avoid it, rather face it more bravely. They must try to
achieve “by fraud or guile” what they could not attain by force. He tells
his comrades that space may produce new worlds where God intends
to place new generation of beings whom God will favor as the “Sons of
Heaven”, Satan and his followers plan to find out the truth. They should
not think of enjoying any peace or rest that will lead them to
submission to God for which they are not in the least prepared. The
only alternative for them was only war “war open or understood” must be
resolved. Here, he speaks like a great leader. His oratory is appreciable.
He invites all of them to the great council. He choked with emotion and
tears, begins his speech, like a politician he indulges in rhetoric.
Without distorting facts he turns them to a different light and gives his
defeated host a margin of hope. But one finds that the emphasis is on
war not guile.
“War then war
Open or understood must be resolved”
But one finds that the emphasis is on war not guile. He is firmly
determined to start a war using wisdom and experience. He also wants
to tell God that his triumph over the fallen-angels was by force
therefore he has half triumphed them.
Thus, in all these five speeches, his leadership qualities are shown
through words which he uses while addressing his comrades. Milton
has portrayed the splendid political oratory and biblical epic story in his
poem, Paradise Lost. He has also used his skills beautifully to bring
before us the Holy grand story explicitly. He has shown a singularity of
daring, a grandeur of suffering and a ruined splendor which constitute
the very height of poetic sublimity.