I loved the demons’ and their arguments regarding what their
next move should be. I know we talked about them in groups, but I wanted to
talk a little more about them.
I was fascinated by Moloch’s vengeful aggression. But it makes
sense. The demon himself makes sense and I can see why Milton would choose him
to be one of the voices for the war argument. Moloch or Molech means “king” in
Hebrew. Moloch was one of the Caananite gods (from the Bible). The followers of
Moloch needed to sacrifice their children by throwing them into fire.
“next him Moloch, sceptred king,
Stood up—the strongest and the fiercest Spirit
That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair.
His trust was with th' Eternal to be deemed
Equal in strength, and rather than be less
Cared not to be at all; with that care lost
Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse,
He recked not”
This version comes from the website: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jmilton/bl-jmilton_plost_2.htm
The description Milton provides of this demon is fitting to
the images I was able to find online. He is “bull-headed” both literally and
figuratively. He also appears strong and kingly. His characteristics fit his argument
which is to attack Heaven again, because he feels he and the other demons have
nothing to lose. They could lose hell and lose the eternal pain they feel or
they could gain heaven. To him the only feasible option left for them is to
fight. Even though he’s a pretty awful demon, you kind of have to respect his
tenacity.
No comments:
Post a Comment