The Many Faces of Satan

One thing I noticed through all of our many readings this year was how much people loved to include Satan in their works. Dr. Faustus, Utopia, and Paradise Lost all had some character that either was directly Satan or was somewhat symbolic of Satan. One could also argue the comparison between Grendel/Grendel's mom from Beowulf and Satan, but that's so far back in the past it's not really worth spending much time on.

What I thought was cool is that even all those years ago, people love to make scary things funny and what could possibly be scarier than Satan?! Sure, he may not be that threatening or imposing by modern day standards, but back in those days Satan was the realest form of evil ever!

Even today, there have been countless songs, TV shows, movies, etc. that have all included Satan in some way. Stephen Lynch, one of the funniest guys alive in my book, even wrote a pretty funny song about Satan that automatically makes me think of the version of Satan/Mephistopheles/whatever portrayed in Dr. Faustus because of how serious and foreboding the song sounds in the beginning, but it then turns around and is silly and ridiculous the rest of the way through, which I think summons up part of what  Dr. Faustus was getting at: Satan is only really scary if you chose that path. If you are on the good side, there really isn't any harm in poking some fun at something as serious and scary as Satan.

Another, more serious portrayal of Satan I found in modern standards is Lucifer from the hit CW TV show Supernatural. Now, I'm not going to get into the plot of the show too much (seriously if you guys are interested just watch it on Netflix or something), but I will say that this version of Satan most closely parallels the Lucifer from Paradise Lost. Supernatural Lucifer is hell bent *badum tiss* on reclaiming his place in Heaven and destroying all the inferior humans, who he blames as the reason he fell in the first place because he wouldn't "bow to them" (which I think is the exact words from the show). At some points, you actually can feel some sympathy towards this fallen angel because his love for God (or "Father" as most of the angels in the show refer to him as) is still so strong. Also, he has some serious sex appeal.

Oh yeah, if you're wondering why his face is all scarred up it's because the man Lucifer is inhabiting in just a human vessel and not just any old human can be the vessel for the brightest of God's angels.

There are plenty of other examples too! Like Mephisto from many different issues of  Marvel's comics (Deadpool and Nightcrawler are the two I can think of off the top of my head) Lucifer from Constantine, or even Satan from South Park.

 (Mephisto)

 

 (Lucifer from Constantine)

 

 (Satan and Saddam from South Park)

 

Oh I could think of many, many, MANY more examples of Satan's many modern day forms, but that's not my reason for bringing all of this junk up. My point is that Satan is most always used as the extreme form of evil in almost every media he is portrayed in. He is the symbol of what you don't want to do, the guy you don't want to have any dealings with, and the guy who is paying the ultimate price for his own arrogance. There is almost always no contest when it comes to a work that includes Satan. You aren't going to be on his team no matter what and why? Because it has been ingrained in everyone's brains that Satan=Bad! There usually is no wiggle room and usually you won't have anyone disagree with you. Of course, I could be wrong. I mean, after all, my knowledge isn't infinite and I don't know all there is to know about the public opinion of Satan on a global scale....although I highly doubt the amount of Satan supporters are in the majority.



 

The reason I see for this is because as scary as hell and Satan may be upon first glance (take a look at "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" if you doubt me), but if your faith/morals/whatever makes you good is strong enough then using Satan in works isn't so bad. Also, using Satan can show the audience what not to be, what not to do, and so on and so forth.

 

Anyways, I'm exhausted both physically and of the subject of Satan. So, I'll just stop typing and see what it is that you guys have to say about the subject....if anything at all. Mkaybye!