I just remember that all I could think was, "Dang this place sounds nice." Which I guess at the end of the day was the point, really.
But I mean, if you ignore all the fire and molten lakes, how is this NOT appealing?
I mean, living in this fiery Underworld is definitely out of the question, but I think it would be totally interesting to go see or to go walk into. It's a palace made completely of gold, defying all chemical laws (that junk should melt or break or SOMETHING in that crazy heat), and Milton even described it as rivaling anything on Earth.
But therein lies the problem, right? You can't see anything like this on Earth and it seems to be an attempt to rival what's in Heaven, so how do we see it?
Well of course we have to go to Hell. And as we know from Faustus, once you've sold your soul and once you're in Hell, you're not getting out. It kind of shows just how tricky Satan is and how enticing anything can sound. It really plays toward his character, especially in Paradise Lost and it makes me see how it can potentially make a lot of sense that Eve fell for his temptation.
When I was reading the description of this golden palace, I almost forgot I was in Hell and that this was being built for Satan and all the demons. All I could think about was how I got one of my own.
My favorite part of that passage is the creepy awesome organ music that plays as it erupts from the ground.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Hell seems really cushy consider that it's, well, Hell. I do agree with you that the mere concept of a golden palace in Hell is really appealing compared to the plain old fire and brimstone that's so atypical. Temptation is so often a thing that ends up being more overlooked than anything else.
ReplyDeletePandemonium, a golden palace surrounded by lava. ("So, why am I here again?" "Do you remember a certain Timothy's bachelor party?" "... Maybe?" "Well, we certainly do, and that stripper was -totally- not alright when you left." "Are you serious?!" "Nah, I'm just pulling your leg. We heard you could do a WICKED kegstand.")
ReplyDeleteGod, The Creator of All Things. ("Y'know what? Let's let the humans come up with some things in their imaginations, like Pokemon, and elemental manipulation kung-fu they'll call bending. That will give them something else to think about while I'm over here making AIDS a thing.")
Decisions, decisions, decisions...
I definitely see what you're saying about the beauty of a place supposedly so horrible.
ReplyDeleteBut isn't that temptation, beautiful to the eye but poisonous to the soul?
I think I wrote a similar post to this at some point because this makes complete sense to me. The worst move that Satan could make would be to make Hell this terrifying scary place that would seem dreadful to go. That alone could motivate people to be good and stay away. The keyword that keeps coming up is temptation. Creating a beautiful place is a form of temptation, and doesn't show Satan as a scary monster, but to me makes him sneaky and calculating, which is someone to be careful of even more.
ReplyDelete