Welcome to Hell where we have golden castles

Writing the second essay for this class has brought me back into Paradise Lost and thinking about Satan's grand palace.
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.

The Demon’s Arguments Part IV

Ahhhh Beelzebub, the second best demon in hell. Satan’s right-hand man. The mouth piece of hell. A wondrous foul beast, who is also a pretty cool-cat. Milton describes Beelzebub as follows:

“Which when Beelzebub perceived—than whom,

Satan except, none higher sat—with grave

Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed

A pillar of state. Deep on his front engraven

Deliberation sat, and public care;

And princely counsel in his face yet shone,

Majestic, though in ruin. Sage he stood

With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear

The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look

Drew audience and attention still as night

Or summer's noontide air”

Found on http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jmilton/bl-jmilton_plost_2.htm

Now, I don’t know about you but I was very excited to see what the internet was going to find for me—image-wise—regarding Beelzebub. I hopped for AWESOME, because that’s basically how Milton wants us the readers to visualize him—a big hulk of monstrous, handsome, conniving, perfection.

 

http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/devil/Beelzebub/images/beelzebub.gif

 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYffkbaqRR3byjWr4Gx1nwt713TaFfXg6ldqm5-vmjQuDQ51n1qNOQgDh67Y6Z0WqDdGjvRMquF9GPngdJuy7wJIeeatClMvrbhcZc9jIFpwEMHK6sAT0rPaCvA0248YmwQEXyAu_NINQ/s400/Lawrence+Satan+and+Beelzebub+1795-1797.jpg

Needless to say I was super disappointed in the available artwork. Apparently there is an anime Beelzebub, but he doesn’t seem very impressive either. I wonder why he isn’t depicted in art more? I even narrowed my searches and even looked specifically for Paradise Lost artwork…nothing impressive. For the other demons I was able to find some pretty interesting artwork, but not for Satan’s right-hand man, it seems odd... Especially since according to Milton, Beelzebub was the mouth piece of Satan. I would think he would be seen more, rousing the other demons to do Satan’s bidding, but somehow making it seem like it was their idea the whole time. The images I was able to find just left me wanting…

Milton vs. Dante's Satan

By far, what has interested most in all of "Paradise Lost" has been Milton's interpretation of Satan as a sympathetic character. Considering that the poem was written in the time that it was, it seems like it would have been a controversial outlook, because up until then I can only assume that the general public was more used to traditional illustrations of him through other pieces of either epic poetry or biblical stories passed down through sermon. The most obvious one that comes to mind is the equally famous “Divine Comedy”

Written 112 years prior, Dante’s epic piece is considered by many to be the quintessential illustration of Hell’s anatomy (as well as Purgatory and Heaven). In the last circle of his intricate geography of it, the character of Satan is portrayed more as an abstract caricature than an actual character.

In Dante’s poem, Satan is a mindless, bestial-like creature locked in an icy lake. He can’t even speak with any of his three mouths, only because he’s too busy dumbly chewing on the three most notorious of traitors. Even then, it’s also implied that he’s too stupid to even speak a word.

Milton’s portrayal of Satan is a complete 180 from this, and I can’t help but wonder how a general public might have reacted to being ‘tricked’ into having, quite literally, sympathy for the devil himself. Up until then, they had been given these similar ‘embodiment of all evil’ sorts of interpretations, especially from Dante’s work so many years prior. 

From poem to prose

     Paradise Lost is an amazing poem that requires much analysis and trying to figure out what the subject of the sentence is can be tough, but the close reading we did in class really helped me grasp the meaning of it as a whole. It would be neat if we could continue reading it, but alas there is not enough time in the year. Now as we are reading Oroonoko, it seems easier to read than especially the poem of Paradise Lost.
    Taking a step back from the prose though, I have to think that it cannot be as easy as it seems. There seem to be a bunch of hidden meanings that one has to keep an eye open for, and I cannot wait to see how we analyze this in class.
     However interesting prose can be, I sometimes find more enjoyment in the analysis of poetry because there can be so much more depth within one line of poetry than sometimes one book itself. Poetry is rhythmic and beautiful and although harder to grasp, it is easier to memorize when rhyme scheme comes into play. I love poetry, but I also love reading prose as well.
     As a general consensus and as a poet on the side, I want to ask the class your opinion on which is easier to read: prose or poetry?
    And... does that opinion differ from what you enjoy reading more: prose or poetry?





Reference: http://www.poetrysansonions.com/2012/11/a-post-title-without-prose.html


Blog Challenge: 3 of 5 :)

The Demons’ Arguments Part III

Now, Mammon is perhaps the demon I most looked forward to reading about. I know of Mammon from the comic-con world as Satan’s son. He was supposed to be the Devil’s response to God and Jesus. The Devil felt that if God was to have a chosen Son, so would he. Basically the response “anything you can do, I can do better” which is pretty fitting to what we’ve read of Satan, in Milton’s world at least.

So reading Mammon in Paradise Lost was actually a bit of a disappointment. I wanted Satan’s son, instead I get a demon content with the realms of hell. Belial and Mammon seem to be on the same page as each other, both content to sit around and not do much…well at least Mammon wants to make hell a little more “homey.”

Mammon is the deity of greed.

In Book One of Paradise Lost, Mammon is described as:

“Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell

From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts

Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,

Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed

In vision beatific. By him first

Men also, and by his suggestion taught,

Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands

Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth

For treasures better hid.”

This version is found online at http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jmilton/bl-jmilton_plost_1.htm

I of course wanted to find visual representations of this demon. The Mammon I expected was

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs28/f/2008/077/8/c/8c1799b4ff8b009a.jpg

The Mammon images that better fit Milton’s ideal are

 

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/4/46347/1441057-mammon.jpg

 

http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2010/181/e/4/Mammon_by_palenight.jpg

These images fit what Milton describes because, as he states, Mammon was evil from the get-go. His view was already downcast. He likes hell because he never liked heaven to begin with. I still would’ve liked the Constantine comic version though…

The Demon’s Arguments Part II

The second demon to speak is Belial, which in Hebrew means worthless. He seems to be the deadly sin Sloth personified, or rather demonified. Milton describes Belial as:

“On th' other side up rose

Belial, in act more graceful and humane.

A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed

For dignity composed, and high exploit.

But all was false and hollow; though his tongue

Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear

The better reason, to perplex and dash

Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low—

To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds

Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear,

And with persuasive accent”

Again, this version of Paradise Lost comes from the website http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jmilton/bl-jmilton_plost_2.htm (It just makes it easier to cut and paste instead of typing it all out manually).

So, Milton describes Belial as graceful, humane, fair, dignified, false and hollow, noble, slothful, and persuasive. As another classmate had posted, the demon of college students…I might even go so far to add that Belial is the patron demon on English majors specifically.

Two images I found of Belial are

 

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/crimsonheart/Crimsonheart%20Profile%20Pics/BelialMorningstar.jpg

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h411/awean8/Belial.jpg

These depictions of Belial are fitting; he actually looks pretty dang cool if you ask me.

He looks and name (with the Hebrew meaning) are a perfect fit for his argument, which is basically like “Hey guys, we should totally just wait it out here. We shouldn’t listen to Moloch, we’ll just lose again. The best course of action is no action at all. Maybe if we wait around not doing anything long enough God will forgive us maybe…”

Overall, he is a pretty worthless demon.

O yeah, I forgot to add in my last post about how Moloch reminded me of the movie The Time Machine (no I haven’t yet read the book by H.G. Wells). I’m referring to the movie from the 1960s, because I'm cool like that...or something like that...

In the movie the main character travels far into the future where the race of humans are preyed upon and eaten by nefarious under-dwellers called the “Morlocks,” coincidence—I think not.

 

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121111085426/non-aliencreatures/images/2/2c/Morlocks.jpg

The Demons’ Arguments Part I

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

http://cdn.pjmedia.com/lifestyle/files/2012/08/child-sacrifice-to-canaanite-gods1.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwHoA6RQ7Muy8K5uyYGbkqOp7MD3i7U0OxFF3K0l4scoQSRAp765igKA2g6ur5GxXpMn06XSOmNrYg-wMu96VNf7mU7NL5w8fG-SqGqOmPEA-WgGqj2tctXwOR3QkjsoummFzMAMYIKMR/s1600/moloch.jpg

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.  

SO MUCH IMAGERY

What struck me most while reading Paradise Lost was the imagery. It's everywhere! And considering that John Milton went blind and was dictating his writing to scribes and managed to write this beautiful, complex, and vivid work of art is crazy to me. I can’t even describe my own head of hair without sounding awful and yet Milton is describing amazing things that he’s never even seen when he wasn’t blind! (At least I’m assuming he’s never seen hell…)

I think he definitely appreciated the beauty in life, even when he couldn’t see it, and even though he was a huge grump. I think that’s what I like about Milton the most. I love the idea of him being so in awe of our world and finding just the right words to describe it.

Not That Bad

This was my first time reading Paradise Lost and I have to say that I enjoyed the experience. It was such dense material that I was drawn into it from the beginning. It was interesting to see the perspective of Satan after his fall rather than that of God's, an angel's, or human's. The image painted of hell was so much of an opposite picture of  what it is commonly portrayed as. Milton's portrayal made me think so much differently of how hell could really be when I was raised to think it was only a deep dark hole of fire with an eternal burning lake. I think Milton's technique of utilizing Lucifer's perspective to emphasize God's grace and mercy was the most unique and creative way to do so and it caught my attention. I also enjoyed destructing the sentences and diction to get to the meat of what Milton was saying. Overall, I think my fist interaction with this novel was one that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I would like to read the rest of it...maybe.

3 out of  2

Belial: The Patron Demon of Introverted College Students

So in class today we discussed a few of the demons who were introduced in Paradise Lost. In my group, we were assigned the demon known as Belial ("worthless" in Hebrew). Through his description, I somehow managed to make the crazy connection that Belial could very well be the demon of introverted college students.

Now, before you click away or immediately think I'm stupid, crazy, or both, allow me to explain myself.

Belial is described as being extremely lazy, "timorous", and having quite a way with words. He is one of the more "humane" demons you will encounter in Hell. It seems as if all he wants to do is sit on his demon booty until such a time when God decides that they have gone through enough suffering and to let them back in heaven. Well, sit on his booty and make cookies that taste like sulfur no matter how many chocolate chips are added.

Now, as an introverted college student, I can personally say that this demon shares many of the qualities I think qualifies someone as being an introverted college student.

For one, there are only a select few college students who will not admit to being lazy. Those who deny being lazy are either lying or are somehow inherently lazy in some way. I mean, c'mon, how many times have you finished your classes and the primary thing you do is sit in your room and watch Maury, play videogames, check Facebook, etc? Or, even better, how many times have you been assigned a reading that is just not something you wanna do or had revising a paper as your only assignment and just blew it off because you were too busy watching dubstep cat on the internet? I mean, if lazy college students were the minority, I highly doubt there would be so many memes and other references to it as there are now.

Ok, so now that we got that out of the way, let's move on to timorous. For those of you who don't know what that word means, Google defines it as "showing or suffering from nervousness, fear, or a lack of self confidence". Now, I don't think this really needs much of a description, but I'll provide a little tid bit.

The definition of an introvert, also according to Google, is "a shy, reticent, and typically self-centered person". Now, that does not necessarily make such a person nervous, fearful, or lacking self confidence. It just means that an introvert prefers more relaxed and somewhat more solo based activities than extroverted people. That means group projects, speaking in front of a group, etc. would be a quite uncomfortable experience for an introvert. An experience that could possibly make some feel as if they are "suffering from a nervousness, fear, or a lack of self confidence", perhaps? I think you get the picture.

Personally, I think that if the fate of his current living situation wasn't being threatened with the possible war against heaven, Belial would be perfectly happy to avoid meetings like these and stay by the shores of the burning lake while baking chocolate chip sulfur cookies.

Ah, finally we have reached the last part of Belial's description: his way with words.

Now, as we discussed in class, Belial's words really hold no meaning. He may make some points, but they're really just his main point of "Aw, c'mon guys, do we really have to go do stuff? Can't we just stay in hell and wait this all out?". Belial's whole speech is pretty much what college students tell their teachers, parents, or whoever just to get their way. Say for instance it is a beautiful day outside and you really don't want to spend it in your tiny, stuffy, windowless classroom. You're probably going to try and persuade the teacher, as well as your fellow students, to go outside you might say:

 "But Dr. Mitchell-Buck, I think we could get a better idea of exactly the paradise Satan lost if we read Paradise Lost outside. I mean, the semester is already basically over and I'm sure nobody would mind. It really would be better than sitting inside all day because right after this class I have to write a 1,000 page research essay about mitochondria for my biology course. If we don't go outside, I may never see the light of day until the end of the year."

Was that a bit overdramatic? Yes, but hopefully you see my point.

So, I hope you see what I see now: Belial is the patron demon of introverted college students. Even if you don't agree with all of my points, I hope you can at least find a similarity with one, two, or 1.5 of them!

The Fallen Angels

During our group projects today Adelae brought up a great point about archangels and the question of whether they can still repent and be saved or if that is a salvation only possible for humans in Milton’s Paradise Lost. I wanted to know, from a perspective of someone who is not as informed on religion as most, if you guys think Satan could be saved if he had ever decided to repent? There are two different sides the way I see it. The first would be that there has to be a line somewhere that defines the savable from the un-savable. I feel as though Satan has crossed that line multiple times so he does not deserve to be saved should he so choose. But then again, God is the almighty and powerful. So does that mean Satan can be saved since God has the capability to forgive those that do wrong? And then, do all the other fallen angels like Beelzebub and Mammon have a chance for redemption when none of them seem particularly interested in bowing down to God’s grace? I am having a hard time distinguishing from the strength of God’s capability to forgive, and the certainty of how I feel they should be forever condemned.

The Art of Temptation

I wanted to start this blog by talking about the close reading we did in groups on Wednesday. I thought the activity was a great way to get different people’s perspective on Paradise Lost. While I have enjoyed the language of the poem, I have found “Book 1” to be rather hard to follow. The group activity was beneficial because it gave me a different and more thorough understanding of the text, than what I was able to do on my own.

catillest.com 

One of the discussion topics, we had as class, was about the description of Hell (lines 690-729). Hell is described in ways that almost make it sound beautiful, like the “golden architrave” (715) and the “organ” (708), as well as life in Hell like the army. These characteristics made Hell sound like a physically beautiful place that was organized, rather than ugly, depressing, and chaotic, which is what I expect when I think of Hell. From this discussion, the question of “why Hell come across the way Milton describes?” was presented.

Etsy.com

One possibility I thought about, in response to the question, was the idea of temptation, which is a theme that was presented in the beginning of “Book 1”, when describing Eve’s temptation in Eden (4) to the fall of Satan from Heaven  (31). The examples that Milton uses are of situations of temptation like knowledge or power. All of the ideas make me believe that the purpose of having Hell beautiful and structured is the temptation and attraction that these qualities have to people.

Most people do not want to make bad choices or follow the wrong path, but when they do, it is generally because there is some reward to that decision. That, to me, is the same reason to make Hell seem like a nice place. There would be no reward in going someplace that was miserable, but making Hell attractive causes people to not be as terrified of going there. This is another form of temptation that the Devil creates. He allows people to see goodness in Hell, and as a result they are able to make bad choices without seeing the true horrible consequences.

Post 3/5