Question

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The English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley once made the following statement about Paradise Lost:
"Nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence of the character of Satan as expressed in Paradise Lost. It is a mistake to suppose that he could ever have been intended for the popular personification of evil."
In light of this statement, examine the claim that Satan in Paradise Lost is not merely evil personified but rather a misunderstood character. Develop an argument for or against the claim using evidence from the text. Answer in five or six paragraphs.

Answer 1

The distorted notions of invisible things which Dante and his rival Milton have idealized are merely the mask and the mantle in which these great poets walk through eternity enveloped and disguised. It is a difficult question to determine how far they were conscious of the distinction which must have subsisted in their minds between their own creeds and that of the people.
Dante at least appears to wish to mark the full extent of it by placing Riphæus, whom Virgil calls justissimus unus, in Paradise, and observing a most heretical caprice in his distribution of rewards and punishments. And Milton's poem contains within itself a philosophical refutation of that system of which, by a strange and natural antithesis, it has been a chief popular support. Nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence of the character of Satan as expressed in Paradise Lost. It is a mistake to suppose that he could ever have been intended for the popular personification of evil. Implacable hate, patient cunning, and a sleepless refinement of device to inflict the extremest anguish on an enemy, these things are evil; and although venial in a slave are not to be forgiven in a tyrant; although redeemed by much that ennobles his defeat in one subdued, are marked by all that dishonours his conquest in the victor.
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Answer 2

It is a well-known fact in the world of literature that Satan in Paradise Lost is the most developed character, far more developed that God or other characters in the text. He has many flaws, however, he has some virtues as well - he is not one-dimensional like the remaining characters. It is difficult to argue whether Satan is good - we are taught to believe he is the devil incarnate, however, we often fail to remember that he, Lucifer, was once an angel, one of the brightest angels of them all, who fell to Hell only because he didn't want to obey his father. So based on this, God in Paradise Lost can be considered to be a tyrant, a dictator who will do away with anyone who doesn't listen to his commands, even it it is his own children.