Mel Gibson's recent film, The Passion of the Christ, opens with a disturbing scene where Satan works to dissuade Jesus from carrying the cross for the entire human race. What is particular about Satan's temptation are the questions he addresses to the Son: “Who are you? and “Who is your father?” It seems militarily imprudent for Satan to even attempt to challenge an adversary whose identity is as obscure to him as the night fog. Likewise, John Milton's audience sees the same ignorance in Satan, who inflames his animosity toward the Son in the vast epics titled Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, in which Satan's incomplete knowledge of Divinity profoundly affects his thoughts and actions. . In particular, because Milton's Satan believes himself to be another son of God, his interaction with the true Son produces a dramatic impression on Milton's reader: the brotherly conflict between the disadvantaged prince and the king's rightful successor. While Satan's initial fight with the Son in Paradise Lost results in his defeat, the Prince of Darkness resumes his confrontation with the Son in Paradise Regained, revealing his identity behind a human mask. Like the futile struggle of an illegitimate prince, Satan's view of the status and nature of the Father's heir is clouded by his prejudice and ignorance, ordering his pathetic defeats in both epics. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the Original EssayTo begin discussing Satan's attitude toward the Son, it is essential to first examine the event that makes Satan aware of the threat that endangers his princely status. ; it is in this atomic event that his envy and his prejudices towards the Son of God explode. Essentially, Milton's paradise in Paradise Lost is like a peaceful foster home in which God plays the role of a benevolent father who adopts angelic children into his care. On New Year's Day, the father introduces his legitimate son to the family for the first time, making him inherit all the privileges rightful to him and asking the other children to give him their toys - an act of favoritism that transforms the nativity scene of God in office. - hammer Parliament. This is the scene that describes the exaltation of the Son in Heaven, where Satan shows the impulse to defend his eclipsed status and compete for the recognition of the Father. In fact, Satan presents a justification for his relationship with Omnipotence in this statement: “I also am, or was, the Son of God, and if I was, so am I; the relationship is valid.” With these powerful words, the satanic prince passionately claims his birthright and offers just cause to envy the Son, even though he actually has limited knowledge of the Son's status at that time. The setting of Paradise Lost is therefore the theater on which Satan utters his anguished cry of illegitimacy. It is clear that Satan's ignorance of the Son's filial unity with God is what convinces him to believe that he is an illegitimate prince. Because Satan fails to recognize the fact that the Son is the true representation of the Godhead, in whom the Father has "the greatest pleasure," one of his preconceived impressions of the Son is that he is not than a simple servant receiving an unworthy promotion to high rank. royal status. This is demonstrated in Satan's words to his peers: "Now another has taken hold. All power, and we are eclipsed under the name. Of the anointed king." Undeniably, Satan despises the nature of the Son by saying that he has no direct kinship with the Father, but is simply an angel to whom the kingship of God has been given.arbitrarily conferred. Furthermore, the word “another” implies that anyone can potentially be elected as a candidate for the throne of God. “This is why Satan,” writes Michael Bryson, “considers the elevation of the Son such a serious affront: that of Satan is a “who makes this “Son” think that he is, anyway ? " Reaction ". Exasperated by his disqualification from legitimacy, Satan's "wronged sense of merit" mirrors the resentful curses of Edmund, who also engages in an inner conflict with his social status in Shakespeare's tragic play King Lear : My services are linked. should I suffer the scourge of custom and allow the curiosity of nations to deprive me?... Displacement of a brother? Why bastard? Why baseness?... With baseness, baseness, baseness? This passage highlights the psychological disorder. that Satan suffers as the illegitimate son of God. If God the Father refers to all angels as his "Offspring of Light", it is plausible that Satan feels frustrated at failing to gain the approval of the Father, even though he is the most powerful and beautiful . of all the angels. In addition to Satan's prejudice towards the nature of the Son, he believes that he deserves equal status, power and authority, deliberately neglecting the fact that the Father has already proclaimed the Son's transcendence above the angels: who can then by reason or does the law assume monarchy over those who live according to the law, its equals, if they are less in power and splendor, in equal freedom? Satan complains that the elevation of the Son literally disrupts the notion of equality in the ranking of the heavenly hosts. It also reveals his narrow perspective toward the supremacy attributed to the Son from the beginning of creation. In particular, Milton's poem offers another interesting passage about Satan's false view of the Son: immediately after the Son's coronation, Satan furtively whispers to his peers: “You see new laws imposed; new laws coming from the one who reigns, new spirits can arise. . In us who serve." Clearly, the new word imposes on Satan a revolutionary notion that convinces him to believe that the Son is a new creation of the Father who imperatively – and unjustly – demands to be worshipped. Neil Forsyth, author of The Satanic Epic, presents a brilliant analysis of Satan's inaccurate perception of the essence of the Son: Satan sees that God the Father is violating the pre-existing hierarchy in the celestial realm by commanding angels to worship a newly created man , not his Son, thus arousing Satan's mutinous reaction to God's decree Just like Satan's partial knowledge of the Son, his conception of the Godhead proves to be just as objective. Satan's divinity is like that of a child whose judgment is often led astray by outward appearances and who fails to recognize the intrinsic value that lies beneath the surface. In other words, the problem with the theological perspective of. Satan lies in his belief and experience that God's nature is not innate, but rather manifests through external qualities such as His sovereignty and power. In Paradise Lost, Satan's misconception of the Godhead is best illustrated by Satan's testimony of the sacred anointing of the Son received by the Father, in which Satan sees that the power and authority of God are transferable from outside. This is demonstrated when God proclaims before multitudes of people. angels, "My only begotten Son, and on this holy hill. Him whom you now see, I have anointed. At my right hand I make your leader." It appears that divine power is transferred directly to the Son in the anointing process, much like transfused bloodfrom one man to another. Returning to the image of the illegitimate prince, Milton describes Satan's sullen withdrawal from the festive feast which followed the enthronement of the Son: "he resolved with all his legions to dislodge and leave without worship, without obeying the supreme throne." Later, the heavenly war after the anointing of the Son depicts the painful price inflicted on the rebellious prince due to his ignorance of the Son's power. In fact, the War in Heaven paints a most fascinating picture of the conflict between spiritual forces, in which Satan receives the privilege of being the first among the angels to taste the earth-shattering power of the Son's fury. Milton's poem offers a concrete manifestation of the unstoppable energy of the Son which generates a compulsive defeat of the Prince of Darkness: Among them, [the Son] has arrived; in his right hand, seizing ten thousand thunders, which he sent before him, such as in their souls fixed wounds; they astonish all lost resistance, all courage; their unused weapons fell. In this image, not only do the flashes of fire and thunder dazzle Satan so that he runs away like a mouse, but the wounds inflicted on him leave indelible evidence of the Son's superior strength - only one aspect. of the Divinity which creates the uncertainty of Satan in the incarnate form of the Son in Paradise regained. After his fall into Hell, Satan's ignorance of the Son's power is fully revealed in the following line: "He with his thunder and until then who knew." The strength of these formidable weapons.” Due to Satan's miscalculation of the Son's superior strength and ignorance of the crucial fact that the "Second Almighty" is God's chosen victor, he reaps only shame and dishonor from his fruitless struggle. against the chosen one. Stella P. Revard offers this commentary on Satan's tragic harmartia: "For the first time since he fought in Heaven and encountered the greater power of the Son, Satan is brought to bow and recognize his illegitimacy and the begotten Son of God.” The reincarnated Son in Paradise Regained is more complex than the simple prejudices seen in Paradise Lost, although Milton knowingly retains Satan's ignorant quality for the effect of dramatic irony throughout the second epic. First, Satan shows signs of concern regarding the prophecy regarding the serpent's wound inflicted by a woman's offspring. "This mortal wound," remarks Satan nervously, "will be inflicted by the seed of Eve. On my head." Obviously, the arrival of the Messiah gives Satan a sense of fear because the prophecy exposes the truth about the divine vengeance that the Son will wreak on him. Second, it is the divine radiance that shines on the face of the Son that excites Satan's curiosity to explore the identity of his enemy: "Who is this we must learn, for he seems to be a man." In all his features, even in his face. of the glory of his Father shines". This feeling of wonder becomes the impetus that drives Satan to observe the Son from the day of his birth until his adulthood. It is interesting to note that unlike the angry prince of Paradise Lost, Milton recasts his satanic antagonist in Paradise Regained, that of a detective desperate to unmask the secret agent that God the Father sends to earth despite the fact that Satan's attitude shows significant signs of change. , his absolute ignorance of the Son once again disappoints Milton's reader in Paradise Regained That is, Satan's objective view of the manifestation of the Godhead is based on extrinsic qualities, as mentioned earlier. interacts with the Son involves exclusively external elements, leading the careless detective to overlook clues thatpoint to the presence of Divinity in the Son. For example, Satan believes that he can incite the Son to show an eagerness to possess power, stating that "great deeds require great means of enterprise" and implicitly referring to power. To make his offer more attractive, Satan takes on the role of a geography expert by presenting different regions where the kingdoms thrive: The City that you see no other than the great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth Until present fame and with the spoils. enrichesTo the great emperor of Rome, whose vast domainIn a vast territory, wealth and power. It is therefore not surprising to realize that the devices Satan uses to reveal the identity of the Son only concern tangible things such as wealth and power. As pathetic as it may seem, Satan's ability to see the truth is corrupted by superficial images and his belief that God's power is only physical. To summarize, "Satan simply does not know with certainty who [the Son] is and can only imagine the mission of this 'Woman Seed' in terms of the external, hierarchical categories in which he lived, moved and had its being” (Bryson 160). Satan's biased view of the Son's outward appearance is equally naive. Believing that he was born of human flesh, he wrongly assumes that the Son will likely succumb to basic human needs and expose his weakness as an ordinary human being. In fact, one of Satan's most disarming temptations comes in the form of the food banquet at which he hopes to obtain proof, through the confessing tongue of the Son, that he is truly the descendant of God: "Wherefore Do you doubt, Son of God? and eat". The effect of this test, however, is only to make Satan even more frustrated while simultaneously revealing the poem's inherent irony. In Stanley Fish's essay "Inaction and Silence", Fish offers a penetrating insight into the ignorance that constructs the framework for Milton's dramatic irony: No amount of "bad success" will make Satan reconsider his strategy and the assumptions behind it He learns nothing from experience. and is therefore a perfect example of one who is "so morally indisposed towards the truth that nothing would suffice to make him see it", a mind so complacent in his own [ignorance] that he is impossible to teach , even to a careful observer. irenic method of dialectic (Wittreich 36) The fact that Satan never seems to fully understand the Son's true identity is the irony that brings Satan's own quote back to him: "Now I thought you. was worth my closer view / And closer examination, that I might learn." Indeed, Satan's ability to learn never seems to reach maturity, despite his zeal to determine the true nature of the Son. Consequently, the miserable taste of defeat returns to haunt the satanic prince at the top of the temple, where he finally discovers the true identity of his target. In the pivotal scene atop the temple, all of Satan's questions about the identity of the Son are resolved in an epiphany where the Son simultaneously reveals his divinity and proclaims his judgment on Satan. As if waking from a nightmare, the illegitimate prince is forced to confront the truth of his erroneous preconceptions. To illustrate this climatic moment, the solemn words of the Son: “Do not tempt the Lord your God” are like a piercing ray of light that penetrates the cloud of ignorance in the mind of Satan. In other words, the Messiah whom Satan sees in the form of a human being is not an angelic army, a heavenly warrior, nor a newly created man, but God himself: God the Son. Satan's ultimate defeat at the top of the temple is just as, 1971.