Paradise Lost

PARADISE LOST BY MILTON BOOK 1 & 2

FALLEN ANGELS

Paradise Lost by Milton mentions about the fallen angels who were cast away from heaven due to disobeying God. In my study of this poem I have come to realize that Milton has actually given these fallen angels human attributes and characteristics. This shows that as the context of the poem which is being planned by the chief of the devils, Satan, the human race has already fallen prey to these devils and the plan that the devils masterminded to influence God’s beloved creatures, humans with bad characteristics has succeeded because humans have copied the characteristics of devils. In Milton’s poem there are two fallen angels that had left an imprint in my heart after reading Paradise Lost. This is because these fallen angels posses the negative attributes of today’s human race. These fallen angels disobey God and have become loyal to Satan and in the process have been influence and thence follow the characteristics of Satan. The two fallen angels that I am going to tell about in this assignment of mine are Beelzebub and Mammon.

BEELZEBUB

Satan’s second-in-command. Beelzebub discusses with Satan their options after being cast into Hell, and at the debate suggests that they investigate the newly created Earth. He and Satan embody perverted reason, since they are both eloquent and rational but use their talents for wholly corrupt ends. Beelzebub struggles to overcome his own doubts and weaknesses and accomplishes his goal of corrupting humankind. In the Bible, the name Beelzebub seems most likely to have been associated with the term “Lord of the Flies,” the demon who drove flies away from sacrifices. Numerous theories exist but none are definitive or widely accepted. At best, the name Beelzebub exists in the Bible and is associated with Satan and evil. Milton’s audience would have recognized Beelzebub as a demon, even if they probably knew little or nothing of his origins. He acts as Satan’s mouthpiece in Book II. He with the influence of Satan is incestuous and they plan to do things that are against God without the ability to think morally. Beelzebub, Satan’s mouthpiece, argues that the only way to secure revenge on Heaven is to corrupt God’s newest creation: Man. Once a powerful angel, he has become blinded to God’s grace, forever unable to reconcile his past with his eternal punishment. Well, the good qualities in Beelzebub, despite he being a devil is his positive thinking and his never ending effort to build up his glory and power in hell eventhough he is casted away by God from Heaven. He plans with Satan to build their own empire in Hell. At least the good attributes of Beelzebub is he is not slothy like Belial who decides to do nothing at all eventhough they are banished from heaven. Beelzebub wants to be greater or as great as God but doesn’t not follow the wreath and impatience of Moloch

who suggests that they war against God. Another good attribute of Beelzebub is that he is intelligent. He plans and plots very well in order to against God by giving the idea to corrupt God’s most beloved creatures- human. About Beelzebub’s evil qualities, we can see many of course because he is a devil and therefore that is why he was cast away by God from Heaven. He also planed with Satan to build the Pandemonium. He and Satan are also lustful and involving obsessive or excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature like rape and incest. Belezebub also envy God. He wants to be as or more powerful than God. This is a sin for he has forsaken the teaching of God. Another evil attribute that is possesed by Beelzebub is he has too much pride. Just like satan, he feels that he can overthrow God by builing the Pandemonium and forming his own powerful army in glory. These are the good and evil qualities which I can see in Beelzebub after analyzing Milton’s Paradise Lost. For one restraint, Lords of the World besides? Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt? Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd [ 35 ] The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in Glory above his Peers, He trusted to have equal'd the most High, [ 40 ] If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim Against the Throne and Monarchy of God Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie [ 45 ] With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,

MAMMON A devil known in the Bible as the epitome of wealth. Mammon always walks hunched over, as if he is searching the ground for valuables. In the debate among the devils, he argues against war, seeing no profit to be gained from it. He believes Hell can be improved by mining the gems and minerals they find there. He argues that it doesn't make any sense to worship someone you hate, and thinks that the fallen angels should make the best out of hell. In the Bible, Mammon is often presented as a king or demon who is the personification of wealth. In Paradise Lost, he is called the “least erected” of the fallen angels because he always has his eyes downward looking for gold or money. In the council, he proposes exploiting the wealth of Hell to create a comfortable existence rather than warring against God. Mammon counsels the devils to be happy with what they have got, and to create a home for themselves in hell. He is the one who suggests the building of the Pandemonium. Mammon is greedy and always money minded. Milton has described the characteristics of Mammon so precisely as what to show that human beings have depicted the attributes of the devil. He is also very calculative and greedy. The good quality about Mammon is that he does not have wrath and decides that he can make well use of the place which they are in now and has good ideas on how to make their living place better. His evil quality is that he is one of the greatest sin commiter of God, which explains why he was cast out of Heaven. Mammon has greed. Greed is on of the deadliest sins stated by God.

seek Our own good from ourselves, and from our own Live to ourselves. (II.252) It is somewhat ironic that 'Mammon' means 'greed', as here he is essentially telling the devils to be content with what they have. This has blasphemous echoes of typical Christian advice to be satisfied with ones lot and desire no more, the difference being that for Mammon God does not come into it, while for Christians God is the one who provides, not the self. This is one of the key differences between the fallen angels and man in the poem: while the good Christian man accepts his dependence on God, the devils (and some of the ungodly men described in Book XI) strive to be independent and in so doing, rebel against God who is sovereign over all. Milton seems to be saying that true greed is to think of oneself as sufficient, and to take or appropriate selfhood, when that self is created by and rightly belongs to God. In this light Mammon really does counsel greed by exhorting the devils to live to themselves. These are the good and evil qualities which I can see in Mammon.

WHY I THINK MILTON INCLUDED SO MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT THESE FALLEN ANGELS? In my opinion these angels that I had analyzed above, Beelzebub and Mammon, have very much the same characteristics of the human kind. Both are intelligent but they had used it in a way that God forbid. I think, Milton wants to show us how much we human are influenced by the devil USM Library -THE END-