It is widely known through biblical ideology that the cause of Lucifer’s fall was due to pride within his heart. Pride untamed can only give way to more vice, and that particularly in the form of jealousy. It was pride that led him to be envious of God’s great position, and this jealousy led him to carry out his grave actions, ultimately banishing him from paradise. Jealousy is a powerful evil, possessing the ability to affect and ultimately destroy every facet of life if given the opportunity and permission by the one who holds it. Therefore, it is necessary to be vigilant, always watching both introspectively and outwardly to ensure its absence. John Milton expresses this necessity through the imagery, symbolism, and monologue within his poetic story, Paradise Lost. In Book 4, there is a descriptive moment in which Satan sees mankind for the first time. The moment itself mirrors the envious sentiments that he previously feels in heaven toward God, revealing that his action toward humanity was done through the same heart, the same vice, and the same intention that it was to God himself. Thus Milton subtly emphasizes the vice of jealousy within this scene, demonstrating how its power can infiltrate and destroy human life as it did an angel of light.
Milton was writing during the several significant periods in England, providing him opportunity to witness catastrophic fall of monarchs, upheaval of government, and religious battles between authoritative ideologies. As a well-educated man and passionate about biblical theory, he understood the parallels and applicable lessons within the sacred text to that which was occurring at the time. Each societal move toward corruption and destruction in England or in the lives of authority figures would likely have been reminders to him about the over-arching fall from paradise that is humanity’s origin, and jealousy the foundation of it all.
Milton depicts Satan’s thoughts upon his first glance at Adam and Eve. “In naked majesty seemed lords of all, and worthy seemed, for in their looks divine the image of their glorious Maker shone, truth, wisdom, sanctitude, severe and pure” (4.290-294). This presents mankind as images of God himself, the embodiment of God’s glory and goodness in lesser vessels, different from angels, and much higher than Satan because of their purity and value before God. Several lines later, after the full description of his perspective of man, Satan exclaims, “O Hell! What do mine eyes with grief behold…creatures of other mold…whom my thoughts pursue with wonder?” (4.358). In this moment, Satan speaks to himself, processing the beauty of mankind, the pleasing work of God from the lens of his former heavenly perspective. His jealousy manifests here by comparing himself to man—they are pitied and cherished by God; he is unpitied and utterly rejected. It appears that in his longing for the paradise he lacks, he develops resentment toward them, not for who they are but for what they represent.
This poem was written shortly after the dethroning and execution of Charles I during the English Civil War of 1642-1648 who had opposed the English Parliament for what it represented—free-will and democracy. It is likely that while Milton makes a strong claim about the biblical history of mankind in his poem, he also makes a political statement regarding the origin and cause of all the tension in England—past and present political and religious tensions. It was pride that caused Charles I to refuse the propositions of Parliament and stand for his own sovereignty, which led to jealousy when he realized his enemies had power and support for their position as well; and it was this very vice that caused the members of Parliament to ultimately execute their king. He fell from his paradise because he would not let go of the envious desire in his heart, just like Satan.
It appears that there is a parallel between the idea of English tyranny and Satan’s unwelcomed entrance into mankind’s life. “League with you I seek and mutual amity so strait, so close that with I you must dwell, or you with me henceforth” (4.375-378). He invites himself and takes for himself a position of authority in Adam and Eve’s lives, completely unwanted by them. Milton explicitly conveys his sentiments opposing tyrannical power in another work titled, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, which he wrote in 1649, several years before Paradise Lost. In this essay, he relates this underlying disdain for such an authoritative abuse of power to the people of England, desiring to liberate them from their bondage of blind followership. “If Men within themselves would be govern’d by reason, and not generally give up their understanding to a double tyrannie, of Custome from without, and blind affections within, they would discerne better, what it is to favour and uphold the Tyrant of a Nation” (Milton). In the same way, Satan’s jealousy leads him to tyranny over the human race, to which Adam and Eve respond with striking similarity to many of the Englishmen of Milton’s day to the King’s abusive power. He sets himself up as a god to control, torment, and destroy all that was intended for beauty and freedom in humanity. It is evident Milton argues that such is the case with any individual who seeks to gain power and control over other men for their own gain.
Through this passage of Satan’s discovery of humanity, Milton demonstrates the power of jealousy to destroy what was intended to be beautiful. Similarly, within every facet of human life it has the power to wreak havoc—particularly within places of authority where individuals pine for higher, more powerful positions. Milton expresses through the monologue of Satan that he admires the beauty of man, but cannot let it continue because of what it represents to him—his unfortunate circumstance and position under God’s wrath and power. Through the symbolism of Satan as a tyrant, Milton conveys that tyranny is a product of jealousy, affecting mankind in the same manner that it did Satan himself, capable of turning the most beautiful minister into darkness itself. The imagery of the section allows for a clear understanding of the development of jealousy in Satan’s heart, and how it led him to act against Adam and Eve, and ultimately against God himself.
October 23, 2018
Works Cited
Milton, John. “Paradise Lost: Book IV.” Edited by Stephen Greenblatt. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th Ed. Vol. B. W.W Norton & Company, New York, 2012.
Milton, John. The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, edited with Introduction and Notes by William Talbot Allison, New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1911.