Rebellion In Paradise Lost Essay - 1708 Words

Rebellion in a Nutshell: The Plights of Satan, Will, and Lyra Normally, someone wouldn’t be arguing that Satan was the hero of the story, or even good in any sense of the word. Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass and Milton’s Paradise Lost share many similarities, but none were as striking as the view on authoritarianism and eventual rebellion. In the first, The Amber Spyglass, Pullman shows the main characters Will and Lyra in a constant struggle against the ruling authority, the church. In the second, Paradise Lost, Milton displays Satan in a never-ending battle for his own freedom from God’s ruling hand. In either story, the reader is made invested, but the two rebellions are not equal. In The Amber Spyglass, the main characters win against†¦show more content†¦This quote comes about from the idea that God wanted the angels to worship Adam, but since Satan is senior to Adam, he feels wronged, and refuses to bow down to man. God was not only displaying his own authority over all of the angel’s lives, another knock to free will, but also wanted to extend that authority to another being. Whether that being was Adam or the son, Satan didn’t want anything to do with that proposition, and as such rebelled along with other angels. God proves his omniscience in these instances, and also dominates over Satan, showing that the angel has no free will of his own in these matters, and only plays into the hands of God. That said, he still at least tries to rebel, though it fails ultimately, since it isn’t feasible to call it successful if it was in the master’s plans all along. On the side of the more successful Will and Lyra, there are interesting points to touch on when it comes to their own rebellion. Anne Marie Robinson does a fantastic job at giving examples of the strange relationship that people have to the church. When they were in the land of the dead, Robinson points out that, â€Å"One ghost is unwilling to consider Lyra’s offer; while still alive, he had believed in the salvation of heaven after death, and since he is dead he thinks he obviously must be in heaven. He is an example of those who follow religious leaders blindly, without considering for themselves what the truth mightShow MoreRelatedJohn Milton: A View of Evil vs. Ignorance Essay797 Words   |  4 PagesWhen a person hears Satan, a streak of fear, and the thought of evil arises. People fear Satan, and think of him as evil, but in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he displays a thought of the Father being the evil being, and Satan a tragic hero. In Paradise Lost, Book 1 and 2, the minor areas where God is shown, He is displayed as hypocritical. He contradicts himself by creating the humans to be of free will, but when Satan displays free will, he is shunned. 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