Paradise Lost

>>8719810
>I will not serve

Unironically believe this to be one of the most powerful lines in literature

Blake still has the best interpretation. He was of the Devil's party without knowing it.

>>8719810
even though Milton's Satan doesn't come across as some cartoon super villain, I'd say it would be impossible to argue that he was 'good' as he was the one who 'brought deathinto the world, and all our woe'.

its hard to say OP, some people argue that its because Milton was bitter about his failing revolution, giving him an aversion to authority, but I think it was because of the simple reason that flat characters don't make great main antagonists.

its very unlikely that he did it to 'tempt' the reader though, he was a devout christian.

>>8719810

>Forgetting the context

It was the fucking 1600s.

Satan's individualism/etc was extremely unpopular. A real life parallel could be drawn with Thomas Paine, "le freedom man" who was ridiculed throughout his life with claims that he stank/etc - because he believed in democracy and shit like that.

This was also a highly religious people when most people were pious, churchgoing, obedient of authority, etc. Some edgelord telling God to go and fuck himself, whilst appealing to our baser nature (or trying to) would not be well-received.

In his day, the character of Satan would have been deemed suspicious at best.

>>8719852
You're going from one extreme rendering to another. Those same highly religious people would recognise that evil is powerfully seductive

Satan did nothing wrong.

Well supposedly, god didnt even smackdown satan, he just embaressed him and let him leave.

>>8719868

>Those same highly religious people would recognise that evil is powerfully seductive

That's why I said they'd view Milton's Satan as suspicious.

It's not that he is an attractive, persuasive, seductive character, that is pretty much established in the source material. He didn't try and tempt Eve or Jesus by being an arsehole.

It is because he is given background as to why he is like he is. That is the death of evil: making a character sympathetic by making them less one dimensional. You may not agree at all that Satan was justified in his transgressions but the mere fact you can look at his character and weigh it to decide that is enough to make him somewhat attractive. Milton didn't so much make the character attractive as make the evil a character.