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2014

Milton‘s Feminized Satan: A Study of Gender

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Milton‘s Feminized Satan: A Study of Gender Imbalance in Paradise Lost

Kari Anne Wiest

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of

Grand Valley State University

In

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

Masters of Arts in English

January 2014
 To My Father, Thomas E. Wiest

For the faith you have always had in me even when I did not. And, for hours of dedicated
listening and idea bouncing that culminated in making sure Starbucks never goes out of business.

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 Abstract

Critics have observed how Satan‘s personality changes dramatically over the course of Milton‘s

Paradise Lost, but what they have missed is that this transformation in his character is due to an

identity crisis that spirals into a gender shift. There are no studies of Satan as feminine.

Drawing upon feminist theory, I contend that it is important for readers to see Satan as a female

voice in Paradise Lost and not as a positive one at that. In Milton‘s attempt to ―justify the ways

of God to men‖ he, by necessity, must explain the character and purpose of Satan in the fall of

mankind. Milton‘s perception of ―woman,‖ coupled with his desire to provide a way for people

of his time to understand Satan and the Fall, led to his creation of decidedly feminized Satan.

Since evil was, in Milton‘s time, more closely associated with the mysteries of the feminine

sphere, for Milton to create Satan as a character that weighs heavily on the female side seems

inevitable. Throughout his depiction of Satan, Milton suggests that balance within gender and

between the genders is essential to the maintenance of harmony. Without such a balance, there is

only chaos, which is precisely what Satan embodies and performs.

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 Table of Contents

Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………..3

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………..4

Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………...5

I. Introduction: The Significance of Satan………………………………………..6

II. Critical Views of Milton‘s Satan……………………………………………….7

III. Angelology, the Heavenly Hierarchy and Satan‘s Essence…………………….10

IV. Gender Normativity and Satan Feminized……………………………………..16

V. Satan‘s Fall from Heaven………………………………………………………23

VI. Satan Reigning in Hell………………………………………………………….36

VII. Satan the Tempter………………………………………………………………47

VIII. Ending Balance…………………………………………………………………56

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………..59

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 The Significance of Satan

In Judeo-Christian tradition the concept of a satan has been around for thousands of

years, at least since the composition of the book of Job. It was not until c. 100 C.E. that Satan as

a specific entity or essence came to the forefront as a being to be taken into account. The study

of Satan begins with the concept of the balance between good and evil. In consequence, many

essays, papers, plays, manuscripts, and books have been produced over the centuries in an effort

to explain this mysterious character of Satan, and his role in the fall of mankind and in human

temptations today. Paradise Lost by John Milton is one of the most thorough fictional

treatments of Satan‘s role in human nature. Though Milton‘s purpose in writing his epic was to

―justify the ways of God to men‖ and for men to understand the fall, reasons for it, and how to

proceed from that moment back to God, the real focus for many readers and critics has centered

on his main character, Satan.

Determining where Milton got his idea of Satan is difficult, and ―the De Doctrina is no

help here, as its only major gap is the treatment of Satan‖ (Empson 56). The Bible describes the

satan figure as a character and personality. Elaine Pagels states that ―while angels often appear

in the Hebrew Bible, Satan, along with other fallen angels or demonic beings, is virtually

absent. But among certain first-century Jewish groups…and followers of Jesus, the

figure…called Satan…began to take on central importance‖ (xvi-i). The Hebraic view of a satan

is of a figure that causes confusion and is a threatening presence, which is altered as Satan

becomes viewed as a demonic entity in Christianity. In creating his epic character, Milton would

have used his ―…immense command of both classical and contemporary culture…‖ as well as

biblical and scriptural references (Evans 157). However, even though the Satan of Paradise Lost

has had a substantial influence on literature, critical theory, theological studies and popular

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imagination, Milton‘s Satan is a work of fiction, not historical truth. The biggest problem facing

readers in Paradise Lost arises from the jigsaw puzzle-like condition in which Milton chose to

reveal Satan. This puzzle has pieces that are oddly cut, making them seem ill-fitting. To

complicate matters, some of the pieces are missing. Though the puzzle comes together, it seems

that the end product is somehow off.

Satan‘s character is interesting because he is a conundrum compared to Adam and

Eve. God is ―…that most perfect essence…‖ and Satan is an essence as well since he is of God

―…for not even divine virtue…could produce bodies out of nothing…unless there had been

some bodily power in the substance of God…no one can give to another what he does not

himself possess‖ (A Treatise on Christian Doctrine [CD] 27, 241). Adam is made of earth, and

Eve, of Adam and earth, bringing the difference in their make-up clearly into the

forefront. Satan‘s being an ―essence,‖ and not human, changes how the reader must approach

and assess him. Milton creates Satan as a complex and dynamic character, full of grandiose

ideas, folly, mistakes and human compulsions, but he still is not human. Satan, an essence, is a

spirit and a ―…spirit hath not flesh and bones‖ (CD 26). As with all angels, this spirit has both

male and female essences within it. Therefore, as Satan begins to alter in consequence of his

fall, it is his essence that is shifting. His modification raises another issue. If ―…God of his

wisdom determined to create men and angels reasonable beings…[with]…perfect holiness and

righteousness,‖ how did Satan fall so devastatingly? (CD 51, 247). Because, ―…God left free

the will, for what obeys Reason, is free; and reason he made right‖ (Paradise Lost [PL]

9:351). Satan disregards intuitive intelligence, avoids right reason and, I argue, begins to

―morph‖ into an overly feminine essence which brings about his fall.

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 Critical Views of Milton’s Satan

Critics have studied Milton‘s Satan from multiple perspectives. Stanley Fish asserts that

the reader must be actively engaged when reading Paradise Lost, as it is the reader‘s job to

extract meaning from the work through a thorough background of knowledge and education

regarding Milton‘s themes and details. Fish explains that the reader is led to ―…the ‗fall‘ like

Adam and Eve through being provoked to reason about the causes of the fall…‖ and ―…is forced

to reevaluate his judgment of Satan by being led to experience the unreliability, inadequacy, or

falseness of what had seemed to be clear and dependable descriptions and perspectives‖ (qtd. in

Lewalski 519-520). Thus, the reader also becomes entangled in the fall and susceptible to

Satan‘s manipulative rhetoric, as ―...the inside comes first, [and] the outside follows‖ (Fish

84). Satan‘s manipulation of his audience brings them to recapitulate the fall themselves.

In contrast, William Empson is conflicted about how the narrator tries to reframe the

natural responses of the reader, with Milton‘s ability to influence a specific reaction that does not

necessarily fit the initial response of the reader. He states that Milton is an ingenious writer who

has an ability to use propaganda to make what is ―wrong‖ sound as if it is ―right.‖ Satan, to

Empson, is more of a political character that takes on a new identity after his rebellion in

heaven. He points out that Lucifer is not changing but is really a new Satan; his old character

has rotted away, explaining the differences between his old and new nature. This occurs once

Satan has fallen into hell and feels ―…the agony of his ruined greatness‖ to the fullest extent

(Empson 52).

Balachandra Rajan, C. S. Lewis and Samuel Johnson all assert that Satan‘s character is

progressively degenerative. A. J. A. Waldock states that Satan isn‘t degraded, that in fact the

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Satan in Paradise Lost is two distinctly different beings. Similarly, Frank S. Kastor asserts that

the Tempter, Satan, is really a subportrait of Satan. The Tempter, he says, is only found in Eden

or on earth, nowhere else. Whereas Satan is in Hell and given status as a Prince and ruler, the

Tempter is given very different attributes. John Carey states that Satan is trimorphic: Archangel,

Prince of Devils and Serpent Tempter (Carey 162). Satan does morph from Archangel, but he is

not a ―different‖ Satan.

What critics have missed, is that it is through Satan‘s feminine essence that this

―morphing‖ occurs. Satan is enough like a human character to elicit very emotional responses

from his audience, but his inner essence becomes unbalanced and thus he is floundering and

confused. Milton makes Satan‘s attempts to rationalize his behavior believable enough that the

reader doubts and questions whether the temptation of Adam and Eve wasn‘t the right thing to do

after all. Since ―…all angels can either sex assume…‖ Satan would have flowed naturally

between the two until he begins to manifest into the stereotypically feminine behaviors that lead

to his fall and temptation of Eve (PL 1:424). Satan isn‘t changed; rather one half of him is taking

over. His feminine essence begins to overtake his right reason, creating the persona of a woman

scorned by the end. Milton‘s continual feminization of Satan throughout the epic systematically

draws Satan down into imbalance and evil. Satan‘s lack of ―right reason‖ or ability to see

logically causes him to challenge God out of a sense of bruised inferiority more consonant with

17th century sexist attitudes toward the feminine. As masculinity was linked with the ability to

reason clearly, femininity was linked with the distortion of reason due to flights of ―fancy‖ or

imagination.

Understanding right reason and the influence of fancy is essential to the discussion of the

feminization of Satan. There are three stages that are important to creating ―right

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reason.‖ Seventeenth century psychology was fairly simplistic and taught that these stages create

a final thought that is committed to a being‘s memory. The first stage is that of ―fancy‖ or

imagination. Its creative aspect flows into the second section of the psyche which is the place of

reason. Here what has been imagined is filtered, purified and rationalized into an idea. It can now

be identified as a product of ―right reason‖. This thought is then sent to the third part of the

mind, memory, and thus stored (Elledge 464). Milton adopts this same scheme in his

angelology. The feminine belongs to the realm of fancy and the masculine to the realm of

reason. There is a duality of gender in each of the angels as ―…both contain / Within them every

lower faculty of sense…‖ which would have combined reason and fancy perfectly into memory

(PL 5:409-411). As Satan morphs he forgets that ―All intellects, except God‘s, are limited…‖

and that his own ―…superiority of intellect [could not] protect [him from] sin…‖ and as a result

Lucifer falls (Revard 75). Empson argues Satan falls solely because of an intellectual error. He

tries to logically question the goodness of God for what he ―allows‖ to happen. What Empson

does not acknowledge is that this lack of logic comes from the feminine essence that is

overtaking Satan‘s ability to see his obstacles clearly. His emotions are taking over, causing

logic and reason to take a back seat in his plans. It is clear that once Satan begins his conversion

to the feminine his knowledge of good and evil has become unbalanced.

Milton‘s Satan shifting into the feminine would not have been the first time this has been

touched upon. In an Italian play, L’Adamo, the tempter appears on stage as half serpent, half

woman. This serpent is beautiful and seductive, sensitive to beauty, seemingly courteous and

wise, honey tongued and full of expert abilities to grab the desired fruit of her ambition (Kastor,

―Milton‘s Tempter‖ 380). Many critics believe Milton would not only have been aware of, but

might have seen this performed prior to his own writing of Paradise Lost. Milton may have

10
begun shaping his Satan as an angel morphing from genderless to gendered due to the

opportunity he had to see a different view of the fall and used it to inspire his own work.

Angelology, the Heavenly Hierarchy and Satan’s Essence

In creating the epic Paradise Lost, Milton utilized not only expansive Biblical and

scriptural knowledge, he also drew ―…upon the large body of theory [on angelic nature] that had

been accumulating for centuries, and added a few speculations of his own‖ (Elledge

466). Milton states that ―God is a spirit…hath not flesh and bones…can admit no compound

quality‖ and that ―…God is the primary, and absolute, and sole cause of all things…‖ (CD 26,

238). With every divine creation, God‘s essence became a ―… diversified and substantial virtue

[that did] not remain dormant within the Deity, but [was] diffused and propagated and extended

as far and in such manner as he himself may will…‖ subsequently the angels were created from

God‘s essence spreading (CD 238-9). In order to provide a context sufficient to encompass both

Satan‘s and the rebel angels‘ fall, Milton needed an angelology to be specific enough to depict

their form and essence and thereby explain how a group of them could have fallen from God‘s

grace.

First, it would have been necessary for Milton to explain the creation of angels, as

Satan‘s questioning of this is one of his reasons for battling God. On Christian Doctrine

explains that angels were in fact created at a particular time, and were in existence before the

creation of Eden: ―…angels, inasmuch as they were spirits, existed long before this material

world…‖ as verified in Job 38:7 when the angels ―shouted for Joy before God at the creation…‖

(CD 246) Milton states that God created everything: chaos, heaven, angels, hell [after the

rebellion] and then paradise. Satan‘s attempts at creating his own heavenly palace ―Affecting all

equality with God…In imitation of that mount…‖ is seen as an ineffective attempt to create a

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parallel kingdom (PL 5: 763-5). Satan states that God cannot ―…assume / Monarchy over such

as live by right / His equals, if in power and splendor less…‖ (PL 5:794-6). God ―smiling to His

only Son‖, derisively, reveals that Satan‘s attempt to be ―…Equal to ours‖ is ridiculous and

impossible (PL 5:718, 725-6). It can be concluded then that Satan is misguided in his argument

that angels were created with God, as Milton states ―That matter should have always existed

independently of God is inconceivable‖ (CD 237).

According to Alastair Fowler, Milton makes a ―deliberate allusion to the Hermetic

doctrine that God is both masculine and feminine,‖ which makes sense given that he is formless

and a spirit not of flesh and bone, as stated previously (Elledge 8, n. 17-22). If this is so, and

God made the angels in his image, they too are both. In Paradise Lost Milton writes, ―For spirits

when they please./ Can either sex assume, or both, …And works of love or enmity fulfill‖ (PL

1:423-431). The passage is a relevant description of the theory explaining that angels or demons

could take human form by manipulating and solidifying air (Hawkes 407). According to Milton,

angels are pure spirit, but ―…have bodies…not made of earth, air, fire, and water, but of the

‗fifth‘ element, called ‗ether‘‖… (Elledge 466). Angels are a form of ―spirit‖ though not ―solid‖

in the human sense, and they do not have organs. But they do retain all qualities and powers of

human-like beings able to eat, make love, even if ―…angels feel, see, hear, taste, and smell with

their whole being‖ (Elledge 466). Unlike humans, they can travel with unimaginable speed and

assume either sex or any size or shape. But, unlike God, angels are restricted from being in two

places at once, knowing all, or being all powerful.

The Supreme Being, God, is above all, including nature. Milton asserts in On Christian

Doctrine that nature implies by its very name ―being born,‖ and the Supreme Being is the one

that makes this happen. Nature gives life, substance, attributes and characteristics to its

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creations. This power is of God, but God does not predetermine the choices of nature‘s

creations. He allows his ―creations‖ to have free will. Therefore, though nature is of God, it is

also separate from Him. Satan thinks this gives ammunition for his argument that he was created

of nature separately from God. Satan states that though all heaven was created at the same time

angels were created by their ―…own quickening power…‖ that they were in fact ―…self-

begot…‖ and that their ―…puissance is [their] own… by proof to try / Who is their equal...;‖

therefore should they really be in ―supplication… [to] th‘Almighty throne…‖(PL 5:859-

867)? Unfortunately, Satan‘s lack of right reason is shown here, for although he is a separate

essence from God, he is created from God who is the core of all essences. Satan is created from

a substance of God; he is not all of that substance, but a part of it, therefore Satan cannot be a

substance completely separate from God. Because nature is of God, and everything created in

nature is of God, Satan is of God not equal to God.

Along with the understanding of their created substance, angels also had a hierarchical

purpose. Milton states that the angels are ―…distinguished one from another by offices and

degrees‖ (CD 248). Within this, each angel has a rank and duty: ―The arrangement of all things

in the universe, their articulation with one another, had been conceived as a dynamic hierarchy,

from lowest or simplest…to highest, the perfect…which is God himself‖ (Elledge 465). Angels

have superior intellect and physical powers but have no strength that does not come from

God. Therefore all they are is of and through God created to form communities of service and

obedience and minister to God‘s will. ―…Milton associated the heavenly hierarchy with the

ladder on which Jacob dreamed he saw ‗angels ascending and descending‘…‖ which would

explain the natural ways of heaven before the Fall of Satan as well as after (Elledge 465).

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 Milton‘s angels all seem to accept this existence except for Satan and then his

followers. Why? What is it that they are challenging? And how do they feel they have the right

to do so? If angels are pure intelligential substances as Milton asserts, how did Satan‘s

questioning of God begin? According to Milton, ―Matter, like the form and nature of the angels

itself, proceeded incorruptible from God; and ever since the fall it remains incorruptible as far as

concerns its essence‖ (CD 240). The gift of free will that God gave to all of his creations poses a

question for those that receive it: ―…what is there to prevent them….from contracting taint and

contamination through the enticements…?‖ (CD 240). Angels, to Milton, were created perfect,

but Satan‘s belief in his own superiority and need to be highly ranked in Heaven initiates his

fall. God, ―in foreknowing all events…did not cause them [to fall]. He made [them] capable of

falling…but did not make [them] fall…God characterized the fallen angels as those who

‗refuse/Right reason for their law‘ and they were free to follow God or ‗make wrong choices‘‖

(Elledge 468-9). Corruption did not happen because of an outside force, but because the inner

core of one angel began corroding. Satan knows through intuitive intelligence the ―right‖ of his

situation, but he ignores this. He allows his fancy to overcome his reason and chooses to fall,

ignoring the consequences.

In his understanding of free will, Milton discarded the doctrine of Calvinist

predestination, and instead insisted that God knew individual souls could fall but gave them the

choice of whether to follow that path. Free will was imbued in all souls, angelic and

human. According to Milton, the only predestined idea was God‘s promise of a reward of

salvation to all who believed. However, ―…Milton agreed with St. Augustine that for reasons

not revealed to men [that]…all unfallen angels were elected in that they were predestined to be

exemplarily holy… [but the elected are] whoever believes and continues in the faith‖ (Elledge

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68, n. 184). Satan does not believe or continue in his faith in God‘s omnipotence, which is

allowed because of free will. Desiring God‘s power for himself, Satan falls because he turns his

back on ―pure faith‖ in God. He claims that angels are ―…Equally free; for orders and degrees /

Jar not with liberty…. / Who can in reason then, or right, assume / Monarchy over such as live

by right / His equals‖ (PL 5: 791-6). Angels fall when they begin to question the purity of truth

in God. Satan brings his ideas to those around him creating further chaos. Once his followers

begin to listen to ―his bold discourse without control / [his] Words which no ear [had] ever to

hear in heaven…‖ they begin think about what Satan is saying as a possible truth (PL 5: 803-4,

810-11). As he shares his ideas with his comrades, not only does he exercise his free will

improperly, but he is encouraging others to do so as well.

The cerebral aptitude of angels brings to the forefront the matter of their conceptual

abilities. Angels have free will and as a contemporary of Milton, Thomas Hobbes states, ―…

reason, ‗the candle of the Lord,‘ [was] believed [to be the] light innate…‖ (qtd. in Elledge

464). This light is not only a conscience, but also what humans depend upon as logic, which

helps them to discern the laws of nature. However, angels use ‗intuitive intelligence‘ or an

innate intuition to feel the laws of nature without having to do much thinking as it is naturally a

part of their makeup (Elledge 464). Angels have the inner knowledge to understand God‘s love

and laws. But they also, because of free will, were given the privilege and ability to reason

through these laws to understand them. Right reason allows angels and humans to understand

correctly the laws of God and the capacity to ―reason‖ through the need and justification for

them. Being endowed with the ability to have an immediate apprehension of the truth should

have strengthened Satan‘s ability to realize that it is ―truth‖ and not just ―thought.‖ Satan is

beginning to lose his ―rational deduction of the truth‖ and becomes disenchanted with his

15
intuitive intelligence (Hawkes 162, n. 488.1). He begins to question things that he, as an angel,

would not naturally even consider thinking about. He would understand that knowledge is an

important facet in learning of God and his love, for ―…love and obedience are always the best

guides to knowledge [and] when the thirst for knowledge was motivated and limited by love and

obedience, it could not be excessive nor could God be said to have forbidden it‖ (Elledge 470).

By the time Satan has determined himself equal to God, he is no longer using his

―…Knowledge [as] … a passion for contemplating God‘s works for the right purpose – that of

knowing God and glorifying him‖ (Elledge 470). Satan has become more imbalanced as his

inner desires are starting to display themselves in expression and action on the outside. As he

begins his war in heaven, he perceives what he is doing is ―right‖ and he has ―reasoned‖ it for his

purposes, but it is a corrupted form of reason: his balance is tipping dangerously to the feminine

side due to his failure to employ right reason. Fancy comes out in imagination, allowing a

distortion of the truth. This is where a dreamer‘s wishes, rather than the truth, reside. As Milton

writes of the faculties, ―Reason as chief; among these Fancy next / Her office holds…She forms

imaginations, airy shapes, / Which Reason, joining or disjoining, frames / All what we affirm or

what deny, and call / Our knowledge or opinion; then retires / Into her private cell when nature

rests. / Oft in her absence mimic Fancy wakes / To imitate her [Reason]… (PL 5:102-103,105-

111). Though this is Adam‘s attempt to explain imagination and fancy to Eve, it can easily be

used to define what fancy means and how it has a hold on those that are susceptible to

it. Seeking the forbidden, Satan desires to know all God knows, to be equal to him in power and

rank, but he refuses to acknowledge the impossibility of this desire. His right reason has left him

before the battle in heaven has begun. Satan‘s desire for greatness originates in imagination or

fancy rather than reason. He can‘t possibly understand that which is GOD.

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 Gender Normativity and Satan Feminized

Many critics have questioned what exactly caused Satan to suddenly lose his angelic right

reason and collapse into malevolence. The answer is that Satan was overcome by his feminine

essence and no was longer balanced enough to make sound decisions. This does not mean that

Milton was a misogynist and created a character to disparage all women. In fact, Milton‘s

feelings about women are really not important. The issue concerns balance. Without this

balance, Eve could not be pulled back from fancy and Adam would lack empathy and so on and

so forth. What happens is that Satan‘s balance is destroyed through the eradication of his

masculinity, causing his feminine side to become completely dominant.

Milton uses Satan‘s speeches to continually and systematically feminize him. Upon

further examination one will see that the use of slyness and trickery to weave believable fancy by

Satan are some of the stereotypically feminine wiles he uses to persuade his comrades in arms

and later Eve. Understanding the fall of Milton's Satan originates with accepting how Lucifer

ends up depraved from good. Satan has been identified as an angel gone astray, with a sense of

evil within. As Satan‘s inner being transforms, his outer behavior reflects this change. The

balance of power divided would rip apart the emotional/rational, nurturing/strong,

decisive/submissive traits into two separate spiritual essences. Angels are meant to be, according

to Milton, a blend of these to keep ultimate balance and submission to God. The changing of the

angel‘s essence can break down their perfect reason, thus instigating a fall from grace. The lack

of right reason causes the imagination to take over. The ―imagination‖ is a fanciful, dream-like

state that influences a feminine mind more easily than a masculine one. Satan, as Milton reveals,

is ―…insatiate to pursue / Vain war with Heav‘n, and by success untaught / His proud

imaginations thus displayed…‖ (PL 2:8-10). The breakdown of perfect reason denotes the

17
change of male/female connection to that of a female essence becoming more dominant, thus

splitting the spirit along ―gender lines.‖

Paradise Lost brings forth the stereotypical beliefs to which the society of Milton‘s time

would have adhered. Milton may not have intended for his Satan to come across as weak

because of overtly feminine traits, but that is in fact what occurs. Milton provides Satan with

feminine attributes in order to make sense of the angel‘s fall from grace and subsequent

temptation of Eve to achieve the fall of mankind. Eve is Milton‘s ideal woman and is portrayed

with the fine qualities such a woman would have. In paradise, Eve is described as all

―…softness…and sweet attractive grace…with perfect beauty adorn‘d...[of]…yield[ing] with

coy submission, modest pride…‖, of giving into her superior, Adam, with ―meek surrender‖

saying that ―..to know no more / Is woman‘s happiest knowledge and her praise…‖ as he can

take care of her in the ―right way‖ and she will bow to his supremacy. This culminates with

highest praise from Milton as Adam shares his ―…delight / Both of her beauty and submissive

charms‖ (PL 4: 298, 634, 310-11, 494-8). In the seventeenth century, women were considered

less because they simply did not, or so men thought, have the capacity to understand and assess

their world as well as men could. Women were nurturing, weaker, needed to be guided more

carefully as they were more easily led astray. Men were made for power. They were potent,

rational, strong, protective, decisive, a positive force, educable, experienced, and fully conscious

of reality. When Satan is scorned, he is unable to fight back as his masculine traits are

abandoning him. Those he fought in Heaven retain their masculinity which only damages the

psyche of Satan further. As a new persona of feminine behavior, he is a counterpart to the

femininity of Eve. His new mien reflects stereotypical aspects of womanhood, for women are:

manipulative, prone to fancy, emotional, irrational, and vindictive.

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 Gender stereotypes clarify Satan‘s transition from a dual essence to one that is

feminine. Robin‘s assessment of the importance of ―direction‖ in Paradise Lost lends clarity to

the justification of the genderization of Satan. How Heaven and the Garden of Eden are

arranged in the poem illustrates the intricate role the labeling of good and evil will ultimately

play in the stereotypes of genders. East is the holiest direction and for one facing east, the left

side would be north. North, of course, in Paradise Lost is the seat of Satan‘s domain. And Sin,

born out of Satan‘s imagination, is brought forth from the left side of Satan‘s head. In Hebrew,

Greek, and Latin the left side has traditionally been considered the side of evil. In Latin, the

word sinister means ―left-handed‖ (Robins 700-2). Adam relates that God, ―…stooping opened

my left side and took / From thence a rib…‖ creating Eve (PL 8:465-6). Therefore, though Eve

can be saved by working with her right half, Adam, she is more susceptible to evil. This

transfers into modern times: the woman needs the ―right‖ of a man to help keep her from the

course of evil, as shown in the traditional wedding ceremonies where the bride stands on the left

side of her groom. Satan‘s dominion on the left side, his Northern stronghold, and his need to be

hyper-masculine to prove his abilities to his troops later in the epic display a progressive

downfall into what would be considered the weakest half of a being, the feminine. This begins

as Satan, coming down from his northern region, appears ready for battle in ―…his sun-bright

chariot…/ Idol of majesty divine….Satan with vast and haughty strides advanced / Came

tow‘ring, armed in adamant and gold…‖ and with ―…rigid spears, and helmets thronged and

shields…‖ (PL 6:83-110). But, even with this masculine show, Abdiel immediately reveals to the

reader how weak Satan has become mentally. He states that Satan‘s ―…reason [he] has tried /

[and found it] Unsound and false‖ and that Satan‘s ―…faith and reality / Remain not‖ and that he

is a ―..fool, not to think how vain‖ it is to try to battle God as he is doing (PL 6:115-135). These

19
darker feminine aspects are beginning to show more blatantly as Satan battles the loyal angels in

heaven. As an angel himself, Satan would have enough awareness to understand that the darker,

stereotypically feminine aspects of his personality are dangerous, but he ignores this.

Without considerable moral effort Satan is unable to defeat the unconscious desires

which overshadow his reason and maneuver him into fancy. He snubs the truth of this emotional

takeover, but his fear at being caught in this position propels him to try to be more blatantly

masculine. His speeches, though full of rage and war, are not masculine and bold but rather

filled with empty rhetoric and manipulation. Satan states that God doesn‘t have ―…Omniscient

thought...‖ as the rebellious angels once believed, because they were allowed to do battle, not

stopped before battle raged. He also coaxes his followers to believe that though they are now

feeling pain, they are ―…incapable of mortal injury‖ (PL 6:433-4). God causes them pain, but

not death. So, Satan ―rationalizes‖ that this proves they are equal because even though they now

know pain, they are immortal, like God. He has manipulated his followers into continuing a

battle by stating that they just need ―weapons more violent‖ to vanquish a superior enemy (PL

6:439). Satan‘s ―…passion overcomes reason, when desire for self-enhancement is stronger

than will to obey God‖ (Revard 77). Satan has ―…the peculiarly female disability…to be

emotional rather than reasonable… [and] Passion is the very essence of all sin…‖ (Revard

77). Ironically, this statement, though designed to describe Eve, best describes Satan.

If angels are not different genders, how is their biology explained? How can their

sexuality be explained? Angels do have sex, according to Milton, but they do not procreate. If

there are no child angels before creation of Paradise, when Satan disguises himself as a ―cherub‖

or a ―youth,‖ and if angels are all the same age and created together, how can there be ―younger‖

and ―older‖ angels? According to Empson, these titles denote station, not age. This can be

20
understood. But how then can the birth of Sin in Heaven be consistent with the hierarchy of

Heaven? As Empson states, Sin being born of Satan‘s head ―…makes the biology of angels too

confusing…‖ (Empson 46). It is less confusing, however, if the reader accepts that God‘s

perfectly created world is changing due to the imbalance of gender within one of his most

significant angels. Satan‘s surge of fancy results in his imagination giving birth to Sin. As she

later recounts the tale to her ‗father‘, ―…a sudden miserable pain / Surpris‘d thee, dim thine eyes,

and dizzy swam / In darkness; while thy head in flames thick and fast / Threw forth; till on the

left side op‘ning wide, / Likest to thee in shape….Out of thy head sprung‖ (PL 2:752-8). Birth, a

completely female ability occurs to a non-gendered angel? No, here it is apparent that Satan is

morphing to the feminine quickly and that his sense of fancy or imagination is reigning supreme

over his ability to reason, bringing Sin into being.

Not insignificantly, this birth takes place in heaven when Satan is attempting to rally his

troops to fight God‘s Army. The timing of Sin‘s birth is thus fortuitous. Bursting out of the left

side of Satan‘s head, the side of Evil in Milton‘s world, Satan becomes a creator in his own right,

adding to his power. Since he creates Sin, he sees himself as a Creator, further proof to himself

and his followers that he is on par with God. Satan believes that he has become an essential

individual, an independent spirit by being able to create something of and from him. Therefore,

Satan has truly become separated from the rest of the angels, seeing Sin‘s birth as a sign that he

can now act upon the world and make changes. The other rebel angels are different as their

importance is still contingent on something other than themselves. However, Satan giving birth

to Sin here only goes further to feminize him. God creates ‗something out of nothing‘ but Satan

only can create out of that which he has been given by God. Therefore, he cannot be on par with

God as a creator, but his shifting into a female essence has allowed him to give birth. Being

21
both genders as an angel and morphing slowly into more one gender than the other, Satan is able

to give birth through his imagination, enacting a change in his essential biology.

The first completely and originally female character in Paradise Lost, then, is Sin. The

angels at first were disgusted as ―…Out of [Satan‘s] head [she] sprung: …/ [and]…back they

recoiled, afraid…‖ but, quickly her beauty won them over as she ―…pleas‘d, and with attractive

graces won / The most averse, [Satan] chiefly, who full oft / [Himself] in me [his] perfect image

viewing / Becam‘st enamour‘d…‖ (PL 2:758-765). Born in a way that is reminiscent of Athena,

she is completely opposite in purpose. Not for the purpose of war or wisdom, Sin is a purely

sexual entity from the start, a creation of Evil. Her presence is the temptation that solidifies

Satan‘s fall in the final battle. Satan immediately is overcome in his love for her, a mirror image

of himself, his overarching narcissism taking over. Satan having sex with Sin demonstrates his

narcissistic tendency in action, as her beauty is a direct reflection of his desire and attraction for

the womanly side of himself. Her purpose at that time complete, the battle ensues

again. Overconfident in his new abilities, Satan is even surer that he can win his battle against

God. This situation heightens Satan‘s feeling of status as he thinks he is a creator like God, not

realizing that he is falling not rising in power. Because of the birth of Sin, God takes another

step in punishing those angels that rebel: ―…one of the chief pains of hell [is] the deprivation of

sex…God had made their substance thicken just enough to keep them from their pleasure of total

interpenetration‖ (Empson 44). God would not want another incident of an imbalanced angel

imagining more things like ―sin‖ into his new world.

Once they have chosen to fall with Satan, the rebel angels are no longer able to connect

with both of their genders and have thus morphed into something altogether different from their

original essence. This could explain why Adam and Eve, built in the likeness of God, are two

22
different genders. In On Christian Doctrine it is detailed that angels were ―Created in perfect

holiness and righteousness‖, but that the ‗visible creation’ or the human race had a spirit

breathed into them, and He ―…moulded it in each individual, and infused it throughout, enduing

and embellishing it with its proper faculties‖ (CD 247-9). As Milton states, ―…the soul exists

separate from the body in any of the brute creation‖ (CD 252). Stella Revard, commenting on

Books Four and Five remarks that ―Without Eve, Adam is in no way intellectually incomplete,

howbeit he may be psychologically, socially, and physically unsatisfied without her. To a

degree, the case of Eve is quite simply parallel, for she needs Adam to fulfill her nature as

woman as much as he needs her in order to function as a man. The sexes are interdependent‖

(Revard 74). Only in the case of Satan and his later actions, it is not the human condition that

needs to be understood, but the angelic.

Revard states that ―Satan [is a] rebel against right Reason and Nature‖ (76). Stereotypes

would have us believe that women fall prey to more powerful passions and are more easily

influenced by their emotions than their logic. There is a heavy feminine influence in this poem

that has nothing to do with Eve, the only ―woman,‖ and everything to do with the character and

morphing of Satan. Lucifer‘s light and beauty come from his proximity to God. It is after the

fall, stripped of beauty and made grotesque and hideous, that Satan turns to vengeance and

retribution. His aspirations seem small after the high goals he once had. It is only Satan‘s

perversion of reality that allows him to begin truly believing his own propaganda, that he still has

the powers and abilities of God. He refuses to accept that he can‘t change what has happened to

him in some way. To do this, his sole goal is to pervert God‘s new creation.

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 Satan’s Fall from Heaven

Most of Milton's angels aspire to become more spiritual to worship God, which is their

sole purpose and personal glory. But Satan wishes to have dominion and not be in reverence of

another. With this understood, it is important to be clear about the introduction of Satan in

Paradise Lost. Satan, in Heaven, is Lucifer, the ―light bringer‖ and glorious angel of God, the

most beautiful of all angels. Being beautiful and favored inspires Lucifer to think that these

attributes or powers make him next to God in authority, not second, but a partner in heaven. But

partnership is impossible, as God is the one and only creator. ―All things proceed, and up to

[God] return, / If not deprav‘d from good…;‖ therefore, Lucifer is of God not equal to him‖ (PL

5:470-1). Milton makes clear the warning that all things must ―…not [be] deprav‘d from good‖

a fair caution to the reader that Satan needs to resist his sin of pride and aspiration for

supremacy, or his fall is imminent.

It is with the presentation of Christ that Lucifer‘s world shifts out of focus. Before this

moment, Satan is known in heaven as the ―Fairest of stars, last in the train of night / thou son, of

this great world both eye and soul‖ (PL 5:166-171). Lucifer's beauty is so great he believes he

has been given more by God than any other being. This identification with beauty and the

power, security and independence in heaven he believes this has given him creates an elevated

sense of self-worth. However, as a social construction, beauty is important to a female’s sense

of self (Friday 34). This denotes that Satan‘s female identity is strong in him to begin with. This

heightened sense of worth brings Lucifer to vanity, and he craves to prove that his beauty and

power are second to none. This is the height of vanity and part of his intense issue with pride. If

this security of having the commodity of beauty is challenged by being devalued, and being

acknowledged is marginalized, inevitably the sense of self is damaged (Hooks 131-145). When

24
Lucifer realizes that he is not the favorite, his logic and intuitive intelligence is overrun by his

emotional self. Satan‘s psychological break is beginning here. He wants what is impossible, to

be the most important to God. This cannot happen. But, in Satan‘s mind it is because of the Son

that Satan is himself diminished. Satan believed that because he was the mirror image of God

his power was implicit. However, as Lacan observes ―…the developing child experiences the

Aha! moment, recognizing that [the] individual in the mirror [is] ‗itself‘ … [the child] tumbles

into the terrifying world of psych-asthenia…experience physical space as a devouring threat‖

(Richter 1114). This can be linked to Satan, as he misrepresents his own appearance to make it

more of God that it is; he presumes that his ―self is…Real rather than [an] imaginary construct‖

(Sartre qtd. in Richter 1115). ―If ‗The Mirror Stage‘ is about the inception of the imaginary

realm, this selection is about the transactional workings of the Symbolic realm…‖ begins to feel

displaced and ‗othered‘ once he realizes that he is not what he thought (Sartre qtd. in Richter

1115).

Satan‘s state of being ―othered‖ creates a need for him to exact revenge on God for taking

away his ―rightful‖ place. He needs to feel accepted and whole again, and this rift of feeling

―outside‖ what he was, is ripping him apart. The emotional self, the feminine side is thinking

for him now, as he feels God has betrayed him and only through subterfuge can he exact his

vengeance. He gathers his cohorts together and in ―...ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound /

Or taint integrity‖ he articulates his desires to counteract the will of God in placing Christ on

high (PL 5:703-4). This speech ―…with calumnious art / Of counterfeited truth thus held their

ears‖ until Abdiel interrupts Satan‘s speech, denouncing his argument as ―…blasphemous, false,

and proud…‖ (PL 5:770-1,810).

25
 Satan is so convinced in his supreme arrogance of his significance and abilities to

dominate that he doesn‘t acknowledge that, as Woolf addresses in the feminine mind, that

―…there are two sexes... corresponding to the two sexes in the body…if one is man, still the

woman part of the brain must have effect. [If these have a] fusion take place [then] mind is fully

fertilized and uses all its faculties…‖ (Woolf 607). Wolf states that the two genders of the mind

must balance, or the imbalance will create emotional chaos. The mind, without both, cannot

fully function (Woolf 607). But, what happens when these two corresponding minds do not

work together anymore? Then there is a break of consciousness and one of them starts to take

over. As Satan starts losing his ability to reason and see logic, his beauty and heavenly power

begin to fade. Feeling betrayed by the knowledge that he is not the ―chosen one,‖ Satan is

overtaken with desperation. He is desperate for a chance to create a new version of self in order

to regain his power. However, his knowledge of what he is to God cannot be ―undone‖. Satan is

feeling scorned, betrayed by a ―newer model‖ he can‘t compete with for God‘s affections, much

like a woman scorned. Satan enters a world of the feminine, akin to that described by De

Beauvoir, something ―…so strange, so confused, so complicated, that no one predicate comes

near to expressing it…‖ (143). Satan rips himself away from God in an act of single-minded

defiance, desperate to regain lost power and seeks vengeance, beginning his fall.

Adapting to this shifting of his essence, Satan awakens Beelzebub in a scene that smacks

of homo-eroticism. The state between sleeping and waking is ―fanciful‖ and is open to

suggestion; thus Satan picks this time to bring Beelzebub to his side. Beelzebub, wits scattered

from the depths of sleep, listens as Satan ―Tells the suggested cause…‖ (PL 5:702). Not offering

rational argument or persuasive speeches, instead he awakens Beelzebub lovingly from his sleep

with the tender words: ―Sleep‘st thou, companion dear…/ Thou to me thy thoughts / Wast wont,

26
I mine to thee was wont t‘impart; / Both waking we were one…‖ (PL 5:673-678). The language

used reveals that his attentions to Beelzebub are not that of a friend or comrade, but of someone

close and intimate. As angels are of both gender essences and they do copulate, it is not a far

reach here to see the relationship between Beelzebub and Satan as more than ―friendly.‖ The

reader sees an image of Satan leaning down sweetly next to Beelzebub and bringing him out of

his dreams affectionately. This brings loyalty to a different level with Beelzebub closely

following Satan‘s command and desires. Desperately needing to keep Beelzebub on his side,

and to make sure they are still of one mind when it comes to revolt, Satan awakens him gently,

chastising him for being able to sleep when such a problem has arisen. Satan‘s question ―…what

sleep can close / Thy eyelids?‖ proves that though Beelzebub is following Satan‘s lead, his

ability to sleep soundly indicates he has not become as unbalanced as Satan ―So spake the false

archangel, and infus‘d / Bad influence into the unwary breast / Of his associate …‖ (PL 5:694-

696). Satan‘s discussions with Eve in her sleep later take on similar overtones. He is

not behaving in an aggressive way, but in a passive lover-like role, trying to manipulate and

convince when the object of his attentions is at his or her weakest, in sleep or half-sleep.

Logically, Satan would have to have the awareness that he needs to overcome God with

brute strength. He ignores the hopelessness of this situation, refusing to exercise right

reason. Satan decides to declare war and make himself a supreme commander, enlisting a host

of angels to support him. Though Milton does not describe the creation of Satan‘s army or how

the other angels would have been already willing to follow Satan, he does give the impression

that factions had already been created. Satan goes directly to his second in command,

Beelzebub, to gain support and gather a military legion to support his cause. ―Assemble thou / Of

all those myriads which we lead the chief; / Tell them that by command…all who under me their

27
banners wave, / Homeward with flying march where we possess / The quarters of the north‖ (PL

5:683-9). Reference to the palace in Heaven, in the North and on the left-hand of God, exposes

more wholly the female side of Satan taking over. It is here that Satan begins to sink almost

immediately into the feminine side of his essence and turns to the manipulation of those close to

him to get what he wants.

Satan will do anything to gain power, never seeing or accepting that it was never really

his to begin with. His speech to Beelzebub reveals the fact that he no longer considers himself

under God‘s law. He has broken away rather than follow Christ, feeling God was trying to

impose unfair edicts upon them by changing the hierarchy, and did so without their input or

concern for how they would feel about the results ―New laws thou seest impos‘d;/New laws from

him who reigns, new minds may raise/In boss who served, new councils, to debate/What

doubtful may ensue…‖(PL 5: 679-682). Satan has ―...resolv‘d/ With all his legions to dislodge,

and leave/ Unworshipp‘d, unobey‘d the throne supreme‖ (PL 5:668-670). Beelzebub, now

awake, helps call forth Satan‘s legions of followers. It is not an overt sense of masculinity that

Satan uses to garner support, but by utilizing feminine characteristics, namely his beauty to

accomplish this task: ―His count‘nance, as the morning star that guides / The starry flock, allur‘d

them, and with lies/ Drew after him the third part of heaven‘s host‖ (PL 5:708-710). Not with

words of war does he begin to rally a cry for battle, but with ―…Ambiguous words and

jealousies, to sound / Or taint integrity. But all obey‘d…‖ swayed by his emotion even though it

lacked right reason (PL 5: 703-4). Satan, with all of his promises of freedom and equality,

cannot deliver on his promises by going up against the spirit that created them all, an omnipotent,

28
all-powerful force, God. And yet, Satan standing before them in his heavenly glory, his beauty

bountiful, displaying his worth and status, his power convinces his followers to take up the

banners of war.

Satan, charismatic, powerful and arrogant, uses his presence and leadership with skill to

twist and manipulate his followers into desiring what he wants. Standing before the rebels he

speaks words of deceit. As, stereotypically, a woman is wont to do, Satan ‗mimes‘ what he needs

them to hear so that even though his speeches are ‗imperfect‘ and infused with overwrought

emotion and ―…Abstrusest thoughts…‖ seemingly ―crazed,‖ which are symptoms associated

with ‗hysteria.‘ Considered a medical condition peculiar to women for two thousand years, this

mental state would explain to the reader why he was unaware of his ―limited rationality…and

powerlessness to speak coherently,‖ and is swayed beyond right reason, which directly correlates

to the fact that his feminine essence is taking over here (Irigaray 203-207). He convinces his

rebels that their power has been usurped by God. Perhaps, in following and listening to God,

they have given up their rights to know more; perhaps, if they overthrow Him, they will learn

more and possess more than ever before. And with this, Satan convinces his followers to rally

behind him, glorifying in the promise of titles and powers they have not seen so far. Satan

assures his followers that eventually they will be able to have a greater amount of power in

heaven, and the one trying to keep down their natural abilities will be ousted from his seat of

sovereignty. His skill at manipulating is great when they are in awe of his great beauty. Like the

alpha female, Satan stands out because of his exceptional intelligence, beauty and talent, and

uses them to influence those around him to get what he wants. Stereotypically, a woman who

seeks to be favored at all costs will turn from good if she feels she has been

29
displaced and her position of favor has been ripped away from her. This female -- here Satan --

will rebel to stand out, creating the world around her in her own image to prove her power over

others (urbenette.com/the-alpha-females/).

Satan‘s large warrior-like figure, prowess and intellectual abilities have become twisted,

no longer the masculine traits he prized; he is now mostly compelled by emotion. Feelings of

displacement shorten his temper creating blinding rage that manipulates his mind into a

weakened state. His anger makes him unable to grasp concepts of right reason causing him to

become more fanciful, imagining he is bigger and better than he is in reality. Satan‘s argument

that he and God were created at the same time out of Chaos and Nature is false logic and given

the general tenor of Milton‘s poem he associates the lack of reason with mainly the feminine.

God is all, including Chaos and Nature. But Satan, in his desire for power, chooses to ignore

this. Ironically, what Satan thinks is an argument in his favor, really proves opposite. In book

five ―Nature‖ is introduced as completely feminine. The introduction of Nature arrives with a

description of an essence that is ―seductive‖ and ―wanton,‖ thus, in its essential form,

feminine. Consequently, being from Nature returns Satan to his natural state as gendered

feminine, not the seat of power he assumed. Satan‘s essence of splendor comes from God and

without God as his power source, Satan‘s beauty, his commodity of worth, will fade. Satan

cannot accept that God is more perfect. God, in Satan‘s irrational mind, broke their partnership

unfairly and without warning. Satan becomes the partner [woman] scorned, replaced by Christ, a

manifestation of God himself.

At this point Abdiel enters to try to reason with Satan. Satan asserts to Abdiel that it is

his perfect essence that gives him a power equal to God and that he deserves such because in

30
heaven his beauty makes him ―…great in power/in favor and preeminence‖ (PL 5:660-

1). Abdiel sees the irony of Satan's beauty no longer matching his inner essence; that beauty

cannot remain where ―faith and reality / Remain not…‖ foreshadowing that Satan's outer

appearance will soon reflect his inner perversion (PL 6:115-6). Abdiel‘s frustration is in his

inability to reason with Satan, as he has found Satan's own reasoning ―unsound and false‖ (PL

6:121). A stereotypical woman in an argument tends not to look at logic when arguing with

someone. Instead of looking at the issue, she turns the argument against the other person

creating a personal attack rather than discussing the larger issue at hand (Jung 560). This

confounds Abdiel who has never strayed from right reason. He declares ―Apostate, still thou

err‘st, nor end wilt find / Or erring, from the path of truth remote: / Unjustly thou deprav‘st it…‖

(PL 6:172-174). Right reason is innate in God‘s creatures and is a powerful gift. Satan‘s debate

lacks reason, and Abdiel refuses to listen to Satan's false logic: ―Reign thou in hell thy kingdom,

let me serve / In heaven…‖ (PL 6:183-4). He emphasizes that it is impossible for the angels to be

upset with God when God is the one that created everything they now are. It is God who has

given them their abilities, their physique, their intelligence, and it is God who can take it all

away. Satan responds with false logic, ―We know no time when we were not as now; / Know

none before us, self-begot, self-raised / By our own quick‘ning power…‖ (PL 5:859-861). Of

course they wouldn't remember existing before they were brought into existence that doesn't

make sense. Abdiel remains unconvinced, un-seduced by Satan, showing that not all heaven‘s

angels can be swayed into this feminine logic.

Beleaguered, Abdiel begins taunting Satan's belief that he could defeat God by saying,

―Proud, art thou met? Thy hope was to have reach‘d / The height of thy aspiring unoppos‘d, /

The throne of God unguarded, and his side / Abandon‘d at the terror of thy power / Or potent

31
tongue: full, not to think how vain / Against th‘Omnipotent to rise in arms…‖ (PL 6:131-6).

Satan discards Abdiel‘s logic, denying the reality of the argument itself saying Abdiel‘s

―…tongue [is] / Inspired with contradiction…‖ and that he is obviously just too lazy to fight for

what is right because ―…through sloth [he would] rather serve…‖ (PL 6:154-5, 166). Abdiel

tries to keep Satan‘s ―imaginative tendencies‖ from causing anarchy. He is using all his ability

of reason to bring Satan back from his realm of fancy, but Satan‘s false logic has enchanted his

psyche too deeply, allowing his fancy to take control. Satan has become more feminine in his

fractured self than masculine. As Jung states, men and women are both imbued with an Anima

and Animus. As a man is mainly Animus, ―logic‖, his Anima, ―love or desire‖, come in to help

balance, but only when he is in a relationship. For a woman, she is Anima, all that is Eros or

love and desire. According to Jung her Anima, or ―..Eros is an expression of [her] true nature,

while [her] Logos is often only a regrettable accident…‖ (Jung 559) As Jung states, female logic

cannot decipher what is correct without help. But, if help is denied, and the man is unable to

reorganize her mind he would be in danger of losing his own logic if he tried to continue

debating her false logic; her fancy could be too powerful causing his logic to be overcome in the

very chaos of her thinking (Jung 560-1). Instead of reacting to the argument that he is lacking

reason and shouldn't be taking on something he can't possibly win, Satan belittles Abdiel for

being a traitor. Turning the tables against Abdiel instead of using any form of logic to debate his

cause shows how shallow his mind has become.

Satan continues to disparage Abdiel, criticizing all the other angels in heaven for not

thinking for themselves and wanting to serve God rather than become ―more.‖ He never

addresses the real issue; that of his own desire for power and control over what he can't have.

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At this, Abdiel declares…‖ Apostate, still thou err‘st… / …from the path of truth…‖ (PL 6:172-

3). Done trying to reason with Satan, Abdiel finally physically attacks him, causing Satan to fall

back in shock and his followers to become angry. Irate at Abdiel‘s attack, Satan uses this to rally

his troops, but the irony of his physical power being maligned is not lost on the reader. Satan

tries to manipulate the situation into a ―how dare you touch me‖, but in reality he just doesn‘t

react as a characteristic male who has been affronted and physically attacked. Instead of

responding in kind, he backs away, taken aback with bruised pride that Abdiel would attack him

in such a way. Abdiel reacts as a male essence would, ―aggressive(ly) or…abrasive(ly)…‖ to

prove power and prowess, but Satan protests with an action that could be considered feeble,

womanly (Freedman 3.)

Abdiel ends his debate with Satan at this time realizing that Satan has shifted too far to be

saved. Satan will not see reason; he only seeks to re-establish an imaginary, ―fanciful,‖ sense of

power he feels he has been stripped of in heaven. Satan‘s response is like a girl without recourse,

he begins to devise vengeance instead, vicious wording, but not physical harm. He taunts Abdiel

with belittling language, telling him he is useless. Intimating that Abdiel has no real value, he

tells him to go back to his side and leave the real power to Satan and his faction. Satan is

showing a need for dominance and control over his peers and will use any recourse necessary to

manipulate their thinking to align with his.

The battle commences with the scene showing power on both sides. God's army is

described as ―bright legions‖ marching to ‖the sound/of instrumental harmony ‖with ―perfect

ranks‖, whereas Satan's army is said to come from the North‘s ―fiery region‖ holding rigid spears

and helmets forearmed and shields various with boastful argument‖ (PL 6:64-84). All appears

very phallic and masculine, but the representation of Satan coming from the North, the evil

33
direction, and the overdone power display showcases not strength but penetrating

weakness. Satan, described as beautiful, divine and surrounded by beauty, steps from his chariot

and is presented ―...in terrible array / Of hideous length…‖ he walks ―…with vast and haughty

strides…‖ showing how his external beauty is starting to fade already, for it is a false beauty not

one of genuine power (PL 6: 106-109). His dreams of power, though unattainable imaginings,

are gone now for Satan. He believed his right to power was from his glorious splendor and

without that, his vision of grandeur is shattered. The horrible battle begins to rage between the

sides. It is during this battle that Milton states that Satan is the ―Author of evil, unknown till thy

revolt‖ (PL 6:262). Satan can never regain his former glory and his false logic has caused the

torture of all those that follow him. The fall of Satan is imminent, and his prideful sense of

importance is to blame for all that follows. He has brought misery into the world and instilled

malice in the hearts of his followers. Satan has become the ringleader in a band of malcontents

seeking to oust all those that have the power they desire.

As the battle in Heaven continues, God helps his warriors by creating pain for the

rebels. Michael‘s sword enters Satan and ―...shar’d / All his right side: then Satan first knew

pain…‖ (PL 6:326-7). Cleaving his right side is destroying that which is dominant. The right

side is that of reason, rational and stoic behavior. With his right side destroyed, Satan is downed

in battle and his ―…armour stain‘d erewhile so bright‖ showing his essence is flowing out of

him, like blood (PL 6:326-7, 334). The rebels run to his side and bring him back to his chariot,

―…there they him laid / Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame, / To find himself not

matchless, and his pride / Humbled by such rebuke, so far beneath / His confidence to equal God

in power‖ (PL 6:339-343). He is the first to know pain and fear. Both of these new feelings are

because the weaker side of him is becoming the more dominant. Stereotypically, a man does not

34
allow his emotions to overcome him, or be seen. Satan is allowing his emotions to do both. The

battle continues to rage, but with their leader injured and in pain, they too with ―…pale fear [are]

supris‘d / Then first with fear surpris‘d and sense of pain…‖ (PL 6:392-3). The demonic angels

do not know what to do because until the ―…sin of disobedience, till that hour / [they were] Not

liable to fear or flight, or pain‖ (PL 6:396-7). The rebels too are losing their male essence as it

seeps from their wounds. Though they heal, they will never recover the essences lost. Here,

battle comes to a cease fire and each army retreats. They have failed, because they are weakened

by fear and pain. They are impotent in the face of God‘s power; their masculinity is shattered.

As noted earlier, they realize that they are not enough in a fight but must, Milton writes,

―remedy…[with] Weapons more violent, when next we meet‖ to supplement their obvious

physical weaknesses (PL 6:438-9).

Now, the battle for Satan has changed from one of self-proclaimed Righteousness, to that

of vengeance and retribution. On Michael‘s side ―…Cherubic waving fires‖, still in some

semblance of light, keep watch (PL 6:413). But ―…Satan with his rebellious disappear‘d, / Far

in the dark dislodg‘d; and, void of rest / His potentates to council call‘d by night…‖ (PL 6:414-

417). The darkness here implies the subterfuge of thought and ideas. Imagination happens at

night, as fancy takes over and overwhelms the ability to see the truth or reason. This night, as in

the rest to come, Satan and his rebels will be ‗blind‘ to the truth. The rebel speeches

commence. How are they to continue, or are they? Though ―…Incapable of mortal injury…‖

they can be injured, and the ―…Pain is perfect misery, the worst / Of evils…‖ (PL 6: 434, 462-

3). They are weakened not only by the pain and fear, but by admitting to it! As Tyson observes,

―…it is considered unmanly for men to show fear of pain or to express their sympathy for other

men‖ (87). The rebels have stated freely these very things. Their biggest fear at this point is how

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they will fight an enemy that does not know fear or pain, because God‘s army is ―Fearless in /

righteous cause…‖ (PL 6:804). Satan‘s answer is trickery. He tells his followers that all things

have to begin in darkness before they can be born into the light, and their time is now. They will

build a cannon, the perfect symbol of their lack of masculinity and power. As they no longer

have either, they will build a representation of this phallus, to shoot it at the dominant

army. Satan tells his soldiers that the opposing army won‘t understand what happened to them,

and thus Satan will convince them that they won and God‘s army will retreat. It is twisted, false

logic, but it works. His followers feel ―…Enlighten‘d, and their languish‘d hope reviv‘d. /

Th‘invention all admir‘d, and each how he / To be th‘inventor miss‘d; so easy it seem‘d…‖ (PL

6:497-9). They work together in subterfuge ―…under conscious night, / [in] Secret they

finish‘d…‖ (PL 6:521-2).

Yet, as the battle commences again it becomes even clearer Satan will not win by

violence or force. This was predicted earlier as Raphael is relates to Adam what God foretold,

that Satan has fallen but not by violence, ―… Or that shall be withstood; / But by deceit and

lies...‖ (PL 5:242-3). Satan‘s ugliness and darkness ―…Purest at first, now gross by sinning

grown‖ is evident as he brings his large ―cannon‖ into battle, ―…Approaching, gross and huge,

in hollow cube / Training his devilish enginry, impal‘d / On every side with shadowing

squadrons deep. / To hide the fraud‖ (PL 6: 661, 552-5). The obvious phallic representation here

foreshadows the end is near. He fires the cannon, and it does not terrify the opposing forces, but

enrages them. They become even fiercer at being demeaned with this ―cannon‖ and turn vicious

in their attack against the rebels. The blatant and oversized phallic symbol charging toward the

other army epitomizes the ultimate fear that without this potent force, their castration is

imminent (Cixous 255). Though they are not yet gendered, the fear of losing their masculine

36
half is apparent especially in such a masculine act as war. The Messiah shows up now to

―…Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out / From all heaven‘s bounds into the utter

deep…‖ (PL 6:715-6). Having to create pseudo-phallus to win power, shows they do not have

one. Now an ―…eternal wrath / Burn‘d after them to the bottomless pit;‖ Satan and the rebels

fall, ―…hell at last / Yawning receiv‘d them whole, and on them clos‘d…‖(PL 6: 865-6, 874-

5). The angels who had been ―Equal in their creation‖ were now that which ―sin hath impair‘d‖

(PL 6: 690-1). And the glorious army of the Son, resplendent in its beauty, defeats the ravaged

darkness of the rebels.

Satan Reigning in Hell

Milton‘s story of Satan truly begins once the Son has ejected Lucifer from Heaven. After

losing the battle Satan and his followers fall for nine days, landing in the furthest reaches of

Chaos, now Hell. Book one begins with the description of hell as feminine, womblike, and full

of demons. His beauty destroyed by the fall from grace, his outside now matching his inside, his

countenance is forever stormy and scarred. As an angel, Satan‘s image would have been

reflective of that of God, his creator. His loss of beauty is due to the fact that the inner beauty of

God‘s grace is no longer within him. Not recognizing himself because of the beauty stripped

from him causes an identity crisis, hence anxiety and depression overwhelm him. Falling from

heaven exposes Satan‘s utter failure in masculinity proving the angelic imbalance to which he

has succumbed. If Satan does not confront the reason for his loss he will internalize the pain,

causing his irrational essence to vanquish any piece of masculine essence still a part of him

(Friday 35, 39). Satan‘s subconscious has realized his growing feminine essence, and he begins

to internalize these changes submerging the masculine half of his essence. If he buries it deeply

enough, his masculinity will disappear, turning Satan into one essence completely feminine

37
instead of a balanced whole. Everything around Satan shows the ―universal predominance of

males‖ and confirms his belief in masculine superiority. He longs to return to these virtues of

―learning, bravery and leadership‖ (Pisan125). Therefore he radiates a need to be overtly

masculine, hyper-masculine, to hide his growing inferiority complex at losing his male

aspects. When a ―man‖ fails in one area must make that up somehow in order to regain his

masculine status. Satan postulates at anger in an effort to block out his fear and pain, to

manipulate his followers from seeing these emotions that are not permitted in a strong male

leader.

Satan will be defined by his fall from grace, and though he is not concerned with getting

―grace‖ back, he will forever be trying to regain what has been lost to him. He is still convinced

that he can gain power without submitting to God. He now desires to create his own world, a

sub-world, where he can remain in control. To Satan it is vital that he convince his ‗fellow

rebels‘ to keep doing his bidding. He knows this will not restore his heavenly grace, but he can

at least, in this place, do things his own way. His manipulation is coming into its zenith. Satan

is much like a woman fighting for power in a world where she is denied it. She too creates her

own sub-world of power, controlling and dominating that world, manipulating the ―other‖ world,

the man‘s world, to her will, or so she thinks. Satan‘s feminine side continues to take over, and

as stereotypically ―…women…are prone to feelings of insecurity and jealousy,‖ Satan needs to

convince his fallen comrades that he is capable despite his feelings of inadequacy (Freedman

4). As Satan‘s need for vengeance against the Christ who took his power is reaching its pinnacle

after the fall, his truly feminine traits begin to glimmer through from within him. As

stereotypically with women, he has a ―…reduced sense of justice, a less developed commitment

to moral

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principles…and [is] more commonly motivated by feelings than reason‖ (Freedman 4). Hence

his overt postulating in political speeches, as the fallen angels awaken, reveals this growing

tendency.

Satan, with a calculated language of manipulation, faulty logic, and the need to ―bite at

the heels‖ of God for vengeance, emerges before his followers as a different Leader, but one still

desiring loyalty against the ―evil‖ of God. In heaven Satan would have been mantled in downy

gold with a belt of stars, his motions harmoniously divine and a voice of smoothing charm (PL

5:278-283, 625-6). Awakened in hell, Satan laments his vanished beauty, where once he ―..didst

outshine…‖all the rest of the angels, he now is devoid of all beauty, burned, scarred and horrid in

stature (PL 1: 86). Satan rises in the ―…Waste and wild: / A dungeon horrible…No light, but

rather darkness visible…‖ and begins to renew his dedication to war with God (PL 1: 60-1,

63). He believes that ―…all is not lost...‖ Satan declares that ―…never shall [God‘s] wrath or

might / Extort from me, to bow…/ With suppliant knee..,‖ he will ―…deify his power…‖ (PL 1:

106, 110-112). Now, as in heaven, he turns first to Beelzebub and in anger laments that he and

God had in ―... reason hath equall‘d…‖ and that ―…force hath made [God] supreme / Above his

equals‖ (PL 1: 248-9). Satan‘s lack of reasoning abilities is evident in his declaration that it is

only by force God is above him. As proven by his fall, he knows he is not an equal to God, but

he still refuses to acknowledge it. Satan‘s declaration of his remaining powers and mission

solidifies his desired future for the demons; fighting forever against Heaven.

No longer acting like a woman scorned, Satan has evolved in his traditional feminine

essence to something in the order of the Crone. Satan desires vengeance on those that took

beauty, youth and power from him. According to patriarchy, if a woman does not accept her

patriarchal gender role the only role left to her is that of a monster. (Milton surely would have

39
been familiar with the story of Lilith). The monster, wicked stepmother or crone is vain, petty,

jealous, evil, and has trivial concerns. Like a crone, Satan believes he can still win something of

value in the end by diminishing the power source, God. Satan, will stop at nothing to destroy

God‘s new ―Light‖, Christ and God‘s new ―angel replacements‖ in Eden. Again, he will need an

army to back him, but this time it is not for battle, but subterfuge. Satan has to manipulate his

followers into a different type of battle now. This cannot be a manly fight with swords, like in

heaven‘s ―great battle‖ with regalia, but in hell it is words only, whiny and petulant, demanding,

but no swords or battle to be waged in direct combat. No longer will a fight one on one work, as

proven in the fall, but now a fight of underhanded stealth obstructing the will of God at every

turn. He needs to gather the demons and learn to use his feminine wiles to manipulate and then

seduce all that is beautiful and of God. A war of subterfuge is begun.

Satan‘s new horrific countenance brings a different power, a mirror image of beauty, his

hideousness shows the terrifying glory of Hell. He knows that this gruesome show of beauty

will be the key to his dominion here. Satan is hideous; burned, scarred and broken he rises from

the ashes to view a wasteland of fire and darkness ―…Darkened so, yet shone / Above them all

th‘ archangel, but his face / Deep scars of thunder had entrenched and care / Sat on his faded

cheek…‖ (PL 1: 599-601). It is his hideousness, the near opposite of his beauty that now gives

him the power to persuade demonic comrades to keep up the ―evil fight‖ against the kingdom of

heaven. ―Satan, who now transcendent glory raised / Above his fellows with monarchal pride /

Conscious of highest worth…‖ as glorious as is now perverted into that of the grotesque and this

new power is in reviling all that is beautiful (PL 1: 427-9). This dichotomy proves the

subversion of Satan's new goal. He will rule by ugliness where beauty once held the power. He

stands in front of his angels, turned demons, ready to reign again ―…darken‘d so, yet shone /

40
Above them all…‖ (PL 1: 599-600). This time with the force of his massive size and

hideousness, he quiets the minions and begins to gather them to his side.

Using his presence of perverted beauty, once again he captivates his audience of

followers. Demons awaken to his call, but now they recognize their leader‘s power of

manipulation, knowing that he was the one ―…who first seduced them to that foul revolt,‖ and

that this seduction is a purely feminine trait (PL 1:33). Milton‘s representation of Satan as

having female qualities is imperative here. It is revealing that Satan‘s failure was eminent, and

that without more masculine traits he can never truly succeed against God. Falling into desires

of a female nature, forces the fall and the ultimate lack of redemption. All around him the

broken angels, now demons, lie; destroyed and destitute of God's grace, nothing is left for

them. They can either follow Satan‘s desires to build an empire in hell or try to reconcile with

God, though that does not seem probable, according to Satan. He needs to convince the other

angels on his side to agree with his sense of ―rightness‖; his desire to be on par with God, to truly

have free reign in heaven and know all that God knows.

Satan may not have the power to control Heaven, but he does have the power to control

Hell. He needs this power, as it is the only way he can begin to manipulate his

revenge. Therefore, he must have his demons stay with him and back up his every

whim. Observing his cohorts before his first attempt to speak, Satan begins to tear up. Their

loyalty to him engulfs his feminine senses and ―…Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth, at last

/ Words interwove with sighs…‖ (PL 1:620-1). Satan‘s overwhelming passion here speaks

volumes as he is, for the first time, alluded to as feminine, because though he ―…Stood like a

tower: his form had not yet lost / All her original brightness…‖ in the eyes of his followers (PL

1:591-2). Granted, Milton is referring here to the Latin ―forma‖ which is feminine, but the use of

41
―her‖ in nevertheless striking in this context. Without his beauty, Satan has to rely on other

aspects of his remaining power to pervert God's plans for Earth. Consequently he turns to the

powers of persuasion even more than in heaven at the battle. He consistently combats logic with

emotion to override right reason using ―…high words, that bore / Semblance of worth, not

substance…‖ (PL 1: 528-9). His emotional pleas and desire overwhelm their logic.

First Satan convinces his band of rebels that there was no way they could have known

they would lose. He asks them ―… what power of mind, / Forseeing… / …knowledge past or

present…/ …could ever know [we would be] repulse[d]?‖ (PL 1: 626-630). Logically, they

would have to have realized God was supreme in heaven. They may not have known God would

throw them into Chaos and hell, but surely punishment would have been logical for going to war

against their creator. Yet, Satan is able to convince the other demons through his powers of

persuasion, even though they are trying to being logical, that he is in fact correct. He goes on to

further justify his actions by stating that they, as a whole, not just him, underestimated God‘s

strength, that he kept ―…his strength conceal‘d / [which]…wrought our fall‖ (PL 1:641-

2). Satan is clearly not being logical. He persuades them that though they cannot ‗truly win‘ a

place back in heaven right away, they can win in hell. They cannot defeat God in a physical

sense, but they can pervert all God creates and cause infinite chaos infinitely.

Satan tells his followers that they don‘t need brute force; together, they can win another

way: subterfuge, for ―Our better part remains / To work in close design, by fraud or guile…‖ (PL

1:645-6). He diverts their attention from what he has caused, their fall into hell. This is a

standard move for a ―womanly‖ argument. Do not discuss the matter at hand but cause

confusion by bringing up a separate issue to divert the focus (Jung 560-1). He tells the demons

that God doesn‘t care about them at all as he has actually already replaced them. In fact, he says,

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God was already planning their replacement before they fell, as God ―…Intended to create; and

therein plant / A generation, who his choice regard / Should favor equal to the sons of heaven…‖

(PL 1:642-4). Satan‘s speech whips the demons into a frenzy as they feel betrayed and desire to

fight back against God‘s duplicity. Ironic since they betrayed God to begin with, but Satan‘s

lack of reason works. The demons can‘t just sit there and ―take it,‖ they have to fight

back. Satan reassures them that they will, but first they have to create a palace for them to call

home. For what Queen can rule without grandeur to gaze upon?

Satan plays on the emotions of the rebel angels, bringing them out of their logic about

God's wrath and into his plan to seek vengeance. Building up their emotional need to be against

God, Satan rallies his troops, and they ―…Swarmed both on the ground and in the air, / Brushed

with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees / …Pour forth their populous youth about the hive…‖

(PL 1:767-770). The fact that they go along with this shows that they too are becoming

effeminate, showing Satan as Queen of these bees, her worker bees, the demons. The demons go

to work and quickly through their ―subtle magic‖ build a temple-like structure with ―Doric

pillars,‖ ―golden architrave‖, sculptures, an arched roof of ―fretted gold‖, ―starry lamps‖ and

―blazing cressets‖ to show their power and wealth (PL 1:713-728). Satan knows he needs beauty

around him to have power; though his physical beauty is gone, his hideousness reigns

supreme. Around him though, he needs to keep the demons happy with their new world and

make it as glorious as heaven. If they create beauty in the underworld then that beauty shows

how they don‘t need God to have glory and power. ―…Soon [Satan] had his crew / Open into

the hill a spacious wound / And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire / That riches grow in

hell…‖ and Mammon helped to build a palace worthy of him with ―..Doric pillars overlaid /

With golden architrave; nor did there want / Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures grav‘n / The

43
roof…fretted gold. / …such magnificence…‖ (PL 1:688-90, 714-8). Once their palace is built,

lesser demons are released to go and build up the rest of hell to make it glorious. The drones

have the ability alone to create new and act out his desires so that ―The present misery ...‖ can

become ―…More tolerable if there be cure of charm / To respite or deceive…‖ furthering their

new womanly status as homemakers and caretakers (PL 2:457-461).

Now the debate begins in the newly made Pandemonium about what to do next. And

Satan needs to persuade them that his way is the only way. His command of rhetoric is

powerful. As a stereotypical female would, he consistently combats logic with emotion ―…His

proud imaginations thus display‘d…‖ (PL 2:10). His speeches are geared toward a team that he

knows won't win but needs to remain fighting in any way possible to fulfill his need to pervert

God's plans for Earth and humankind. Even though he is not yet conscious of being overcome

by his emotional, irrational essence he continues to persuade, his only concern is for his

―…reputation, [his extraordinary] cunning is beginning to be apparent and while these are

praiseworthy for a woman, [they are] demeaning to a man (Wollstonecraft 49). Influencing the

ideas and desires of the men around her, a woman uses her feminine wiles, given through her

physical appearance, to captivate, lure and persuade others to give in to her. Similarly, Satan is

doing this with his demonic underlings. Satan with Beelezbub‘s help uses emotions to combat

logic creating a warped reality, something against right reason. Beelzebub‘s speech focuses on

their pride, need for vengeance, the issues they had in heaven with God, their own insecurities,

wants, and desires. This speech ―…first devis‘d / By Satan…‖ focuses solely on their emotions,

leaving out anything with logic, not even trying to contend with their logic (PL 2:379-380).

Satan allows each of his underlings a say in what they wish, but he uses his ―lackey‖

Beelzebub to bring home his own argument so that he doesn‘t have to. It makes him appear to

44
consent to their wishes rather than having appeared to order them. The ―Queen Bee‖, female

group leader, is always the one in charge, but rarely has to say it. Her power is implied. She

uses her looks to manipulate her own end. As no one is as grotesque as Satan, he uses his looks

of hideousness, the power of physical appearance, to the same advantage here. Satan projects

intensity and fearlessness without having to say a word. Beelzebub, his ―second,‖ tells everyone

as if this should be common sense to them all. Through this manipulation Satan communicates

with his followers, but he is a perfect chameleon, a powerful manipulator. He makes them all

feel as if he truly understands them each specifically, though he doesn‘t really listen to

them. Satan isn‘t just an amazing liar; he is in fact a Lie (Lewis 402). By the end he craftily

maneuvers his band of followers by having them think that it is really ―their‖ idea to remain in

Hell. Through powers of persuasion he reminds the demons of their frustrations with God, their

servitude and unhappiness at being denied what they felt was owed to them. They will stay and

make a home in Hell convinced it is better than returning to a repressed, groveling, uncertain

existence in Heaven.

Verbally manipulating the situation so that the argument is no longer logical but spirals

off causing confusion for the other person wins the rebel army what they want in the end. With

the consensus that going back to heaven and apologizing to God is actually the worst thing they

could possibly do, they need a different way to retaliate. Satan proposes an attack on the new

creation of God, which is the way to get vengeance and grow their kingdom. If they pervert

humankind, God will lose. Satan gets his way by diverting attention and causing confusion

because he knows that using plain logic, he could never win. They are now convinced that Satan

needs to be the one to seek their vengeance, that he is the only one with the courage and power to

do so. With his superior powers he will go forth to seek vengeance on God for them: ―…I

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abroad / Through all coasts of dark destruction seek / Deliverance for us all!‖ (PL 2:463-

5). Nevertheless, Satan‘s deliverance will be gained through subterfuge and trickery, not

physical strength or the power of reason.

Ready to use his now perfected subterfuge for his attack against Mankind, Satan has

become truly feminine in essence. The feminine essence is complex; most men think of a

woman as a sphinx, a mystery. Her mystical essence is not apparent to the senses or obvious to

the intellect. And if she is evil, she is shame, damnation; a sorceress (De Beauvoir 192). Satan

is becoming the sorceress, and will begin his work when he approaches the gates of

hell. However, a delay lies in wait. Sin is reintroduced to Satan at these gates, as is his son,

Death. The perversion of Sin‘s birth and subsequent rapes are important in the crafting of

Satan‘s feminine potency. Sin was a mirror image of Satan when he created her from his

imagination or ―fancy‖ in heaven. Now, upon meeting her again, she is a stranger to him. The

fall has not erased Satan‘s memory as some critics believe (Carey 171). Rather, Satan is unable

to grasp the reality before him. His vanity does not allow him to fully grasp his own grotesque

appearance, nonetheless her ―mirror image‖ appearance of him. If she is in front of him, he

cannot look away. He has to face a reality his fancy has been shielding him from. Satan must

acknowledge his creation and that he damned her along with his demons. But Sin is punished

more severely, not only is she condemned for being of Satan, she is continually raped and her

womb is horrifically eaten for all eternity by the products of those rapes. The destruction of her

virginity strips her of purity and her being a ―willing accomplice in the deed‖ condemns her (De

Beauvoir 188—9). ―The environment…in which feminine sexuality awakens…‖ shapes her

sexual identity and future (De Beauvoir 375). Sin is a true feminine entity here, punished for the

male ―sins‖ around her, yet she is blamed as she is the temptation leading this to happen as

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denoted by her name sin! She becomes the object of lust out of which Death is created. Her

punishment continues with Death raping her. Death is a perversion, created by creator and

daughter. Punished still further, Sin‘s womb is eaten eternally by the dogs that are the product of

Death‘s rapes.

Satan must accept his perverted creations as his own before he can be let out the gates of

hell. Satan is a creator here and uses his twisted ―motherly‖ flattery to tell Sin how important

she is to his plan. Though at first he tells her how ugly she is and that he would never have done

anything with something so grotesque his persuasive ability corrects this error quickly to win her

to his side. He needs her to feel beautiful and wanted in order to get past the gate. He convinces

her he has her and their child‘s best interest at heart. If they want freedom they have to help him

pass and pervert mankind. Satan appeals to her weakness, which he knows because it is also his

weakness, her jealousy over beauty. He tells her of the new world God created to replace them

in heaven and how beautiful it is. Angry at the injustice of her fall and the punishment she reaps

for being once desired, she opens the gates for Satan to pass. His vengeance is now their

vengeance as well.

When Satan decides to leave hell and pursue mankind in the Garden of Eden he must first

pass through the Limbo of Vanity. Milton's choice of calling it the ―Limbo of Vanity‖ portrays

Satan‘s own excessive belief in himself and that with his abilities he will be able to succeed in

his cause by easily passing out of the outer reaches of Hell and into chaos. The idea of vanity

also has a dual significance in that Satan‘s own vanity will be used to cause the perversion of

Eve. Eve's vanity is now what must be used, fought, and dealt with in order for Satan to destroy

God‘s creation in paradise. In a patriarchal world men can do combat with physical strength, but

a woman must be careful how she uses her power so as to remain undetected in using it. Women

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then become best at understanding how to work other women to their side. This is exactly what

Satan must do. An innocent woman is soft and pliable, like Eve is. Satan knows, therefore, her

beauty is her strongest commodity and must be used against her as a weapon subtly so that no

overt act of aggression can be seen. This distortion is the method he can use to cause her fall.

Due to his perversion of all that is beautiful, Satan is now the Lord of the darkness. To

rule he must be hidden in the dark and catch beauty unaware and turn it into destruction. When

he lands outside the gates of Eden, Satan is described by Milton in his forward to book three as

turning himself ―…into the shape of a meaner angel…pretending a zealous desire to behold the

new Creation and Man whom God had placed there...‖ (Elledge 62). It is only by distorting the

beauty of others and turning it into ugliness that Satan will now have power. He knows that he

cannot go against God overtly any longer, but he must use subterfuge, thus ironically

emasculating himself further and behaving in an even more stereotypically feminine way.

Satan the Tempter

Eden brings images of angels, beautiful landscape, perfect weather, and an idyllic

atmosphere. Here Adam and Eve reign over the perfect, heaven-like place given to them by their

creator, God. Eve, in her beauty adored, as Adam describes ―so lovely fair,/ That what seem‘d

fair in all the world, seem‘d now/ Mean… / Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, / In

every gesture dignity and love…‖ is revered and honored (PL 8:471-3, 488-9). However, rules

apply to living in this beautiful paradise, and Adam and Eve have the free will to make the

choice to be obedient to God. In doing this, it is Adam‘s role to take care of his wife, to make

sure she stays uncontaminated. ―Girls, [are] hopelessly sheltered…ignorant and vulnerable…fed

illusions…an exercise in fantasy…[making] them the natural prey…‖ for evil (Wollstonecraft

47). However, he is ―...only weak / Against the charm of beauty's powerful glance‖ (PL 8:532-

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3). This flaw stated so blatantly will be the true opening for Satan‘s destructive

retaliation. Satan's jealousy and anger at being replaced will be of significance as Eve is a mirror

of all the beauty Satan has lost, and this Paradise was created to replace him and his demons lost

to God. This Eden is to be God‘s peace and consolation.

Flying around Eden, Satan must decide the best entrance for him to catch Eve

unawares. He chooses the West wall, the wall shadowed in darkness opposite of the holy

direction and the rising sun. It is here that Satan is caught unaware by Eve‘s considerable beauty

and becomes envious of her. Her beauty is perfect and intense, and he is awestruck: ―…Her

Heav‘nly form / Angelic but more soft and feminine, / Her graceful innocence, her every air / Of

gesture of least action overawed / His malice…‖ (PL 209:457-461). This extreme reaction to

Eve catches Satan off guard, but he is prepared with an arsenal of information for dealing with

her. Satan is jealous of Eve‘s beauty; if he can‘t have perfect beauty and be the most adored then

neither will she. He has grown into the persona of the crone and continues to inhabit it; he

refuses to allow Eve to replace him. Satan manipulates Eve into a false sense of camaraderie as

she too is frustrated with her position of obedience and wishes to move up in status. Satan's own

narcissism gives him an edge to play on Eve‘s own vanity; he understands this weakness and is

thus able to use it against her. It is Satan's knowledge of how to maneuver Eve that shows how

feminine he really is; only one who understand the mentality and weaknesses of the purely

feminine would be able to tempt Eve into ―falling from grace.‖ Satan attacks Eve‘s vanity by

tapping into her emotional desires, creating a lack of right reason within her. Eventually Eve will

have to pay for listening to the crone. It is very much a stereotypical representation of the

hostility between women where they use spitefulness and cruelty to gain their end. Women in

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this patriarchal setting battle with each other for supremacy of beauty in an effort to prove their

superiority to the rest of the world; all the while claiming that they love each other equally and

are all the best of friends (Friday 362-376).

Knowing that Eve would lack the ability to reason completely, due to her status as a

woman, Satan takes this opportunity to instill the idea of the Tree of Knowledge and fall from

grace into her dreams. Having had success in infiltrating Eve‘s imagination shows she is weak

enough to be influenced. Women are thought to be more easily given to flights of fancy. As her

protector, and the rational male, Adam is trying to persuade her of her weaknesses as she is

―…Not incorruptible of faith, not proof / Against temptation…‖ and when tempted her resistance

would be ―…ineffectual found…‖ (PL 9:298-304). Being alone, in sleep, leaves Eve open to

Satan‘s persuasions and manipulations. Satan wove a spell over her, and so at this point she is

his ―creation,‖ under his magic, in her dream. When in the state between sleep and waking up,

the mind is still under the fog of dreams. At this point the mind is very malleable. The flexibility

of the mind is not always apparent to the one in this dreamlike trance. Eve's state of mind seems

to be under the seduction of Satan's voice. She seems to understand her surroundings, and yet, at

the same time she seems uncertain and almost in a trance-like state. She is not powerful enough

to see through her fancy to what is real. Satan creates this opportunity to manipulate her and

bring something evil into her mind. However, he only acts on planting the seed; her action is still

necessary. He uses compliments to generate a false sense of security for her while manipulating

her into feeling understood by him more than anyone else. He calls her ―fair angelic Eve‘ and

―goddess‖ using flattery to promote Eve up in the ranks of hierarchy, knowing how vanity about

how others see her will be important to gaining her trust (PL 5:74-8). Then Satan persuades Eve

through her dreams as Adam reveals to her that though reason is a primary capability, ―…Fancy

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next / Her office holds…‖ (PL 5:102-3). This opens the door for a false reality or false reason to

take hold of Eve. And according to Hawkes, this also leaves Satan with the opportunity to

―…convince Eve that she can become completely spiritual by the magical…‖ or fancy, of

emotions that override reason (Hawkes 162, n. 497).

Dreams are the product of fancy, and women are most susceptible to fancy, so this is the

perfect way for Satan to work his way into Eve‘s conscience. Though Adam states that ―…Evil

into the mind of God or man / May come and go, so unapprov‘d / …what in sleep didst abhor to

dream…‖ and no harm is done, this is not true (PL 5:117-8). Satan, having the same issues with

a lack of connectedness in reason and flights of fancy, would know that this was the best way to

get Eve to begin thinking in his direction. Having already been successful with Beelzebub

earlier in this manner, in a freakish comparable situation, Satan lies next to her ear, almost lover-

like to whisper thoughts to her, in her dreams. To get close to Eve, Satan turns himself into a

toad and crouches. His toad form is symbolic in its repellent ugliness, he does not think to

transform into something more alluring and tender. Satan uses seduction in his toad like form to

bring evil. His whispers are magical, leading her easily through her flights of dream fancy.

Camouflaged from the sight of the angels guarding paradise, he uses his powers of persuasion on

the most susceptible person there, Eve. Her flights of fancy easily lead her astray from right

reason, and she begins the journey to the fall. It is only when Satan is poked with the ―shaft‖ of

Ithuriel‘s spear that he pops up guiltily from his crouched position ―…Ithuriel with his spear /

Touched lightly, for no falsehood can endure / Touch of celestial temper but returns / Of force to

its own likeness‖ (PL 4:810-13). Literally being pushed away by this phallic symbol figure

shows how destroyed Satan‘s power is, his beauty ruined, and the awe with which he had been

held is gone. Outraged at being discovered in his subterfuge and furious that the other angels

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don‘t recognize him, Satan‘s speech turns emotional: ―Know ye not then, said Satan, filled with

scorn, / Know yet not me? Ye knew me once…/ …Or if ye know / Why ask ye…‖ (PL 4:827-

32). Satan tries throughout the poem to deny that he has fallen as badly as he has; believing that

he has retained much of the power he once possessed. Every time it is proven to him that he

does not in fact have that power he gets more angry and perverse than before, his reason is gone,

replaced with irrational imaginings of supremacy ―…Let him surer bar / His iron gates if He

intends our stay…(PL 4:897-8). With this he flees the garden angry and hurt. His vanity causes

him to retreat in order to come back with a more perverse way to get Eve to eat the fruit.

Eve‘s innocence will turn to evil if not properly guarded and schooled. This is Adam‘s

job, and he is warned that she is the ―weak-link‖ by Raphael. She doesn‘t seem to grasp things

on a cognitive level because of her gender‘s inability to reason. Since she doesn‘t have the

capacity to understand things, she, like all women, needs a keeper. Eve can participate in that

she listens to Raphael, but she does not initiate conversation or questions. Adam in Books Five,

Seven and Eight asks all of the questions. He uses every opportunity to gain knowledge ―…Of

things above his world and of their being…‖ as he has the ―…desire to know…‖ whereas Eve in

all of these conversations is either serving them or is a silent spectator (PL 7:61). Eventually,

Eve gets tired of listening and wanders about her gardens, she ―…Rose and went forth among

her fruits and flow‘rs…‖, contented to listen to only Adam retell what he learns to her latter on

―Yet went she not as not with such discourse / Delighted or not capable her ear / Of what was

high. Such pleasure she reserved, / Adam relating, she sole auditress…‖ (PL 8:44, 48-51).

Satan takes her utmost weakness and violates her with it as only another fallen creature can. He

has been violated in his belief of perfection in heaven and now can recognize it in

another. Aware of Eve‘s weakness but jealous of her beauty, Satan is conflicted in that she is a

52
―sister in arms‖ fighting the authority, but her beauty damns her to being collateral damage in the

end game. Upon his return to the garden, Satan focuses completely on gaining access to Eve,

alone. In the garden he uses all of his powers of persuasion to capitalize on Eve‘s vanity and

innocence. He appeals to her vanity by consistently complimenting her, speaking to her

heart. He knows what it is like to want more than her station allows, and he uses that to persuade

her to do what she wants for herself and disobey God. ―The lot of woman is respectful

obedience,‖ but Satan calls this servitude and rebels against it, calling for Eve to do the same (De

Beauvoir 598). Eve rebels against her servitude to Adam, and thus God. It is Satan that draws

this out in her, speaking to her need to be more, to be equal rather than subservient. As Friday

states in The Power of Beauty, men are not capable of elaborating on a woman‘s beauty; when it

comes to women men fail ―…to convince her of her beauty, an accusation she would never level

against another woman‖ (Friday 344). However, Satan is truly adept at playing to Eve‘s need for

compliments. Women are best at reading each other‘s needs in this way. Satan addresses Eve as

―Sovereign Mistress,‖ ―Fairest resemblance of the Maker,‖ and ―Empress of this fair world,

resplendent Eve‖ (PL 9:532, 538, 568). Contemplative in her speech, Eve is unable to express

with right reason what she desires more of and why. Eve is not fully cognizant of what she

desires, and therefore is unable to express her thoughts clearly. Unable to sustain true logic,

Eve‘s emotions take over. She comes more impassioned in her speech, wanting to ―know‖ what

it is she is forbidden to know. Satan too is ignorant of what the Tree has that Man can‘t

know. Both Eve and Satan are ignorant and incapable of seeing the real consequences of their

actions. Both are overwhelmed by their emotions and as women are in general stereotypically

―…ignorant of what constitutes a true action, capable of changing the face of the world, but…is

lost [because they are] not familiar with the use of masculine logic‖ (De Beauvoir 599).

53
Satan has seduced her to the dark side, and she will not know this until Adam can come in with

his Male Logic and explain to her what she has done.

Many beautiful pictures of Eden flash through the mind of the reader in Paradise Lost but

the most important moment is that of Eve gazing at the Tree of Knowledge. This gaze, brought

about by the trickery of Satan is the defining moment of mankind. It is Eve‘s reaction to Satan‘s

deception that turns this ―gaze‖ into the moment humans are damned from Eden, creating the

need for severest punishment. Milton reinforces and clarifies Satan‘s important role in tempting

Eve and Eve‘s own significant weaknesses that allow him to do so. The image of Eve gazing

longingly at the fruit on the Tree of Knowledge is the most important in Paradise Lost as it is

this moment that results in the fall of mankind. However, what is truly important is that the

reader understands how that ―gaze‖ is created at that particular moment. Satan is the most

important piece in the fall of mankind. Without his entrance into Eden and captivating Eve‘s

psyche, all would have stayed as it was in paradise. Satan, able to prey on the weakest link in

paradise, Eve, mesmerizes her into making this decision of disobedience.

Milton‘s A Treatise on Christian Doctrine clarifies how Satan is allowed into paradise

and able to tempt Eve. For as Milton states, the ―evil angels are reserved for punishment [ and

that their]… proper place…is the bottomless pit, from which they cannot escape without

permission… They are sometimes…permitted to wander throughout the whole earth, the air, and

heaven itself, to execute the judgments of God‖ (CD 291-292). It can be reasoned that it is

God‘s permission that allows evil angels to leave Hell. Satan is thus allowed into Paradise, and,

therefore, able to tempt Eve and cause the fall of man. It is his role to allow Eve to choose

obedience or disobedience to God. ―Yet even believers are not always sufficiently observant of

these various operations of divine providence, until they are led to investigate the subject more

54
deeply, and become more intimately conversant with the word of God‖ (CD 280). However, she

is the weakest link, and Adam is supposed to protect her from what she cannot

understand. Satan, as ―… an enemy or adversary…the tempter…the destroyer…‖ uses his

manipulative skills to enchant Eve into disobedience (CD 294-5). Satan‘s anger at God causes

his desire to destroy God‘s beloved creation, humans. After his fall his ―… knowledge is great,

but such as tends rather to aggravate than diminish [his] misery; so that [he] utterly despair(s) of

[his] salvation‖ (CD 293) Eve is the perfect prey for Satan‘s plan. She has a tendency to

daydream and wander, which creates the essence of an easy pawn in his game. Understanding

her weakness and able to violate her innocence Satan uses Eve‘s lack of cognition to bring her to

the Tree of Knowledge. Wooing her with titles to entice her sense of arrogance in her beauty, he

creates within her a false sense of security, a trust, for him and what he says. He being ―…a

creature of moods, apprehending reality through mists of self-deception and forgetfulness…‖

Satan easily understands Eve‘s own tendencies and similar traits (Carey 166).

Satan brings Eve to the Tree. ―Fixed on the fruit she gazed which to behold / Might

tempt alone and in her ears the sound / Yet rung of his persuasive words impregned / With

reason (to her seeming) and with truth‖ (PL 9: 735-738) Eve seems easily led and manipulated

by Satan. She can‘t truly grasp things on a cognitive level as a female, lacks the ability to reason

clearly, and thus uses false logic. She states that since she does not know what evil is because

evil doesn‘t exist in Eden, therefore, the Tree cannot be evil, nor can eating of it. She ignores the

fact that eating it is disobeying God, and therefore, her fall is due to her inability to really

understand what she is doing and the consequences it will have. Satan knows this and sees that

her biggest weakness is her desire to be equal to Adam and that this forbidden desire is truly the

sin. She does not comprehend that it is faith that makes up for the lack of supreme knowledge as

55
Raphael explained to Adam, but never to her. ―Man being formed after the image of God, it

followed as a necessary consequence that he should be endued with natural wisdom, holiness and

righteousness‖ (CD 260). This is true for Adam, as Man, being made in the image of God, but

not Eve, being woman, made of Adam. Adam is first created and when God is creating Eve he

takes Adam and ―…open[s] left the cell / Of fancy, my internal sight‖ as a piece of Adam‘s

imagination for what he wishes his mate to be. Then the idea that God ―…open‘d [Adam‘s] left

side‖ reveals that Eve is not an equal in dominance and logic, but of the weaker side (PL 8:460-

465). Eve only has power when he is overwrought by her beauty, as Adam states that he was

―…only weak / Against the charm [magic] of beauty‘s powerful glance‖ (PL 8:532-533). Adam

must be careful to protect her because in her case ―All higher knowledge in her presence falls /

Degraded, wisdom in discourse with her / Loses discount‘nanc‘d, and like folly shows‖ (PL 8:

551-553). She is to rely on her husband for all matters of knowledge of faith, and he did not

protect her at her most vulnerable moment.

It is at the Tree of Knowledge that Eve has been manipulated by Satan into a dream-like

state. This is what causes her to begin gazing with desire, a lustful desire, at the fruit. It is noon,

the height of the sun, the zenith of its light. This is a time when mankind is at their most wakeful

and a time when knowledge has full shining light. This is an ironic parallel between having been

shown the knowledge of what this fruit can provide and what she now sees. Once she sees this,

she is unable to go back into the darkness of innocence or ignorance. The utter brightness of

noon gives Eve an even more trance-like feel to her situation. She is not at the peak of dreams

but at the peak of wakefulness under a spell or trance. Here she reaches for the fruit and

―Greedily she engorged without restraint / And knew not eating death. Satiate at length / And

heightened as with wine, jocund and boon…‖ (PL 9:791-3). She is now even further into the

56
trance of Satan‘s planning. She is drunk off of knowledge, a knowledge she cannot fully

grasp. She then wonders ―Shall I to [Adam] make known / As yet my change and give him to

partake / Full happiness with me? Or rather not, / But keep the odds of knowledge in my pow‘r /

Without copartner so to add what wants / In female sex, the more to draw his love / And render

me more equal and, perhaps / A thing not undesirable, sometime / Superior: for inferior who is

free?‖ (PL 9:817-825). Eve has gained her desire; knowledge to make her equal to Adam, as she

sees it. Satan has gained his desire, the corruption of God‘s newest creation to replace the fallen

angels. Eve has destroyed paradise for herself, Adam and all of her descendants. But for Eve,

there is faith in the possibility of redemption, for, according to Pisan ―…it is far less evil to be

deceived than to deceive‖ (Pisan 128). For Eve put ―…credulity in the assurances of Satan…‖

and ―…a want of proper regard for her husband, in both an insensibility to the welfare of their

offspring, and the offspring of the whole human race…‖ (CD 340-1).

Satan retreats to Hell, able to build a bridge, a perceived win, but really in defeat. God

can never be overtaken, Heaven will never be his again, and darkness will be his only

home. And yet, he still refuses to give up. His rejected soul, his feminine essence, is bent on

retribution and vengeance for eternity. And now, as a ruling Queen of Hell, ―her‖ demons

adoring ―her‖ hideousness, ―she‖ will reign in ―her‖ degenerate throne. As C.S. Lewis states,

―Satan wants to go on being Satan….‘Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav‘n‖ (Teskey 406-

7).

Ending Balance

In Milton‘s Paradise Lost, God is the fulcrum of balance. From Him all is created and

returns. Balance is necessary in the natural world to keep everything functioning as it is

supposed to. This is also true of the essence of angels and the human spirit. All things must

57
work in harmony, in moderation to keep this balance. Milton‘s purpose in writing this epic

wasn‘t merely to justify the ways of God to men and in so doing re-envision the story of the fall,

but also to show us how to recover from the fall. The principal issue is that of finding balance so

recover from the fall of man is possible.

Satan‘s imbalance and subsequent fall is Milton‘s focus in his attempt to educate the

reader about how the war in heaven began. To begin, Satan was an angelic being, made in the

image of God. He was sexless and genderless; that is, he had no physiological identification as

male or female and no behavioral identification with male or female socially-constructed

roles. Satan is not one or the other, he is both, and neither has dominance over him at his

creation. But, Satan‘s fall begins when his gender essences become imbalanced, shifting towards

his feminine side, causing grave consequences for legions of other angels as well as human kind.

Unlike angels, humans, also created in God‘s image, are born with a sex and thus tend to

gravitate towards identification with a gender. Most humans have a mixture of feminine and

masculine traits within them. When we can‘t find complete balance within ourselves, we look to

others around us to help balance us. Milton is doing this with Adam and Eve. Adam balances

Eve and vice versa. It is the essence of balance that is of the most importance. Eve is a perfect

feminine figure, Adam the perfect male figure. Without Adam, Eve can be given too much to

flights of fancy and irrationality. Without Eve, Adam can become too inflexible, oppressive and

unable to give empathy and kindness.

The fall of Adam and Eve creates a need for the universe to be put back into balance,

which is why the Son must sacrifice himself for mankind. But, Satan is beyond redemption and

has no counterpart to balance what he has become. Without this balance Satan turns to all the

darker sides of the feminine archetype to gain power and control in what is left of his

58
world. Fixated on being the prevailing power in his world, reigning above all others, and alone

in dominion, finding a counterpart to balance him is improbable. But, Satan has each gender

within him. If he would only find balance within himself he would be able to come back to

reason. Now the question is, is he unable to come back to balance because he has gone too far

―over the edge,‖ or does he realize that being in balance will only make him more miserable

because he will have the reason to see what he has done and the consequences thereof?

It is difficult as a reader to not be attracted to and, at the same time, repulsed by

Satan. But the attraction to understanding him also encompasses wanting to know how to avoid

him or avoid becoming like him. Satan isn‘t just a character, but an idea of evil that lives in each

of us. Humans are tempted by evil, and this causes fear as we try to figure out not only why

temptations occur but how to defeat them. Milton is asking the reader to understand that we

need to create balance in our lives to avoid a fate like Satan‘s, Adam‘s and Eve‘s. Living in

moderation will accomplish this as it is by going too far that we are destroyed. In understanding

how gender plays an important role in how we see the world, defines our reactions to each other

and creates or destroys connections, the reader is also morphing into a new being at the end of

Paradise Lost.

59
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