Satan, Kingdom, and Stuart Monarchy in Milton's Paradise Lost

• Main Authors: Shu-ting Kao, 高淑婷
• Other Authors: Yuan-guey Chiou
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/mrr86a

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 外國語文學系碩博士班 === 92 === 　　Paradise Lost is an epic about the fall of Satan whose intransigent rebel against God causes ravages on Earth. Satan was once the archangel Lucifer in Heaven, but he gradually distanced himself from the heavenly community with the idea of dethroning the Father only because of his jealousy of the Son. After a series of conspiratorial activities--deceiving one-third of the angels into the action of mutiny, constructing the Palace of Lucifer in the North of Heaven, and deploying armies against the heavenly soldiers, Satan fell into Hell with his followers. Unwilling to accept his failure, however, Satan intended to stage a comeback. As a military leader, he recalled the recreants with a morale-boosting speech; as an archenemy of Heaven, he claimed to be Emperor of Pandemonium, which made him an idol among the fallen angels; as an avenger, he instigated all demons to covet the newly molded land--Eden. The sly Satan successfully assimilated human beings into hellish citizens. Sin, Death, and all the fallen angels have since migrating to the Earth, which causes the turbulence on Earth. 　　Paradise Lost is teeming with the author's political implication and political idea. Satan's kingdom in the poem virtually refers to the Stuart Monarchy in the seventeenth century England. King Charles I's challenge against the Parliamentary reveals Lucifer's ambition. His heir's (prince Charles) wandering abroad with his exiled government that threatened the Commonwealth reminds us of the fanatic Satan's activities in Hell. And the exiled prince's activities of restoration parallel to Satan's strategy of assimilating Eden into Hell. 　　For Milton, the 1660's restoration is beyond question a repetition of autocracy. Resisting this intransigent restored monarchy, Milton inscribed the Stuart Monarchy into Paradise Lost, a very text where he intended to give a diatribe on the monarchs. With political gusto of anti-autocracy, he transformed the description of Hell into a mockery on the pro-monarchal monarchs, popes, courtiers as well as the militants. By doing so, Milton reconstructed his lost Commonwealth within. 　　This thesis aims to explicate on the association between Satan and the seventeenth century England's royalist supporters in order to reflect the historical significance in this tome. Chapter I explores the reasons why Satan is so confident in his enterprise of occupying Hell and Eden. Chapter II focuses on Milton's satiric attack on the Satanic culture (hellish culture). Chapter III makes the comparison between Satan's colonizing Eden and Charles II's restoration. And, Chapter IV deals with Milton's political expectation of the decline of Charles II's restored government in terms of eschatology.