Throughout history, Lucifer has always
been described as deeply arrogant, powerful, and charismatic. As written in the
Bible, Lucifer led a rebellion against God in a war called the Angelic War which
ends with Satan and his loyal followers being placed in Hell. Even in this dark
domain, Lucifer claims that his actions and the goals he shares with his fallen
angels are justified as an angel is self-raised, meaning they have the ability
to make their own actions. Despite God’s will being divine, Lucifer still
firmly believes God and Heaven hold hypocritical beliefs
to be true. Although Lucifer fails at overthrowing God, he still ends up holding
power in his new domain. Plus, Lucifer is still able to keep the fallen angels
loyal with his cunning and sly speeches. Relatively modern depictions of
Lucifer also hold these characteristics to be true as well. In the movie Smooth Talk, Lucifer takes the form of a
man named Arnold Friend who compels a teenage girl to not only leave her house,
but ride in his car despite the fact the girl knows nothing about Arnold.
However, Milton’s characterization of Lucifer stands out against history as
Lucifer is described to be a tragic hero.
One quality of the classical tragic hero
is that he is not perfectly good and fails at achieving some goal due to a
tragic flaw. In this case, Lucifer was originally one of God’s greatest angels yet
finds darkness within him, causing him to revolt against God. As Satan causes
both the downfall of man and the eternal damnation of his fellow angels despite
his dedication to his loyal followers, Satan can be considered one of the earliest
examples of this trope. Additionally, Satan holds many Hellenic qualities like
immense courage and undefined morals, which aid his tragic nature. Despite
being considered one of the best of his kind, Lucifer finds the courage to
rebel against God and continues to do so in Hell as he describes how Hell is infinitely
better than Heaven due to the power he now possess “Better to reign in Hell
than serve in Heav’n” (Paradise Lost
Line 263). Although Lucifer is commonly believed to be the antagonizing force
in Paradise Lost, Milton as made
Lucifer unique by defining him as a tragic hero.
Works
Cited
“Paradise
Lost – A Brief Overview.” Paradise Lost
Study Guide. New Arts Library.
1999. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.
(This is Casey)
ReplyDeleteGreat post Bryan. I think that you make a very good argument to support the idea that Lucifer is a classical hero with a tragic flaw. However, I think that you could have included more support from "Paradise Lost" specifically. Quotes in which Lucifer is talking about his rebellion from God and how he wants to be free from God's will (see my blog) could be very useful proof of your argument about Lucifer's tragic flaw. Other than that though, I thought your post was very good.