This book revolves around the Devil's fall from heaven and the aftermath that follows due to how the Devil feels.
One
part that I found particularly important was the juxtaposition of the Devil's life when he was in heaven and then how it was when he fell into
hell. One line I thought really described this well saying how he once
had the view of an angel but now all he sees is this dismal dungeon,
where there is constant fire and he is trapped here for an eternity.
This reminds me of a rags to riches story but in this case it would be
riches to rags. The devil had everything he could possibly need in
heaven but due to his own actions, he fell from heaven and ended up in
hell. The problem here lies in that the devil didn't think it was his
own fault that he ended up in hell and blames it all on God. Imagine
losing everything you have and believing that it was caused by someone
else's doing. You would be pretty upset too.
How
did the Devil end up in hell you may ask? Well, he wanted to be just as
powerful as God was and take his place. The Devil talks about how he
will never bow down to God as it is better to reign in hell than it is
to serve in heaven. Basically the devil would rather be his own ruler in
misery than a servant in happiness. He viewed God as a tyrant over
heaven who needed to be dethroned so that he could be God and rule over
the universe. This reminded me of people during this time seeing their rulers as tyrants and not wanting to follow them too. I think more important than the devil viewing God as a
tyrant, is the fact that the devil would not have been happy serving in
heaven no matter who was in charge as he isn't happy serving anyone but
himself.
When
the Devil and his followers were cast out of heaven, it enraged the Devil. It then became his sole mission to ruin any good plans that God
had for the world. He talks about how doing ill towards others will be
their sole delight and how they will think up things that will offend
God the most. I wonder if the Devil had actually managed to dethrone
God, if his plans for the world would have been good. I'm not sure if
the devil was inherently evil or if being kicked out of heaven made him
evil in order to spite God.
I was surprised by how much sympathy and empathy I could feel for the literal Devil when I read this part of Book I; it's easy to understand why he thinks he's so great, as well as why he desires free will. It reminds me of something I read online about how the best villains are the villains that think they're the heroes. Personally, I feel that Satan was misguided in his expression of his free will but not actually evil until his expulsion from heaven, but I find the debate surrounding the subject interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt is weird but i liked that we got some insight into the person we know as the Devil. It is almost like how in movies you get the secret backstory that tells you why the person is the way they are. I kind of feel bad for him because we get to see how he was before he was sent to hell.
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