Milton's Fallen Angels

Analysis: Milton’s Fallen Angles, Moloch Mammon and Belial

Paradise Lost is considered as one of the most influential works from the early modern year. Milton’s use of Satan’s point of view captures a different position to the classic epic, the “Creation of Man.” Satan is a character of great power and emotion, Milton has created a beast that holds none of the redeeming qualities one would expect from a rational person. After Satan’s fall, most reactions would be for him to keep the consequences of his actions; yet Satan is not able to do so. Using the fallen angels as an out for normal emotions, Milton is able to showcase Satan’s nonhuman characteristics. In book II of Paradise Lost, John Milton illustrates what might be felt by human beings after the fall through the speeches of Moloch, Mammon and Belial, with each of the fallen angels representing different human emotions, arrogance, acceptance and slothfulness.
Milton illustrates arrogance through Moloch’s speech. Moloch derives from the Hebrew word “king” (UCADIA Books 1) and rightly so Moloch seeks to wage war on God’s army as soon as Satan is defeated. Moloch is portrayed as a fierce warrior: “the strongest and fiercest spirit that fought in heaven; now fiercer by despair,” (Milton II: 44). Before speaking Moloch is characterized as brawn over brain (Zeng 1). When he first speaks, he states that he would rather wage war then sit and plot a new strategy. “My sentence is for open Warr… let those contrive who need, or when they need, not now,” (Milton II: 51). Moloch’s character demonstrates how arrogance can be an emotion someone or something feels after defeat. Moloch would rather die than be defeated, and survive as he says “More destroy'd then thus we should be quite abolisht and expire,”(Milton II: 92). However, towards the end of his speech there is a loss of arrogance as he would rather sacrifice himself then to be stuck in Hell. He acknowledges the battle cannot be won and would rather...