PARADISE LOST

BY MILTON

BOOK 1 & 2

FALLEN ANGELS

Paradise Lost by Milton mentions about the fallen angels who were cast away from

heaven due to disobeying God. In my study of this poem I have come to realize that

Milton has actually given these fallen angels human attributes and characteristics. This

shows that as the context of the poem which is being planned by the chief of the devils,

Satan, the human race has already fallen prey to these devils and the plan that the devils

masterminded to influence God’s beloved creatures, humans with bad characteristics has

succeeded because humans have copied the characteristics of devils. In Milton’s poem

there are two fallen angels that had left an imprint in my heart after reading Paradise

Lost. This is because these fallen angels posses the negative attributes of today’s human

race. These fallen angels disobey God and have become loyal to Satan and in the process

have been influence and thence follow the characteristics of Satan. The two fallen angels

that I am going to tell about in this assignment of mine are Beelzebub and Mammon.
BEELZEBUB

Satan’s second-in-command. Beelzebub discusses with Satan their options after being

cast into Hell, and at the debate suggests that they investigate the newly created Earth. He

and Satan embody perverted reason, since they are both eloquent and rational but use

their talents for wholly corrupt ends. Beelzebub struggles to overcome his own doubts

and weaknesses and accomplishes his goal of corrupting humankind. In the Bible, the

name Beelzebub seems most likely to have been associated with the term “Lord of

the Flies,” the demon who drove flies away from sacrifices. Numerous theories exist

but none are definitive or widely accepted. At best, the name Beelzebub exists in the

Bible and is associated with Satan and evil. Milton’s audience would have

recognized Beelzebub as a demon, even if they probably knew little or nothing of his

origins. He acts as Satan’s mouthpiece in Book II. He with the influence of Satan is

incestuous and they plan to do things that are against God without the ability to think

morally. Beelzebub, Satan’s mouthpiece, argues that the only way to secure revenge

on Heaven is to corrupt God’s newest creation: Man. Once a powerful angel, he has

become blinded to God’s grace, forever unable to reconcile his past with his eternal

punishment. Well, the good qualities in Beelzebub, despite he being a devil is his positive

thinking and his never ending effort to build up his glory and power in hell eventhough

he is casted away by God from Heaven. He plans with Satan to build their own empire in

Hell. At least the good attributes of Beelzebub is he is not slothy like Belial who decides

to do nothing at all eventhough they are banished from heaven. Beelzebub wants to be

greater or as great as God but doesn’t not follow the wreath and impatience of Moloch
who suggests that they war against God. Another good attribute of Beelzebub is that he is

intelligent. He plans and plots very well in order to against God by giving the idea to

corrupt God’s most beloved creatures- human. About Beelzebub’s evil qualities, we can

see many of course because he is a devil and therefore that is why he was cast away by

God from Heaven. He also planed with Satan to build the Pandemonium. He and Satan

are also lustful and involving obsessive or excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual

nature like rape and incest. Belezebub also envy God. He wants to be as or more

powerful than God. This is a sin for he has forsaken the teaching of God. Another evil

attribute that is possesed by Beelzebub is he has too much pride. Just like satan, he feels

that he can overthrow God by builing the Pandemonium and forming his own powerful

army in glory. These are the good and evil qualities which I can see in Beelzebub after

analyzing Milton’s Paradise Lost.

For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?

Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt?
Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd [ 35 ]
The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride
Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host
Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in Glory above his Peers,
He trusted to have equal'd the most High, [ 40 ]
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
Against the Throne and Monarchy of God
Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie [ 45 ]
With hideous ruine and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
MAMMON

A devil known in the Bible as the epitome of wealth. Mammon always walks hunched

over, as if he is searching the ground for valuables. In the debate among the devils, he

argues against war, seeing no profit to be gained from it. He believes Hell can be

improved by mining the gems and minerals they find there. He argues that it doesn't make

any sense to worship someone you hate, and thinks that the fallen angels should make the

best out of hell. In the Bible, Mammon is often presented as a king or demon who is

the personification of wealth. In Paradise Lost, he is called the “least erected” of the

fallen angels because he always has his eyes downward looking for gold or money. In

the council, he proposes exploiting the wealth of Hell to create a comfortable

existence rather than warring against God. Mammon counsels the devils to be happy

with what they have got, and to create a home for themselves in hell. He is the one who

suggests the building of the Pandemonium. Mammon is greedy and always money

minded. Milton has described the characteristics of Mammon so precisely as what to

show that human beings have depicted the attributes of the devil. He is also very

calculative and greedy. The good quality about Mammon is that he does not have wrath

and decides that he can make well use of the place which they are in now and has good

ideas on how to make their living place better. His evil quality is that he is one of the

greatest sin commiter of God, which explains why he was cast out of Heaven. Mammon

has greed. Greed is on of the deadliest sins stated by God.

seek
Our own good from ourselves, and from our own
Live to ourselves. (II.252)

It is somewhat ironic that 'Mammon' means 'greed', as here he is essentially telling the

devils to be content with what they have. This has blasphemous echoes of typical

Christian advice to be satisfied with ones lot and desire no more, the difference being that

for Mammon God does not come into it, while for Christians God is the one who

provides, not the self. This is one of the key differences between the fallen angels and

man in the poem: while the good Christian man accepts his dependence on God, the

devils (and some of the ungodly men described in Book XI) strive to be independent and

in so doing, rebel against God who is sovereign over all. Milton seems to be saying that

true greed is to think of oneself as sufficient, and to take or appropriate selfhood, when

that self is created by and rightly belongs to God. In this light Mammon really does

counsel greed by exhorting the devils to live to themselves. These are the good and evil

qualities which I can see in Mammon.

WHY I THINK MILTON INCLUDED SO MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT

THESE FALLEN ANGELS?

In my opinion these angels that I had analyzed above, Beelzebub and Mammon, have

very much the same characteristics of the human kind. Both are intelligent but they had

used it in a way that God forbid. I think, Milton wants to show us how much we human

are influenced by the devil

USM Library

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