God Has Feelings Too
The purpose, Milton tells the reader, of his epic poem Paradise Lost is to "justify the ways of God to men" (1.26). Milton attempts to do this by humanizing both God and Satan. As Dennis Richard Danielson points out, "Milton seeks to strengthen his argument by means of the assumption that certain norms of meaningfulness are common to God and man alike" (Richardson 103). Although Satan is portrayed as a character who possesses qualities that many people can relate to, including ambition, determination, imperfection (shown by his failure to overthrow God) and spitefulness toward authority, Milton also shows that God is superior. It is by examining the reasoning behind God's creation of Adam and Eve, the location God chose for Adam and Eve to live, and the way God treated them, that Milton is able to explain the ways of God to man. In Paradise Lost, Milton clearly indicates that God was a loving God and is also vulnerable to the effects his creations' decisions have on Him. Milton does not describe the creation of the angels, but the Christian faith teaches that God created everything, including Heaven and the angels. When one-third of God's angels rebel against him, he becomes very angry at the delib
117-118), giving evidence that although God knew what was going to happen, he did not interfere with the decisions made by man. It is clear, as shown in the above passage, that God loves man and wants to be forgiving. By putting Adam and Eve in this situation, God is more able to justify His forgiveness and show them "mercy and justice both, / Through heav'n and earth, so shall my glory excel, / But mercy first and last shall brightest shine" (3. Milton tells us that God is not an unloving God, but a loving one, who understands that mistakes are made, and is willing to forgive us when we are ready to prove that our love is genuine. 95-99)However, like man, when God endures pain, such as the pain He felt when the angels betrayed Him during the rebellion, He becomes angry. This ironic situation makes the reader ask why God would let Eve be tricked into disobeying him and be forced to leave Paradise and live in a cruel world filled with pain and suffering. Like man, God is hurt by those He loves the most, and therefore, he is equally vulnerable. God thought He had given Adam everything he needed, but Adam was still discontent and wanted more. Through this work, Milton offers many generations his explanation of why God does the things he does. So, Adam asked God for companionship. 96-110) Milton provides the reader evidence that God is omniscient when God says: "If I foreknew, / Foreknowledge has no influence on their fault" (3. Although Milton gives Satan qualities that readers can relate to, he gives God the most human one: vulnerability. God did the only thing he could be expected to do, when he was betrayed by his first creations, the angles: he distanced himself from Adam and Eve, his second creations, as many of us do after we are hurt by someone we love. God's feelings of anger are evident when he says:Sole pledge of his obedience; so will fallHe and his faithless progeny.
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