This unessay focused on bringing John Milton’s Paradise Lost alive through art. As an artist, I wanted to do something art-related and thought about drawing a scene from one of the readings we read. As I was more attached to Paradise Lost due to its themes and characters, I wanted to illustrate the story through my interpretation and touch on a theme I found very interesting. It detailed the anti-heroism/sympathetic villain complex within Satan’s character. I was aiming to capture both sides of Satan as a villain with understandable intentions and a fallen hero who was cast out from Heaven for standing up for his own beliefs, even if they were against the system set by God.
In Paradise Lost, Satan was seen as a fallen angel who led a rebellion against God and Heaven but ultimately lost, leading to his banishment to Pandemoneum, whereupon he created Hell with his followers. He relents how despite his desires to retake Heaven, he cannot as God is too powerful to defeat. Therefore, the only way to get back at him is to do the opposite of God’s mission and that’s doing evil, which will later lead to dominating Hell with the souls of people who have sinned in life. Yet there’s a part of himself where he feels envious of everything God has made, all of the beautiful things he created, such as the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve. Since he has no choice but to do bad for his terms, he plots to ruin God’s creations by making them sin, satisfying his plans.
I wanted to heavily influence Satan’s character in the illustration by focusing on both sides he endures in Paradise Lost. The side we all know well is his evil intentions; his desire to corrupt God’s creations and turn them against him. The other side showcases Satan as a sympathetic villain, where we understand why he does what he does. He saw injustice in Heaven and led a rebellion to defeat God and his ways. But this failed and it cost him his place in Heaven with his followers. When he falls from Heaven, he is defeated, broken, unable to reclaim the life he once owned and now has to suffer the consequences of the same person he tried to rise above.
The way Satan showcases himself in the art is the two sides he goes through. The true evil side is when he uses his serpent form to seduce Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, using her beauty and innocence to trick her. Her expression is of worry of sinning, but Satan’s persuasion and persona make her fall intrigued. The other side shows Satan’s fall from Heaven, in his defeated state. Now surrounded by darkness, unable to show his face in the light again. It reminiscences why he is this way in the first place. He is broken and now wants to get back at God for the wrong he’s done to him.
I used two pieces of art below to get an idea of what Satan and Eve traditionally look like based on old paintings, style, and color. The style of the art is cartoonish, but it is my signature art style (any realism I do just looks terrifying). Overall, I am happy with how this piece turned out. It captures the essence of the two sides of Satan, his important moments in Paradise Lost, and how it represents him as a character. While I wish to do a digital version of this someday, I hope the traditional pen and paper aspect captures the true sides of Satan, focusing on him as an understandable villain.
Works Cited
Ash, Jackiey. “What Picture of Satan Found in Paradise Lost Book 1.” Literature Analysis, Blogger, 5 May 2023, www.englishliterature.info/2019/05/picture-of-satan-in-paradise-lost.html.
Milton, John. “Book 9: The Argument .” The John Milton Reading Room: Paradise Lost, milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/pl/book_9/text.shtml. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
Silva, Virginia. “Pin on Salvamentos Rápidos.” Pinterest, 5 Jan. 2017, www.pinterest.com/pin/313140980326343517/.
Sprockets and Springes 