Milton's Morphing of Satan

     

      As I read through Paradise Lost for the second time in many years, I am beginning to look at the epic poem as well as the Bible itself in different contexts. As a society and around the world, religions are based off of one supreme being or deity as the ultimate ruler. While this may not sound strange given that is the way most governments are run, it has struck me that we are made in God's image but are made imperfectly. Could this suggest Christians worship and devout themselves to an imperfect God, the one who is supposed to be the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent? In Milton's retelling of the epic from Satan's perspective, it would appear that God's creations are all imperfect and that imperfection stems from curiosity, free will, and jealousy.
      In the beginning of book one, the reader isn't presented with a strong sense of time. What has happened overlaps with what has yet to happen. The lack of time suggests a lack of human influence due to the fact that measurements of time were established by humans. As it would seem God and the universe he has created has no measurement of the vast expanse they reside in. They do not question it nor do they rely on it. It would appear that the imperfect nature of humans doesn't arise as an issue possibly until Lucifer's fall from Heaven. As the readers are presented with the poor unfortunate, yet remarkably beautiful angel of light, it would seem that he is a child placed in a permanent time out. While he understands the wrong he has done, it seems a bit excessive and it would appear that God is threatened by Lucifer questioning his authority and refusing to fall into suit. Christians understand from the Old Testament that God is a jealous god and is easily threatened by the worship of anything that takes his place in our hearts and minds. While Lucifer is simply a creation of God, it would appear that God understands the imperfection of his creation and therefore Himself which results in an extreme form of punishment.
      This Christian epic in itself is an oxymoron from its genre to its title. However, it causes readers to question such a literary device was used initially. From what I have read in both the Bible and Paradise Lost, it appears that both Satan and God present the story in different manners either to gain morality or sympathy, but both do so to gain followers. It would appear that imperfection produces imperfection and the idea that God is all powerful may turn the focus on Satan's capacity for power. This battle has no resolution thus far, and it would appear that the war continues to be ongoing between forces of good and evil. However, from reanalyzing the power struggle and agency between Satan and God, I am beginning to wonder if there will ever be a clear distinction of good without evil in a person and vice versa.