Milton: Paradise Lost: Essay question on Satan and his Angels.?

Question

The essay question asks for opinions on the question: "Satan and his apostate angels are against god in what one may think as a 'contest' - what do you think? "

By the way, apostate means one who revolts religion, in other words, 'turns his (her) back' to the church and god.

Any ideas would be GREAT! it is a difficult poem and i really need some hints at there very least - I am doing paradise lost in the start of year 11 (senior high school).

A good knowledge of the poem may be needed however any information is better than nothing .... lol :)

Answer 1

Satan , once known as Lucifer , which means great light was supposedly granted by God before humanity existed a vision of the Incarnate Christ and because of his arrogant pride he refused to kneel or accept that someone incarnate could be also God. There were other angels as well who also refused and followed Lucifer. there was a battle in heaven in which Michael by the power of God and only through the power of God because Lucifer was a higher angel than Michael , defeated Lucifer or Satan and his minions and they were cast into hell. in Paradise it is through his pride that Satan and his angels are in hell and the contest between God and Satan is that who will get the human souls at the end? the key for man is that Satan has lost and will be lost because of his pride and his desire is to take down as many as he can get.
If you look at the temptations of Christ which is a good background to your book, there is subtlety here which expresses by the word " if ". Satan cannot get over that sinful pride and be hmble to realize that a God can be incarnate and remain to be God/Man.

Answer 2

Satan had a pride issue, believed himself to be higher than God. So when God kicked him out, rather than realize that he screwed up, Satan took it as an insult to his pride, and sought to validate himself. Yes, Satan absolutely viewed it as a contest of sorts, but it was more than a game. It was a battle of the most pure "good versus evil" type. Satan, as quoted, "Better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven (paraphrased, from memory)" shows the fatalistic view that Satan has of his contest. He knows he's lost, but is too proud to admit it.