Satan, Sin, and Death: Transcending the Monsters

Illustrious ideas and illustrations: The imagery of Gustav Doré

Detail of “Before the gates there sat/On either side a formidable shape (II. 648, 649)," 1866, by Gustav Doré for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” Engraving. Public Domain

In this series, we’ve focused on Gustav Doré’s illustrations for John Milton’s 17th-century epic poem “Paradise Lost.” So far, we’ve covered Satan and the rebel angels being expelled from heaven for waging war against God. We also covered Satan rallying his troops and becoming the king of hell. In this article, we ask: Why does Satan leave hell, and what does he discover at its gate?

After the rebel angels built an empire called Pandemonium, Satan takes the throne and begins to discuss future plans of rebellion with his cohorts. Everyone agrees that fighting God in heaven is an exercise in futility, for they know they cannot win. Some of the angels, however, suggest that they would rather be eliminated from existence than continue to endure the horrors of hell.

The idea of asking for God’s forgiveness is an option, but they don’t want to live under the rule of God. They believe that asking God’s forgiveness is the same as being subordinate to God, and in their hatred they refuse to see any wisdom in submitting.

It is Beelzebub, the rebel angel Milton refers to as second in command to Satan, who comes up with a different idea for getting back at God. This is what Beelzebub proposes to the rest of the fallen angels:

“Some advantageous act may be achieved By sudden onset, either with Hell fire To waste his whole Creation, or possess All as our own, and drive as we were driven, The puny inhabitants, or if not drive, Seduce them to our party, that their God May prove their foe, and with repenting hand Abolish his own works.” (Book II, Lines 363–370)

Beelzebub proposes that the rebel angels get back at God by attacking God’s new creation: human beings on earth. The rebels should study these humans and figure out the best way to attack them, and either kill them all outright or make them oppose God. This is how they can hurt God.

The Children of Satan

Satan agrees that this is an excellent idea and decides that he alone will endure the horrors of hell in order to find earth. He travels throughout hell until he comes to its gate. Milton described the scene as follows:

“Before the gates there sat On either side a formidable shape; The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair, But ended foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed With mortal sting: about her middle round A cry of Hell-Hounds never ceased barked With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung A hideous peal: yet, when they list, would creep, If aught disturbed their noise into her womb, And kennel there, yet there still barked and howled Within unseen … (Book II, Lines 648–659)

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The other shape, If shape it might be called that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb, Or substance might be called that shadow seemed, For each member seemed either; black it stood as Night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, And shook a dreadful dart; what seemed his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on.” (Book II, Lines 666–674)

Who are these two beings that guard the gate of hell? One is half woman and half serpent; she holds within her womb the hellhound Cerberus who repeatedly tears out of her abdomen and barks furiously. The other is a shapeless specter that moves violently toward Satan.

Satan looks upon both of them with disgust, for they are horrid creatures. He warns the violent specter to halt its transgressions lest it feels his wrath. The creature that is half-woman, half-serpent explains the situation.

She identifies herself as Sin, the daughter of Satan, born from his head while he was conspiring against God in heaven. In heaven, she was considered beautiful and was adored by the other conspirators. Satan fell in love with what he saw of himself in her and impregnated her with the specter, Death.

They were all thrown into hell after the war, and Sin was given a key to guard the gates. It was then that Death was born from the womb of Sin as the son of Satan. Death chased Sin around hell until it could force itself upon her, impregnating her with the multiheaded dog that tortures her every hour. After sharing their stories, Satan, Sin, and Death agree to work together to harm God’s new creation, and Sin and Death let Satan leave through the gates of hell.

“Before the gates there sat/On either side a formidable shape" (II. 648, 649), 1866, by Gustav Doré for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” Engraving. Public Domain

Doré’s Two Monsters

In his illustration, Doré etched a mild version of the moment when Satan reached the gates of hell. Satan is positioned in a pose similar to the one he’s been in across several of the illustrations discussed so far: He stands elevated above the other figures, holds a spear in one hand, and holds his other hand straight out as if he is addressing the figures below him.

Even though Satan is elevated above the other figures, a position that exhibits his power, the area of highest contrast between light and dark lets us know what is most important. Here, that would be the two figures in front of the gate.

Doré depicts the figure on the right as half woman and half serpent, which tells us that this is Sin. Sin reaches out to Satan as if she is communicating with him. The other figure, Death, is supposed to be a formless shape of darkness, but Doré depicts Death with wings.

Interestingly, Satan and Sin are depicted as if they are pointing at each other. Milton tells us that they are communicating, but Doré’s illustration has their arms almost match up in a direct line as if Sin is a direct line to Satan and Satan to Sin.

Yet it is not quite clear which figure Satan points to. Maybe Satan is not pointing at Sin but at Death. If that is the case, then Sin leads to Satan and Satan leads to Death.

Satan, Sin, and Death: Transcending the Monsters

Milton gives us insight into his interpretation of what this might mean. Sin is born from the head of Satan when Satan is conspiring against God. This immediately lets us know the nature of Sin: Sin is born as the resistance to God and, therefore, embodies resistance to God. In heaven, Sin was beautiful, but in hell, Sin is half beautiful and half serpent. This informs us of another of Sin’s characteristics: Sin may appear to be beautiful, but there’s ugliness below the beauty.

What about Death? Death is born when Satan conceives with Sin because Satan sees his own beauty in Sin. Thus, Death is the torturous combination of Sin’s characteristics—resistance to God cloaked in beauty—and Satan’s vanity. In the previous article of this series, I referred to the ancient creed “as above, so below,” and here it is presented again, for this scene in hell is an inversion of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity in heaven represents the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the evil trinity in hell has a father (Satan), a daughter (Sin), and the ghost is Death.

What does all of this mean for us? The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” To accomplish this, we must know what a monster is, and we must safeguard ourselves against those characteristics that would make us monsters.

Here, Milton’s monsters are Satan, Sin, and Death. Together, their characteristics are the resistance to the goodness of God: something beautiful yet strokes our vanity. It is the beautiful shape, the alluring sound, and the appealing thought that pulls us away from our ability to deeply love God and our fellow human beings. Is it possible that recognizing the monster as a monster is one of the first steps in transcending it?

Gustav Doré was a prolific illustrator of the 19th century. He created images for some of the greatest classical literature of the Western world, including “The Bible,” “Paradise Lost,” and “The Divine Comedy.” In this series, we will take a deep dive into the thoughts that inspired Doré and the imagery those thoughts provoked. For the first article in the series, visit “Illustrious Ideas and Illustrations: The Imagery of Gustav Doré.”