Satan’s Inner Torment
After arriving on Earth and coming close to Eden, Satan is overwhelmed by fear and doubt. He confronts the truth about his relationship with God:“horror and doubt distract His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir The Hell within him, for within him Hell He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell One step no more than from himself can fly By change of place: now conscience wakes despair That slumbered, wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse …” (Book IV, Lines 18–26)
First, Milton tells us that hell is following Satan no matter where Satan goes. Despite passing his children, Sin and Death, to exit hell, Satan is still tormented by its presence. Hell is a state of being for Satan; it was not only the environment he was cast into but is also the characteristic of his conscience.“O sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams That bring remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere; Till pride and worse ambition threw me down Warring in Heav’n against Heav’n’s matchless King: Ah wherefore! he deserved no such return From me, whom he created what I was In that bright eminence, and with his good Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. What could be less than to afford him praise, The easiest recompense, and pay him thanks, How due! Yet all his good proved ill in me, And wrought but malice; lifted up so high I’sdained subjection, and thought one step higher Would set me highest, and in a moment quit The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burdensome, still paying, still to owe …” (Book IV, Lines 37–53)
Satan was cast from heaven because he wanted to be great like God, who is matchless in greatness, and now he hates the beams of the sun because they remind him of how good he had it in heaven. He says that it was glorious in heaven and even admits that God does not deserve his uncontrollable hatred. What does God deserve? Praise and gratitude. Satan says that praise and gratitude are the least he should have given to God.Satan Refuses Repentance
Despite all of this, however, Satan still considers repenting and its outcome:“O then at last relent: is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me …
But say I could repent and could obtain By act of grace my former state; how soon Would height recall high thoughts … ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void ...
This knows my punisher; therefore as far From granting he, as I from begging peace …” (Book IV, Lines 79–82, 93–97, 103–104)
The separation from God and the torment of hell cause Satan to consider repentance. Yet he thinks repentance is equivalent to submission, and he refuses to submit to God. He admits that even if he were to repent, it would only be because of the pain he now feels and not because he authentically believes in the value of repentance. Once the pain leaves, so will his desire to repent.“Me miserable! Which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell …”
All hope excluded thus ... So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear, Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost; Evil be thou my good ...” (Book IV, Lines 73–75, 105, 108–110)
Here, we can see that it is not that Satan will not submit to something, for he submits to the path of evil. It is not the unwillingness to submit that makes up Satan’s nature but his hatred of God. His nature prefers submitting to the path in which pride causes his pain instead of the path of everlasting peace that comes from praising and thanking God.Milton’s Satan in Torment
