Paradise Lost!

            When i was in school, i had lessons of english literature and one intresting topic was John Milton's Paradise Lost.If we look it up in the wikipedia we will see that:

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books; a second edition followed in 1674,redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.

There was no point reading it all and then discussing each part. So we've learned only the main points about it. (If you are intrested in it,here is the whole content:
Book I: In a long, twisting opening sentence mirroring the epic poetry of the Ancient Greeks, the poet invokes the "Heavenly Muse" (the Holy Spirit) and states his theme, the Fall of Man, and his aim, to "justify the ways of God to men." Satan, Beelzebub, and the other rebel angels are described as lying on a lake of fire, from where Satan rises up to claim hell as his own domain and delivers a rousing speech to his followers ("Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n").
Book II: Satan and the rebel angels debate whether or not to conduct another war on Heaven, and Beelzebub tells them of a new world being built, which is to be the home of Man. Satan decides to visit this new world, passes through the Gates of Hell, past the sentries Sin and Death, and journeys through the realm of Chaos. Here, Satan is described as giving birth to Sin with a burst of flame from his forehead, as Athena was born from the head of Zeus.
Book III: God observes Satan's journey and foretells how Satan will bring about Man's Fall. God emphasizes, however, that the Fall will come about as a result of Man's own free will and excuses Himself of responsibility. The Son of God offers himself as a ransom for Man's disobedience, an offer which God accepts, ordaining the Son's future incarnation and punishment. Satan arrives at the rim of the universe, disguises himself as an angel, and is directed to Earth by Uriel, Guardian of the Sun.
Book IV: Satan journeys to the Garden of Eden, where he observes Adam and Eve discussing the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Satan, observing their innocence and beauty hesitates in his task, but concludes that "reason just,/ Honour and empire" compel him to do this deed which he "should abhor." Satan tries to tempt Eve while she is sleeping, but is discovered by the angels. The angel Gabriel expels Satan from the Garden.
Book V: Eve awakes and relates her dream to Adam. God sends Raphael to warn and encourage Adam: they discuss free will and predestination and Raphael tells Adam the story of how Satan inspired his angels to revolt against God.
Book VI: Raphael goes on to describe further the war in Heaven and explains how the Son of God drove Satan and his minions down to Hell.
Book VII: Raphael explains to Adam that God then decided to create another world (the Earth), and he warns Adam again not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, for "in the day thou eat'st, thou diest;/ Death is the penalty imposed, beware,/ And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin/ Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death".
Book VIII: Adam asks Raphael for knowledge concerning the stars and the heavenly orders; Raphael warns that "heaven is for thee too high/ To know what passes there; be lowly wise", and advises modesty and patience.
Book IX: Satan returns to Eden and enters into the body of a sleeping serpent. The serpent tempts Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. She eats and takes some fruit for Adam. Adam realizes that Eve has been tricked, but eats of the fruit, deciding that he would rather die with Eve than live without her. At first the two become intoxicated by the fruit, and both become lustful and engage in sexual intercourse; afterwards, in their loss of innocence Adam and Eve cover their nakedness and fall into despair: "They sat them down to weep, nor only tears/ Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within/ Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,/ Mistrust, suspicion, discord, and shook greatly/ Their inward state of mind."
Book X: God sends his Son to Eden to deliver judgment on Adam and Eve, and Satan returns in triumph to Hell.
Book XI: The Son of God pleads with God on behalf of Adam and Eve. God decrees that the couple must be expelled from the Garden, and the angel Michael descends to deliver God's judgment. Michael begins to unfold the future history of the world to Adam.
Book XII: Michael tells Adam of the eventual coming of the Messiah, before leading Adam and Eve from the Garden. Paradise has been lost. The poem ends: "The World was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence Their guide: They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took Their solitaire way."©Wikipedia
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The main thing that we've learned about this work was that it influenced a human's personality greatly and it also was criticized by church. We had only a small part of the whole verse to analyse so vast majority of the students forget about this epic poem on the next day but not me. I read brief summary of this work. And the thing that really striked me was that Satan wasn't shown solely as a negative character. On the contrary he was shown as an attractive hero, who want to rebell against total rulling of God. I have read about the Milton's work on some forums and people there said that Satan is shown as a typical romantic character. I was thinking like "O_o romantic character?Satan?In the epic verse of the 17th century while romantic period was a century after that!".But then I checked the main features of this archetype and found that:
The Romantic hero is a literary archetype referring to a character that rejects established norms and conventions, has been rejected by society, and has the self as the center of his or her own existence. The Romantic hero is often the main protagonist in the literary work and there is a primary focus on the character's thoughts rather than his or her actions.©Wikipedia

And WOW! All definitions fit! Satan is a typical romantic hero:
*He rejects establish norms(he rise his arms against God!)
*He is rejected by older society(God expels him from paradise)
*He is self-absorbed.
*He is the main character of the litarary work(Because the main conflict is made by him)

So who is Satan according to the Milton's understaning of the world? Is he a demon who tries to make the world more evil?Or he is just an angel that wasn't understood?He says that It's just better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.

The ideas of the Paradise Lost influenced another english writer.His name is William Blake.We know that William Blake wrote 2 quite "opposite"books:Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Poems that you find in the first book can make you think that William Blake was very religious person(For example poem "The Lamb"),but if you read poems from both books you will feel the difference. 

He wrote a poem called the Tiger("The Tyger" was published as a part of Songs of Experience):

Tyger, tyger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

In what distant deeps or skies 
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 
On what wings dare he aspire? 
What the hand dare seize the fire? 

And what shoulder and what art 
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 
And, when thy heart began to beat, 
What dread hand and what dread feet? 

What the hammer? what the chain? 
In what furnace was thy brain? 
What the anvil? what dread grasp 
Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 

When the stars threw down their spears, 
And watered heaven with their tears, 
Did He smile His work to see? 
Did He who made the lamb make thee? 

Tyger, tyger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Reading this poem it's easy to notice that William Blake do not feel that everything is created by God.(For exaple we can see words "Fire,burning,anvil" may also refer to the Hell's flames, also in the second paragraph we can see that the author is not sure about who and where has created a tiger(this killing machine) either God in "skies" or Satan in "deeps".We can also notice many ritorical questions that make us THINK about the Creator.) 

We also know that William Blake was a painter too.And one of his paintings shows Satan:

It is called "Satan in it's original Glory" and we can't say that Satan is shown as an evil character. On the contrary he is drawn in white while outer space is black. He has a scepter and a crown so in my humble opinion Blake wanted us to think about the origins of the real world. Maybe people are more closer to Satan and maybe Satan does not mean evil.And by the way,WHAT is EVIL? How people define evil? How they understand what is good and what is bad?
When we are just little kids we are taught about the good and bad people/actions/ideas. But when we grow up a bit we understand that there are just different views on the thing.