O etos satânico: a oratória entrecortada de um rebelde renegado

Abstract

ohn Milton (1608-1674) lived in an age marked by religious discussion. The English Civil War (1640) had one of its supporters involving religion, literary texts were composed with biblical allegories, and Milton, following the habits of his own time, created literary works with sacred influence. For this reason and for a long time, Paradise Lost has been seen under the biblical myth that served as material basis for the composition of the epic. Before the Romantics, few critics had dared to leave the comfort zone and had rehearsed an analysis that took care of other aspects besides the contributions of classical authors and literary works or the biblical myth itself. The Romantics opened up a new critical line which was concerned with the characters of Paradise Lost, in special Satan. They heard the voices that bring to life the epic narrative and they had found a model for their own age. The heroic noble Satan of the Romantics, however, does not respond to the complexity of the character. Far from being a mere embodiment of evil, an element that can be blamed for all misfortune, the Miltonic Satan has in himself traces from the anterior good. He is victimized by the understanding of his present and slaughtered with the memories of his past; the character is placed between the image of a great leader externalized to the other angels, and the doubts that overcome his thoughts. This thesis aims to counteract these two parts of the character.