Satan: The First Antihero?

Depicted as the vengeful, controlling master of Hell in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, Lucifer, the fallen angel who seeks vengeance against those who have cast him from the sacred ranks in Heaven, is one of the most significant characters and arguably one of the most definitive antiheros in all of literary history. After the catastrophic conclusion of events between Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Lucifer, blamed for the wrongs and sins the couple committed, is thrown down from the divine paradise, never to return again. Here, Milton begins his poem, narrating the plans of Lucifer and his exchanges with the other demons in Hell as he schemes to extract revenge against those who have wrongfully convicted and punished him. Through various monologues, conversations, and descriptions, Lucifer is illustrated rather positively throughout Book I of the epic poem, creating a character who despite his dreary predicament, displays extreme confidence and self-assurance, someone who possesses enough gusto to express, “better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven” (Milton 1.263). This confidence, along with Lucifer’s supposed innocence and wrongful conviction, allow the reader to easily sympathize, and at the same time, remain in awe of Lucifer’s untouchable response to such a catastrophe. Thus, Lucifer follows a typical pattern that countless literary antiheros also produce, in which the reader is at first turned away by the character’s “bad boy” qualities, but then later responds with a spellbound obsession, following this antihero and secretly hoping that they prevail in the end. In fact, Milton’s Lucifer may have been the first definitive antihero, possessing many of the characteristics that readers do not find “good”, but still having a distinctive set of qualities and a distinctive manner that readers find enthralling. Lucifer’s temperament, his adaptive abilities to make “a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven”, and a kingdom of his own, are all characteristics readers find appealing and make him as the first antihero in all of literature, leading the way for thousands of others to follow (Milton 1.255)