Satan's fame in 'Paradise Lost'

[jprevprev]

When reading Paradise Lost there is something that continues to confuse me concerning Satan. Milton appears to stress that he was the highest in heaven ("and as a god/Extol him equal to the highest in heaven" II. 478-79) yet a line that continues to stand out is Michael's address to him as "Author of evil, unknown till thy revolt" VI. 262. Is there something I'm missing here? Or does it mean that Satan's capacity for evil was unknown before his rebellion, or rather his new name that signifies his evil acts was unknown as Milton also states how Satan's previous name has been lost?

[russellb]

isn't it a lyrical way of saying that satan with his revolt was the first to manifest evil? Of course the other angels, limited in their knowledge, may not have known of the capacity. For that matter did Lucifer himself know before his revolt? What i wonder is if lucifer was created perfect how did he form the evil intention to revolt?

[MorpheusSandman]

Yeah, the "unkown" part refers to evil and not to Satan.

What i wonder is if lucifer was created perfect how did he form the evil intention to revolt?

There's no answer because it creates a paradox. The Bible is full of them, like how could Adam and Eve know it was wrong to disobey not knowing good from evil?

[jprevprev]

There's no answer because it creates a paradox.

Yes this is a paradox, but I think the church would also perceive 'perfection' as the granting of free will. Satan (his pre-fall name is never revealed) was created as a perfect creation and part of that is having free will I think. He chose to be evil.

[Diar624]

I think an interesting way to look at it is that the notion of good and evil is something inherently "human" in concept; found only in the mind, then moralized through codes and actions. Hamlet said it best when he said, "for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." It is thought, the intention behind the act, that makes the action and the experience of that action either good or evil; this is also something fundamentally Buddhist and Hindu in thought, in particular in the notion of karma.