Part 2 of My Edited First Blog Post: Quotation

*Note: Most of these questions that I ask beg an answer that I'm not quite sure of yet. Feel free to respond or comment.

The following is the second part of the original blog post I had first created, which can be found in the following link: (http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/08/individual-post-historical.html).
Part 1 of this edited blog post can be found in the following link:
(http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/11/edited-individual-post-1-historical.html)

This is Part 2:

In Books I and II of Paradise Lost, Satan persuades his fellows with the following lines:

What though the field be lost?
All is not lost: the' unconquerable will
And study of revenge, immortal hate
And courage never to submit or yield --
And what is else not to be overcome (1.105-09)

These lines speak of fortitude and strength and the will to go on, even if the prospects look bleak. As inspiring as these lines are, I wonder if Milton might have ever seen himself in Satan's shoes. In Part 1, I spoke about the troubles of his past. Could Milton have written these lines as some sort of advice, some sort of reassuring words of wisdom that he was sending to himself -- to reassure himself that all is not lost? (He was losing everything he had; his marriage, his position in power with Cromwell, etc.) Could Milton have written those lines as a means of holding on to his faith- the belief that maybe things will turn out in his favor? Many might have claimed that he was a rigid Protestant who believed in his faith, in what the Bible had to say, but what if he was having doubts about his faith? Why else would he have written a book that seems to portray Satan as the protagonist? Satan was once a beautiful angel with the much acclaimed status and power. Milton was once well-to-do. Born to privileges and an education any scholar would have envied him for, then suddenly reduced to the economic throes of man, would he not have likened himself to Satan? If he did endow his sufferings as a part of the "Eternal Providence" of God's plan, would he not have hated it? Would he not have blamed the Almighty and used Paradise Lost as something to avenge his sufferings? Was it a mind game, with the "courage to never submit or yield"? Mentioned earlier, Paradise Lost does seem to portray Satan as the protagonist, and God as the evil tyrant who lacks mercy and forgiveness to those who has wronged Him. Like how Mike K discussed in his blog post: (http://paradisefound2.blogspot.com/2008/09/individual-cpb-entry-1.html),
Milton hated tyranny. Would crying out in pain or moping about and submitting to desperation and suicide allow him to avenge his Maker? Of course not! Has he complained about his sufferings? We'll never know. But let's just say, that doing so would have meant he lost the battle. These five lines, I thought, might have meant him refusing to succumb to the difficulties of his life, and in order to make it easier for him, would find ways to incorporate it into his literary work of Paradise Lost. With "courage never to submit or yield", would voicing these out allow him to hold on to whatever remained of his strength to defy God?

What if his faith was weakening, but he did not want to show it? This will be further expanded in Part 3.

- Marjorie D.