Our series “Illustrious Ideas and Illustrations: The Imagery of Gustav Doré” has shown the evil ways of Satan as he has vowed to take revenge on God. We’ve seen in our last article that after having a difficult internal struggle in which he determinedly decides to continue defying God, Satan comes upon the paradise of Eden, which is surrounded by a large wall of overgrown greenery serving to keep any creature from entering or leaving—any creature except for Satan.
Milton begins:
“The verdurous wall of Paradise up sprung … Now to th’ ascent of that steep savage hill Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow … Due entrance he disdained, and in contempt, At one slight bound high overleaped all bound Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within Lights on his feet …” (Book IV, Lines 143, 172–173, 180–184).
Satan is still deeply affected by the internal dialogue he had; he’s pensive. Seeing the wall that obstructs his entry, he leaps over it with contempt and lands lightly on his feet.Doré shows Satan sitting on top of the “steep savage hill” from which his bent, shadowy figure can see the Garden of Eden in its enclosure. It’s almost as if he’s camouflaged. He could be part of the mountainscape, and this may serve to remind us of his chameleon-like, deceptive nature.
The brilliant rays, suggesting the divine inspiration with which the garden was built, fill the upper part of the composition and lead our eyes down toward the lush landscape. It is here where Satan leaps.
Entering the garden and leaping to the top of the Tree of Life, the tallest tree in paradise, standing right next to the Tree of Knowledge, Satan looks upon the whole Garden of Eden from on high and is overwhelmed by a heavenly affront to his senses that invigorates his desire to harm God’s creation.
Milton takes the opportunity to describe how glorious God’s garden is, with so much beauty this “narrow” space holds within its boundaries (Book IV, Line 207). The smells, tastes, sights, and arrays of creatures are extravagant and luxurious, and make the whole environment the epitome of awe-inspiring.
The Divine Nature of God’s Creation
Satan sees a river and follows it, which leads him to a spot where he sees two figures drinking from the river. Milton describes the scene as follows:“where the Fiend Saw undelighted all delight, all kind Of living creatures new to sight and strange: Two of far nobler shape erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad In naked majesty seemed lords of all, And worthy seemed, for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure …” (Book IV 285–293)
This is an interesting description that Milton provides for us. It gives us insight into what he thinks about human nature. Humans, when their nature is unaffected and pure, are majestic and worthy of being lords of all things on earth. Fashioned in the image of their Maker, they are divine creations, and this divinity reveals the truth, wisdom, and pure holiness of their unadulterated human nature.Doré illustrates the two figures by a river in the Garden of Eden. They are canopied by a tree while the man provides for the woman from the river. Now, Milton’s Satan reacts to what he sees:
“O Hell! What do mine eyes with grief behold, Into our room of bliss thus high advanced Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps, Not Spirits, yet to Heav’nly Spirits bright Little Inferior; whom my thoughts pursue With wonder, and could love, so lively shines In them divine resemblance, and such grace The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured … (Book IV, Lines 358–365).
Satan is obviously upset and jealous upon seeing humans. He is grief stricken to see these new creatures ruling over a place like the heaven he once resided in—a heaven that he could never rule.
Despite his grief, he is almost moved to love the human beings he sees because of their divine nature. They appear so close to being fully divine that Satan is left confused as to where they come from. “Perhaps” they are born of the earth, but irrespective of this, their “divine resemblance” and the “grace” with which they are filled saturate his thoughts with wonder.
Milton’s description leaves us to consider both the form and content of human beings: their divine resemblance and their grace. Both of these are provided by God. Their form is not only one that looks godlike, but the grace that fills them meets the standard of God, a standard that Milton seems to align with truth, wisdom, and holiness. Arguably, it is this unification of divine form and divine content that confuses even the epitome of evil into potentially loving what he sought to hate.
Satan’s Goal to Corrupt Human Beings
With that being said, this moment of being awestruck is not enough to stop Satan. He quickly snaps out of the trance and recommits to his goal of attacking their divine connection to God to accomplish his revenge:“Hell shall unfold, To entertain you two, her widest gates, And send forth all her kings; there will be room, Not like these narrow limits, to receive Your numerous offspring …” (Book IV, Lines 381–385)
Satan makes his intentions clear: He’s going to open the gates of hell to receive human beings and all of their offspring. In a previous article, we explored the gates of hell as Satan tried to leave. Guarding the gates were his two children, Sin and Death. As we move forward, it will be interesting to see how Satan and his two children accomplish their goal and what moral insight we might get from how they accomplish it.Underneath all of the sin, Milton suggests that our original nature—our pure, unadulterated nature—is created to look like and be like the divine, like our Maker. How might we access our divine nature and again be close to God?
Gustav Doré was a prolific illustrator of the 19th century. He created images for some of the greatest classical literature of the Western world, including “The Bible,” “Paradise Lost,” and “The Divine Comedy.” In this series, we will take a deep dive into the thoughts that inspired Doré and the imagery those thoughts provoked. For the first article in the series, visit “Illustrious Ideas and Illustrations: The Imagery of Gustav Doré.”
