How Satan in ‘Paradise Lost’ Inspired Rousseau’s View of the French Revolution
This essay by Luke Barrera is an analysis of Milton’s Satan’s early populist government, inciting Enlightenment Rousseau and the French Revolution
This essay was written by Luke Barrera: a high school student from California
In John Milton’s Magnum Opus, Paradise Lost, Milton establishes Satan’s uprising against God as separation from the Lord’s divine sovereignty in the creation of the Pandemonium, stimulating one of the first early instances of early forms of populist government: “As Paradise Lost continues, Satan becomes less sympathetic. He starts to appear more like a populist figure who uses the rhetoric of challenging the status quo” (CBC, 2). As a former angel cast away by God, Satan forms a force of entities to combat God’s overpowering divine will against Satan’s growing army. Populism, a “political program or movement that champions, or claims to champion, the common person, usually by favorable contrast with a real or perceived elite or establishment” (Munro), identifies as the political movement Satan has created within the Pandemonium at the end of Book one of Paradise Lost. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an Enlightenment philosopher often credited with designing and producing the earliest populist ideas, who also greatly influenced the French Revolution, had taken most of his ideas about populism and populist sovereignty from Satan’s rebellion. An early form of a populist government can be found in Milton’s Paradise Lost, demonstrating that Milton can be traced back as the true origin of Rousseau’s ideas - the same ideas that were implemented in the French Revolution. As Milton’s Satan creates the Pandemonium with his common people as a force that juxtaposes the almighty, Milton’s Satan has successfully incited one of the earliest forms of populist Government, setting the foundation for future philosophers such as Rousseau to establish the “official” forms of populism; furthermore, as Jean-Jaques Rousseau was credited with creating populist ideals that largely influenced the French Revolution, Milton’s ideals that were held within the Pandemonium were the same ideals Rousseau had created a century later, showing how Rousseau’s populist ideas had been previously developed and utilized in government.
The clash between the parliament and the King of Britain portrayed a state of disorder amongst citizens and people participating in government, as the removal of the king was removing God, a sacred and honored part of society during the period. Milton, siding with the parliament against the King of Britain, acted as a new force to the movement, eventually being incriminated on charges of treason. A genius such as Milton, being silenced in a prison, led him to use his voice in his writing and portray to his audience what his form of rebellion is in Paradise Lost. However, Milton creates a rebellion in his novel as one that is separate from the uprising preceding it. Milton portrays himself as Satan in his work, creating a distinguished image of himself, the oppressed, and the higher-ups as God and the King. Furthermore, what was considered a term created in the Enlightenment era, originated by Rousseau, Milton’s Satan demonstrates populist ideals as he develops an early form of populist government in the Pandemonium to favor the common person against God as an elite. Populism is a political term/party thought to have come from Enlightenment Rousseau ideals that stands for the common person against the elites; however, an early form of populist government was created in Milton’s depiction of Satan’s Rebellion against God, as shown in the creation of the Pandemonium, demonstrating how there were earlier instances of Rousseau’s ideology. The creation of the Pandemonium against the divine God, inhabited by Satan and separationists, shows the dynamic between the “common people”, Satan and his underlings, and the high-ranking elites, God. Satan views himself and every being who does not believe in God’s divine sovereignty as the oppressed and instead, they have chosen “To bow and sue for grace / With suppliant knee, and deifie his power, / Who from the terrour of this Arm so late” (Milton, 111-113) with Milton’s Satan. Milton’s idea of rebellion against the elites, framed by the then-current events he was facing with the battle between parliament and the king, Milton’s Satan successfully created the first early form of populist government in the Pandemonium because of the idea that he was favoring the common person and framing God as an elite oppressor.
The organizational structure of Milton’s hell and Satan’s Pandemonium, where God is separated from the common people, illustrates how Milton created an early form of populist government because of his idea of an elite or oppressor. In Book One of Paradise Lost, Milton not only portrays Satan’s establishment of a hierarchical government in Hell but also uses his own voice in leadership in his manipulation of populist rhetoric and promises of liberty to rally support among the fallen angels, thus presenting an early manifestation of populist governance that blends authoritarian control with appeals to individual freedom and equality. Satan’s voice in his leadership proves to be the most powerful force he has in manipulating the fallen angels in creating the Pandemonium, as “Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc't / Of Heav'n, and from Eternal Splendors flung / For his revolt, yet faithfull how they stood, /Thir Glory witherd” (Milton, 609-612). Milton’s Satan as a mass manipulator of the fallen angels in separating them from God and bringing them to a place without God’s reign is how he was able to create such a strong force to build a strong form of early populist government. In the Pandemonium that is flooded with Satan’s fallen angels, the oppressed common people have power because God is separated from them. “At Pandæmonium, the high Capital / Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons call'd / From every Band and squared Regiment / By place or choice the worthiest; they anon / With hundreds and with thousands trooping came” (Milton, 756-761), and all followed Satan’s prominent voice in leadership to form this government. With Satan’s manipulation, developed by Milton as a way to establish his point while imprisoned, he was able to subconsciously depict Satan as an authoritarian leader that supported the common person, being the fallen angels, and with his prowess and manipulative voice he was able to create a hall for populism.
Milton in his most well-known piece, Paradise Lost, provides populist political ideals in Satan’s rally of the Fallen Angels with his prominent manipulative voice and leadership skills that precede the era when Populism was created. Jean-Jaques Rousseau created the idea of the “general will” and “believed that the ‘general will’ of the people is the only legitimate basis for political rule, a very radical idea in the 1760s and one that has inspired generations of revolutionaries and populists ever since” (Garrard, 3). Rousseau’s ideas of the “general will” refers to the common interest of a collective. For Rousseau, the “general will” is general with regard to who wills it (the people as a whole) as well as its object (a general thing that the people want)” (ECPS). This idea, which Rousseau popularized during the Enlightenment era in Western Europe, was a prominent idea and evident in his populist ideologies. Rousseau’s creation of the “general will” was one of the most prominent arguments in his book during the 18th century, the “Social Contract.” This book contributed to the widespread popularity of populists during the Enlightenment era and influenced many after. In the social contract, Rousseau calls for “the wills of many individuals to be incorporated into one, and what emerges, as though by a chemical reaction, is a new collective entity” (Tucker 5). Rousseau’s main theory during the Enlightenment era, the “Social Contract” and within it the “general will”, are pieces that historians use to credit Rousseau with the development of populism as a political term; however, the idea of Rousseau’s “general will” in the social contract are ideas held within Milton’s Satan’s Pandemonium in hell that was created one century beforehand. Within Milton’s Satan’s rebellion against God’s divine sovereignty, the creation of the Pandemonium as a space to house fallen angels separated against God serves as a hub for Rousseau’s enlightenment era concept of the general will. The pandemonium serves the fallen angels as the common people against God and it is housing the “object”, which is a general thing that the people want, that separates them from God and remains under the control of Lucifer. “Such [a] place Eternal Justice had prepar'd/ For those rebellious” (Milton, 70-71) was where the original idea of Rousseau’s “general will” stemmed from; in a place where a rebellion started against God that favored the fallen angels as a common person to stand against the elite. Rousseau’s idea of the general will was already withheld within Milton’s Pandemonium as the common person was favored above all else and the elite was the main perpetrator.
Rousseau came in and made his mark during a new Enlightenment era of philosophy; it is easy to determine that Rousseau’s thoughts were all original because of the original era of thought he lived in. Rousseau “immortalized the concept of ‘the will of the people” (Paul 2), and described a society governed by the people rather than a central authority. More importantly, he articulated what it means to live in a democracy and how to understand elections” (Paul, 2). This idea Rousseau thought of was a new idea to the French people, a new idea along with his work on the social contract. During Rousseau’s journey, he was influenced and took inspiration from many philosophers and political artists that preceded him, but never Milton and his original use of general will described within the Pandemonium. According to Paul, “Rousseau studied Hobbes’ work as well as the legal theorists. He took Hobbes’ concept that a sovereign must have absolute authority and turned it on its head by placing such authority in the hands of the people. Perhaps ironically choosing the title The Social Contract, Rousseau blew up the framework of the legal theorists and argued that humans only have security if they are free and rule themselves” (Paul, 2). If such a strong thinker as Rousseau knew of the great English philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and utilized his thinking in his work, that would also mean that Rousseau was well aware of Milton’s Satan’s rebellion against God and how it had a populist undertone within the rebellion that significantly influenced Rousseau’s ideologies. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s great influences during his time of philosophy were great English philosophers such as Hobbes and the Italian philosopher Machiavelli, demonstrating that Rousseau was aware of the influence and genius of Milton’s Satan in the Pandemonium, but explicitly chose not to note his genius and influence in his work. Because of these preceding influences on Rousseau, Shlkar argues that “there is a familiar populist sense of conspiracy here, all the more so since Rousseau was personally obsessed with it. Who was to rescue mankind from these multiple threats? The state as a paternal savior was the only possible hope. That introduces a new idea of freedom” (Shlkar, 17) and because of this close relation amongst the new paternal figure in Paradise Lost Satan to help separate the falling angels from God’s divine sovereignty, Rousseau must have also recognized that in his populist beliefs, there must be somebody or something to save society. In Milton’s case, Rousseau saw that the person to save society was Satan. Despite the plain similarity between Milton’s Satan rebellion, and Rousseau’s so-called “new” beliefs, no credit was given to Milton’s outstanding work that came before Rousseau and that influenced many other things to come in the near future.
Rousseau’s work in the “Social Contract” and his idea of the “general will” played a crucial role during the French Revolution, showing how Milton’s use of Rousseau’s term the “Social Contract” powered not only fictional revolutions but also real tumultuous revolutions such as the French revolution, going further than just Rousseau’s ideas and establishments. John Milton’s Satan, created a century earlier, reflects themes that resonate with Rousseau’s later ideas. In Paradise Lost, Milton’s Satan incites the creation of the Pandemonium against God, reflecting a proto-revolutionary sentiment. Rousseau was one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century and his work is largely attributed to the rise of the French Revolution in the late 18th century. However, there is a notable parallel between Milton in inciting the fictional revolution in Paradise Lost, and Rousseau in largely influencing the French revolution almost a century later and how both works address rebellion against an established order. Milton’s depiction of Satan’s rebellion- “trusted to have equal'd the most High, / If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim / Against the Throne and Monarchy of God / Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud / With vain attempt” (Milton, 40-44)-mirrors the populist undertones of Rousseau’s later philosophy. Milton was the one who orchestrated the fictional revolution within the Pandemonium, as how Rousseau and his philosophies orchestrated key principles within the French Revolution even after he died. Furthermore, as Milton was the one to originally use ideas of the “general will” and other populist ideologies, Milton’s ideas also orchestrated a significant basis within the French Revolution in addition to Satan’s revolution. The difference between the parallel is that Milton’s revolution was a century before Rousseau had implemented his ideas, but Milton did not label them like Rousseau did a century later. Additionally, the French Revolution, characterized by its anti-elitism, was “the first unmistakably populist movement in history” that “promised a reign of “virtue” (Marquand). Additionally, Milton’s work predates Rousseau’s containing philosophical ideologies influenced by catalytic rebellions that are embodiments of a broader revolutionary spirit that maintains the populist undertone to challenge established hierarchies and advocates for the collective and common will, accentuated by the continuum of revolutionary thought from fiction to reality.
John Milton’s depiction of Satan in Paradise Lost as a proto-populist figure establishes a critical foundation for understanding the creation and evolution of populist ideologies that will later develop, preceding the formal origination of the political term by concepts by Enlightenment philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. Milton’s Satan’s rebellion framed against God’s divine sovereignty in his creation of the Pandemonium demonstrates how he reflected the current events by challenging authority and championing the common person. The creation of the Pandemonium was the first instance of an early populist government and contained the principles of Rousseau’s “social contract” and more so his idea of the general will. These principles are also what fueled the French Revolution, but they were all already pre-existing within Milton’s Satan Rebellion in the Pandemonium. How Rousseau envisioned society as “a pre-civilized state of nature in which our ancestors, more like apes than like ourselves, [he] had no need or opportunity to exploit and enslave each other”, illustrates how he framed his creation of populism and how it directly influenced the French revolution. However, as Milton’s ideas within the Pandemonium already contained Rousseau’s idea of the “general will”, it demonstrates that populist thought originated far before Rousseau in the Enlightenment era and that populist literary works profoundly influenced political discourses in subsequent eras.