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ABSTRACT Satan's role in Paradise Lost reflects the Socratic-Aristophanic contrast between Just and Unjust Discourse, or true and false eloquence. Through such devices as verbal echoes, explicit rebuttals, and inherent contradictions, Milton portrays in Satan the character of the arch-sophist. In most of Satan's speeches there is a fundamental difference between passages that reveal character (ethos) and those that display a specious character or intent through rhetorical skill or “thought” (dianoia). Neglect of this difference has caused critics (Waldock especially) to confuse Satan's real character with his feigned character and to claim that Milton's “level of commentary” clashes with his “level of demonstration.” The alleged “degradation” of Satan actually consists in the increasing prominence of his role as deceiver. The extent to which he consciously and unconsciously deceives both himself and others can be seen when each speech is examined in relation to its particular circumstances, its function in furthering the plot, and the role of the person addressed. Milton emphasizes dianoia more than other elements of epic because his prime subject is the development of spiritual values through the testing of both reason and will.
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