Hell in Paradise Lost

In John Milton's Paradise Lost

Hell

An Interactive presentation by Oscar Armando Rivera Figueiras

The universe

-Index-

1. Heaven
2. Earth
3. Chaos
4. Hell

Works cited

Heaven

Realm of god, angels and light

Heaven is the house of God, its Son and countless Angels. The city of Heaven is described as a beautiful and invulnerable fortress where its citizens live and enjoy virtues pleasures. Heaven is the main source of light in the universe, and, from its high towers, angels survey everything that happens below their realm.

Earth

Realm of mankind

Earth is said to be the newest world in the Universe. The planet and its sphears stand below Heaven, chained to it by a “chain of gold,” and above the void of Chaos and Hell, the underworld. God created Earth as the home for its most beloved creation after the angels, Mankind

HELL

Realm of pain an fire

Hells is a prison realm created by God to contain and punish Satan, the rebel angel, and his legions of followers. God placed Hell in the botton of creation, as far away from heaven as possible. The realm of darkness and pain is surrounded by dark flames, filled with fiery mountains and flaming lakes from which 4 dangerous rivers flow towards the desserted lands and valleys full of beasts and monsters. The hostile land is delimited by an unending river, the frontier of a frozen land which burns and hurts the fallen angels who are destined to live in eternal suffering.

Explore hell

Geography of hell

• Lake of fire

• Pandemonium

• Landscapes of Hell

• The 4 Rivers

• The Lethe

• The Frozen Continen

• Gates of Hell

• tHE Bridge over chaos

The burning lake

A fiery pit full of liquid fire is the center of Hell and the main imprisonment of Satan and his legions of fallen angels, who are chained to the shore by sturdy “adamantin” chains.

the Middle point in books 1 and 2 of Paradise Lost

Pandemonium

Capital of hell

Pandemonium is Satan's palace. After Satan calls for the fallen angels to escape from the Fire Lake and wage war once more against Heaven, He declares Hell as his and his legions’ temporal home. Satan’s Legions build a capital city out of Hell’s unlimited supply of Gold, and Mulciber, a fallen angel, builds and decorates Pandemonium with utmost luxury, only comparable to heaven's temples, which he also built. All fallen angels gather around Satan’s throne to discuss what to do to archive their revenge againts Heaven.

Satan and his council

After breaking free from his chains, Satan call for his follower to escape their shackles, and to organize themselfes once more into a terrible army to take revange against god and get back what was taken from them. The council takes place in Satan's Throne roome, inside Pandemonium. His countless legions crowd the room while his most loyal generals debate which is the better course of action to retraive their freedom.

Satan

The origin of evil, of sin and death. Satan is a fallen angel who, after growing envious of God’s greatness, decides to challenge him and his angels in order to take control over Heaven. Satan is portrayed as a gigant god full of hatred, resentment, anger, thirsty of freedom and power. Like all angels, Satan has God-like qualities, such as, immortality and invulnerability. He is a great orator, to such extends that he manages to convince one third of Heaven’s angels to rebel with him; In Hell, he raises his followers’ spirits to rebel again and to break their imprisonment despite being defeated before. Most fallen angels want a merciless war against Heaven, but Satan, despite wanting to fight too, decides to find another way to hurt God and takes the matter into his own hands. He plans to attack a new world created by God, Earth, where he placed his most beloved creation after its angelss, Mankind.

Fallen Angels: Satans Generals

• Beelzebub

• Mammon

• Belial

• Moloch

• Mulciver

lANDSCAPES OF HELL

Hell is a circular realm described mainly as mountainous and extremely hostile. The land is full of cliffs, caves, valleys and bogs which host horrendous creatures and monsters. Hell’s climate is extreme: most of the realm resembles a volcanic crater, surrounded by hot and violent air, fumes and all kinds of fire and incandescent matter that feeds on Sulphur, thus it is never extinguished, and inflicts pain on Satan and his followers constantly everywhere they go.

The 4 Rivers of Hell

The Four Rivers of hell are the Styx, the Acheron. Cocytus and Phlegeton. The lake of fire in the middle of Hell forms four deltas, from which every river is born. Each one is related to a specific type of malignity: Stynx with hate, Acheron with sorrow. Cocytus with lament and Phlerageton with rage. Like everything in Hell, these rivers were designed to make the fallen angels suffer. John Milton takes the name and characteristics of the rivers from Greek mythology and adapts them to suit his vision of Hell; one main difference is that, in Milton's Hell, the rivers are not hunted by human souls and there is no ferryman to help others cross.

The Lethe

The Lethe is an special kind of river in Hell. Unlike the four main ones, Lethe is not connected to the Lake of Fire, or the other rivers, in any way. Lethe runs around Hell and separates the fiery lands from The Frozen Continent. This river and its waters are known as Oblivion because anyone who drinks from its forgerts everything: pain, suffering or love. As part of its vile designe, a monster named Medusa guards the shore and won't let any demon drink from its waters.

The Frozen Continent

The Frozen continent is the outermost part of Hell. Like the inner lands, this frozen tundra hurts and burns everything in it with fast and fierce winds. The snowy peaks are said to be hunted by Furies and the deep valleys form bogs which could sunk an entire army.

Gates of Hell

The Gates of Hell are the final frontier between Hell and all the Universe. Two heavy brass doors locked by a single key are the only way in or out of the realm. After Satan was imprisoned in Hell with his Legions, God assigned two among the fallen to guard the Door. The guardians are Sin and Death. Sin holds the only key out of Hell, and Death wields a mortal dart which can kill any who dares escape. When Satan arrives to the Door, Death quickly attacks him, but Sin interferes by placing herself between them, pleading for them to stop , for they are Father and son, and Sin, mother of Death, is Satan’s daughter too. Satan stops the fight and convinces them to let him through, because his mission is to free every fallen creature from Heaven’s tyranny, including them. Sin opens the Gate and lets Satan trough towards the realm of Chaos and Night, which embraces Hell and keeps it apart from the rest of the creation.

Sin

Sin is a monster who is half woman and half creature. She is one of the guardians who stands before the gates of Hell; God entrust the key of Hell to Sin and ordered her, and Death, to not let anyone pass. Sin was born from Satan’s envy and emanated from him after he started feeling jealous of God and his power. After giving birth to her, Satan rapes her, getting her pregnant in the process. She bears a child, Death, who was born without knowing Satan was his father. Right after being born, Death attacks his mother in lustful passion, just like his Father, and impregnates her again, this time with a legion of monsters and Horrors which keep returning to her womb so she has to breed and bear them again and again. Sin is an allegorical character, she represents imperfection. Before Satan was envious of God there was no evil in the Universe, but his unique reaction created Sin, who he fully embraced when he raped her, creating something even worse, Death. Satan is the one who creates these monsters, but they were born in heaven wile Satan was still and angel.

Death

Death is the unknown child of Satan with his first-born daughter. He guards the doors of Hell alongside his mother and Sister, Sin. Death is described as a formless shadow with a rageful personality who attacks and threatens Satan from the first moment he tries to move past the gates. If Sin represents imperfection, Death is pure corruption. Being born by an incestuous act of violence, Death embodies darkness and malice.

Chaoes and Night

The void

The realm of Chaos and Night is the oldest in creation. From its dense and formless void, God extracted the primal matter of Heaven, Hell and everything in between. God creates Hell below Chaos because no kind of light is capable of piercing through Night’s darkness, and no creature is able to escape through Chaos’ unstable and dense matter, rendering impossible to escape, and ensuring Hell remains in shadows and isolated from the rest of creation. Chaos and Night reign in their void alongside a counsel conformed by Orcus, Ades, Demogorgon, Rumor, Chance, Tumult, Confusion and Discord, all primal old monsters, gods and fears. They serve God, but, like Satan, Chaos wants to destroy the creation of God in order to return everything to its original form in his void, so he decides to help Satan and lets him go through his dominion.

The Bridge over Chaos.

After Satan escapes Hell and travels truth Chaos, his sons, Sin and Death, follow him into the void in order to build a bridge that connects Hell and Earth.

Works Cited: