Satan

Milton's Satan represents the honor and independence of the nation asserted in the face of an incapable government.

Satan is viewed by some critics as the hero of the story, since he struggles to overcome his own doubts and weaknesses and accomplishes his goal of corrupting mankind.

Satan is a main protagonist and there is a point to emulating or celebrating him like a true hero. Satan is the most intriguing and compelling of the characters, mainly for his complexity and subtlety.

First known as Lucifer, he was a proud angel who failed to think of himself as equal to the other angels. The day God pronounces the Son as his successor in power, Lucifer rebels out of envy, taking with him a third of all the population of angels in Heaven. He is extremely proud and confident that he can overthrow God; his speeches are always fraudulent and deceitful. He assumes many forms during the story, which are reflective of his moral and rational degradation. First, he is a fallen angel of enormous stature; then a humble cherub; a cormorant; a toad; and finally, a snake. He is a picture of incessant intellectual activity without the ability to think morally.

Adam and Eve

Adam is strong, intelligent and rational, made for contemplation and valor, and before the fall, as perfect as a human being could be. He is flawed however, and at times indulges in rash and irrational attitudes. His pure reason and intellect are lost as a result of the fall, Man never being able again to converse with angels as near-equal (as he did with Raphael) but forever one-sided (as he did with Michael after the fall). His weakness is that he allows his sexual passion for Eve to take precedence over his love for, and belief in, God. He confides to Raphael that his attraction to her is almost overwhelming something that Adam's reason is unable to overcome. After Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge, he decides to do the same, realizing that if she is doomed, he must follow her into doom as to not lose her - even if that means disobeying God.

Eve is the mother of all mankind, inferior to Adam, considered to be closer to God, made for softness and "sweet attractive Grace." She only surpasses him in beauty, beauty as such she even falls in love with her own image upon seeing her reflection in a body of water (a reference to the Greek myth of Narcissus). It is her vanity that Satan taps into in order to persuade her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, through flattery. Eve is clearly intelligent but unlike Adam she is not eager to learn, being absent from Adam and Raphael's conversation in Book VIII, and Adam's visions presented by Michael in Books XI and XII. Eve does not feel it is her place to seek knowledge independently, as she prefers to have Adam teach her later. The one instance in which she deviates from this passiveness is when she goes out on her own and ends up seizing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

God

Milton's God is omniscient (has all-encompassing knowledge), omnipresent (is everywhere at once) and omnipotent (all-powerful), and is also predestinate which coexists with and complements man's free will. The problem with interpreting the character of God in Paradise Lost is that he is more of a personification of abstract ideas than a real character. It is wrong to think of him as a kindly old man or as a human father as he is ultimately unidentifiable. He is the embodiment of pure reason. He allows evils to occur, but to make good out of evil.

The Son (Christ prior to his incarnation)

The Son is the manifestation of God in action, the physical connection between God the Father and his creation, together forming a complete and perfect God. He personifies love and compassion and volunteers to die for humankind in order to redeem them, showing his dedication and selflessness.

Jesus contributes to Satan's confusion. In response to Satan's "carnal questions" Jesus gives "enigmatic answers" designed to reveal the absence of the Spirit in the questioner.