John Milton was a famous poet in 17th century England. He served the government during the reign of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. Upon the coronation of King Charles II, he was removed permanently from the government due to his political allegiances. John Milton lived the remainder of his life both in disgrace and blind. Seven years after his forced retirement, in 1667, he wrote one of the most famous and more contemporary epic poems, styled after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid. The story was told in blank verse, which means poetry that does not rhyme, and titled Paradise Lost. The subject of this poem was the war between the angels, Lucifer’s army of evil and God’s force of good, and the subsequent fall of man, the original sin. The main character of this epic poem was Satan himself. Satan acted mostly out of envy to God because of his failure to wrest away the heavenly throne during the angelic war, which was caused by his jealousy of God.
Jealousy is defined as resentment of another’s success, but that is not what the sin of jealousy is. Jealousy as a sin is resenting another for what they have and wanting whatever is the source of said resentment. The war between the angels in heaven was caused by this latter form of jealousy. Satan aroused his fellow angels and convinced them that God could be defeated and that His throne should be taken away. Because of Satan’s jealousy, the fallen angels repeatedly attempt to conquer heaven.
Envy is defined as covetousness of another’s possessions. The sin of envy, however, is the resentment of another’s possessions and wishing the source of the resentment destroyed. When he tricks Adam and Eve into committing the original sin, Satan acts because of his extreme hatred of God. He has nothing to gain by doing this, which is by definition, the sin of envy.
Although the entire poem’s story is caused by jealousy, Satan’s final act was committed purely out of spite, and was completely unnecessary. In the tale, Satan acts out of envy more than jealousy. John Milton’s Paradise Lost is a famous epic poem that tells the story of mankind’s original sin.