Poetry · Chapter
XIII: Satan Speaks explained
Satan, claiming to be the Lord God, boasts of his creation of the material world and condemns humanity for dreaming of other gods and disobeying his laws.
What happens
Satan, claiming to be the Lord God, boasts of his creation of the material world and condemns humanity for dreaming of other gods and disobeying his laws. He describes the spiritual torment and division he inflicts on those who hate his world, and challenges any other God to come and steal his thought-children from the fortress of Night, asserting his enduring power and the inevitable extinction of humanity.
Themes in this chapter
The Divine and the Demonic
Satan adopts the voice of a god, claiming divine authority while embodying demonic tyranny, challenging the existence of a higher God.
Rebellion and Individualism
Humanity's disobedience and dreams of other gods represent a rebellion against Satan's imposed order, though he mocks their vain longing for a liberator.
Characters to notice
- the Master
Satan speaks in the first person, presenting himself as the Lord God who created material things and rules over humanity with harsh laws and punishments.
Key passages
“I am the Lord your God: even he that made Material things, and all these signs arrayed Above you and have set beneath the race Of mankind, who forget their Father’s face And even while they drink my light of day Dream of some other gods and disobey My warnings, and despise my holy laws, Even tho’ their sin shall slay them.”
Satan declares himself the creator of the material world and accuses humanity of forgetting him, dreaming of other gods, and breaking his laws, which will lead to their destruction.
Satan's opening monologue establishes his claim to divinity and his condemnation of human rebellion.
“They hate my world! Then let that other God Come from the outer spaces glory-shod, And from this castle I have built on Night Steal forth my own thought’s children into light, If such an one there be.”
Satan challenges any other God to come from beyond and rescue humanity from his dark fortress, doubting that such a being exists.
Satan taunts the possibility of a higher power, asserting his sole dominion over the material realm.