Paradise Lost explores the natural aspiration to stand out from the crowd and stand out from the crowd. Adam, Eve, Satan, and even God himself strive to assert their superiority and divinity by attempting to exercise the most visible proof of divine power: the ability to create. However, all of them (including God) fail to some extent because they are motivated by their narcissistic intentions to selfishly create imitations that only seek to reinforce their superiority. They may simply create copies that are inferior to the originals, due to their failure to realize that only God can create intrinsic value. The only way to progress toward a semblance of godliness is not to proudly make outward, vainglorious imitations of oneself, but rather to humbly make one's spirit an intangible, spiritual imitation of God. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Throughout Paradise Lost, Satan and God try to distinguish themselves by setting themselves apart from the multitudes around them. Of the entire host of demons, only Satan offers to undertake the "lone flight" through Chaos. Then, after “just so wandering” (3.667) and “walking up and down alone, bent over his prey / alone” (3.441-2), he imagines himself “alone,” even as he is watched by Uriel (4.129). Likewise, "God alone" sits alone, hidden behind a cloud (4.202). This isolation heightens the sense of having untouchable power, of being "in transcendent glory elevated above his fellows" (2.427-8). A state of solitude avoids the oppressive banality associated with being just one among the masses. The angels of God are "innumerable" (5.585), a "multitude" (3.345) of "ten thousand thousand" (5.588); even Satan's devils are "innumerable" (1.699). These hordes of creatures are perpetually "crowded" or "swarmed." , compared to bees so alike as to be indistinguishable, and incapable of acting except in groups (1.761-9), like the "brute" bee created by God, the multitudes are often bestial and without "sanctity of reason", compressed together into a single unity that seems to serve only to clap thoughtlessly and sing praises at the right times (7.507-8). In contrast, Milton Can Think Independently places no value on the brute force of numbers, but rather on those subtle tricks and guiles that only individuals can implement. For example, while the multitude of devils sit meekly in the Pandemonium, their strength and weapons useless, only Satan manages to destroy the innocence of humanity solely with the persuasiveness of his tongue with a power equal to the collective might of the entire group, these individuals, "the rare and solitary ones, [not like] these in flocks" are elevated above the fallen and consequently are visible, autonomous and exclusively powerful (7.461). "God alone" and Satan are constantly surrounded by multitudes and, as a result, their loneliness is even more evident, which highlights the inequality of their power disproportionate to that of the masses, in turn suggesting their divinity. Milton twice states that it is absurd "equal above equal to let rein", and that a monarch should be superior to those he rules (5.820). Having established that they are above the ever-present equality of the "multitudes," Milton's characters seek to be equal to a higher entity. Thinking that their loneliness makes them supreme, their inflated ego leads them to aim to "affect all equality with God" (5.763). To assert their preeminence over the bestial multitudes, and thus demonstrate their divinity, Adam, Eve, Satan, and God seek to exercise the most obvious form of divine power: the role of Creator. They reason that they mustbe superior to the beings they themselves create. God declares that the "creatures which [he] made" are "second to [him] or like, equal much less" (8.407-9). They are “inferior” to God in their inequality and in their debt to him as their creator. However, the power of these characters is insecure, including that of God himself. For any aspirant, devotion is achieved only if others recognize him as gods, if they have a cheerleading squad of worshipers. Satan's confidence as the leader of Hell's demons is based on his "expecting/their universal cry and their great applause" (10. 504-5). They possess the uncertainty of believing that pity is legitimized only through flattery; it is not enough that they convince themselves that they can become similar to God; only external expression can convince them of their success as creators. Milton surrounds each of God's and Satan's great speeches with jubilees, "loud hosanna," "terrible reverence," and "solemn adoration" (2.478), emphasizing the importance of acclamation as a "prerequisite" to divinity (3.347). It is ironic that the characters try to replicate this external approval by creating it themselves through offspring who praise them incessantly, almost impassively, as in the vein of professional mourners. God caused man to "create in his image, [on Earth] to dwell/ and worship him... and multiply a race of worshipers", not to benefit from God's grace, but to fill the empty ranks of his admirers (7.626-9 ). Eve is advised to create "multitudes like [herself]" so that her offspring may venerate her as the "Mother of the human race" (4.474-5). Neither Eve nor God seem to create to have something to love, but rather to have something to love them. This selfish, self-aggrandizing impulse leads would-be gods to abuse the power to create. Their narcissism corrupts their divine ambitions, leading them to create copies of themselves, instead of a responsible hierarchy of creatures that supports all life, as a truly well-intentioned god would. Adam and Eve were pleasing and "worthy" in God's eyes not because they cared for Eden, but because "in [their] naked majesty/ shone the image of their glorious Creator" (4.291-2). Furthermore, God did not create these copies to love as separate beings, but rather so that he could have even more ways to admire himself. Likewise, when Adam "excessively admires/ What in [Eve] seemed so perfect" (9.1178), he is actually enjoying himself, "whose image [Eve] is" (4.472). This is externalized praise in its most extreme form. It allows these narcissistic creators to expand their power indefinitely, to express absolute dominion over their creation. In this way, they ensure their superiority by creating beings who are fundamentally inferior and unequal to them and at the same time reproduce beloved reflections of themselves. However, because these potential gods abuse the power of creation using incestuous methods, many of their creations turn out to be perverted. Narcissistic Adam and Satan, both in love with their own forms, create daughters from their bodies, the "flesh of [their] flesh" (4.441). However, these creations are perverted when both creators, seeing their offspring as their "perfect image", desire their daughters (2.764). Consequently, the birth of Eve and Sin does not serve to benefit them as individuals, but rather to satisfy the unholy lusts of their creators through the distorted roles of "daughter and dear/endless" (2.870). Likewise, Sin is raped by her own offspring, Death, and the resulting cycle of unnatural creation results in more depraved offspring, here, "screaming monsters" (2.795). In a final irony, Satan "throws out" his diabolical followers, only to see that the multitudesof his "progenitors" are now deformed, "a crowd / of ugly serpents". It is fitting that he, the quintessential narcissist, is then transformed into a "huge Python" to match his perverse offspring. Although he "still seemed above others" (10.51-2), his narcissistic need for his descendants to be "all transformed alike" ultimately makes him the same, making him just another suffering serpent in the swarm he created ( 10,519). natural creations are meant to maintain balance, a homeostasis between all the different components of all its creations united in one world. Satan, Adam, and Eve are denied these creative powers because of their selfish and petty motivations for wanting to create, and their subsequent abuse of that ability. Not only are these characters too weak to be alone as God, but their inability to instill intrinsic value in their creations and failure to understand the sublimity of the creative process leads them to create only inferior imitations of God's originals. their divine illusions, the characters reveal themselves to be poor imitations of God, the sole "Author of this universe" (8.359). Satan, the would-be “author and prime architect,” attempts to imitate the language of God as if he could acquire the divine ability to create simply by imitating the words of the true Creator (10.356). After God proclaims that "the earth now/seemed like heaven, a seat where the gods might dwell," Satan declares "O earth, how like heaven... a seat more worthy of the gods" (9.99- 100). Like God, he addresses his multitudes "as from a cloud" (10.449). However, Satan is able to copy only the most visible, obvious, and mundane traits of God, because his motivation to be godly is too limited. He cannot create anything of value on his own because his mind is not independent; rather, he is inexorably tied to God, always wanting to surpass God, ruin God, copy God. Yet, while imitating all aspects of God, he finds that his competitiveness makes him too weak to be divinely singular, because everything he does is done in response to God's action. Similarly, Adam and Eve discover that they are unable to bear the pressures resulting from distance and loneliness. While alone, Eve is vulnerable to the deception of Satan's tongue and Adam is susceptible to loneliness. He reflects "in solitude/what happiness, who can enjoy it alone", recognizing that human beings cannot bear isolation as God can, nor can they bear the idea of ​​being able to create, but not being able to participate in their creations (8.364-5). .Secondly, the characters' 'creations' are imperfect imitations of God's creations because they have no intrinsic value. These copies are all created through images, using tangible, visual things, evoking the "luminous image" of false goddesses and "their work in wood and stone" (1.440, 12.119). Allowing themselves to be "deceived by beautiful idolaters" and falling "prey to disgusting idols," these so-called creators abandon the active, living nature of creation in favor of static, one-dimensional representations of nothingness (1.445-6). Furthermore, these “brutal forms” can easily be defaced and destroyed (1.481), the “brute image” can be “mutilated… head and hands severed” (1.459). Adam, Eve, and Satan are unable to create invulnerable creations because they only have the bestial competence to understand just what they see. They are unaware of the impenetrability of a deeper layer of the spirit. Imitation is strongest when it is not just a physical reproduction, but the soul trying to resemble something better than itself. Ignoring this, would-be creators resort to flattery, claiming "the most beautiful resemblance to your Creator", simply a version" (12.648-9).