Freedom is a concept of great importance to Milton. Satan wonders why the rest of the angels didn't fall as he did if they are all given the same freedom of choice and willpower. How can God be omniscient and see what is to come, without having caused it or altered it in some way? In this case, why does he give his creations free will? This question appeared in Book Three as well, when God's foreknowledge enables him to lament the fate of man. Here he reveals his doubts, fears, pain, and feelings of futility ("Be then His love accursed, since love or hate/ To me alike it deals eternal woe!" 68-69). Beneath those feelings of futility is the question of free will. Until now he has been the domineering leader of the rebellion against Heaven. He determines to put his anger and wrath towards evil and destruction, for he is Hell and is in Hell wherever he goes.ΔΆ. How is it, Satan wonders, that everyone in Heaven is given the same free will and ability to stand or fall, but the others resisted temptation where Satan couldn't? He curses God's love because his love and hate both turn out the same for him. He then acknowledges that if someone else had turned against God in Heaven, he, Satan, would have joined them. He laments that God hadn't ranked him lower so his ambition wouldn't have led to his rebellion and resultant downfall. Lines 58-78 show Satan's emotions and thoughts. Early in Book IV, Satan arrives at Paradise and experiences doubt, despair, and fears that he hasn't dealt with in the story thus far.
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