Belial: The Lives Of The Fallen Angels

So, if resistance is futile, where should the Fallen Angels channel their anger and anguish of their fallen state and their powerlessness? Belial offers up two scapegoats: God, and fate. Throughout his speech, Belial continuously demonise God, calling him the “almighty victor” and an “angry foe” that expends his all his rage to “end” the lives of the Fallen Angels (II.144-152). However, God doesn’t simply exterminate his enemies, he toys with them first: “give his enemies their wish, and end / them in his anger, whom his anger saves / to punish endless” (II. 159). Through this characterization, Belial portrays God as an being, who despite his immense power, is irrational, tyrannical, and dominated by anger. He desires control, and is enthusiastic

Yet, despite the appearance and energy of persuasion of these speeches, the speeches also come across as false and self-deceptive. The usage of vivid and dramatic imagery, such of the image of the “blackest insurrection” of Hell or the “fiery tempest” and the “boiling ocean” serves to provide contrast and create a heightened sense of drama and gravity to their speeches, but also come across as over hyperbolical. They are falsehoods based on some minor truths constructed only to persuade and manipulate the emotions of the audience. The repeated usage on their speeches adds to this sense of manipulation – the energy and passion of the speech appears to be expended on gaining control and power, not for forwarding any practical or realistic proposals. When considering context of the entire narrative, some of the arguments put out of the characters also comes out to be outright false. For example, Belial’s argument that the Fallen Angels are equal in strength to God in reality, comes across as false and self-deceptive when considering the powerless state of the Angels as well as Belial’s previous argument that emphasises the disparity in power between God and the Fallen Angels. Through the use of dramatic irony, Milton then characterises the Fallen Angels as beings with excess of pride and confidence in their infallibility who continuously engage in self-deception, either for political gain or for creating