The Significance of Satanic “Wonder” in Paradise Lost

Abstract

This study analyzes the significance of Satan’s first tempting word, “wonder” in Eden of Paradise Lost. “Wonder” is the crucial cornerstone for explaining the mechanism of Satan’s temptation and the corruption of Adam and Eve. I suggest that the “wonder” in the tempting scene is rooted in the concept of Aristotelian philosophic wonder towards that Milton held critical attitude. This philosophic wonder is deeply associated with the unquenchable lust and the sin that is described through the allegory of the devilish Trinity, Satan, Sin and Death. In the allegory, the philosophic wonder results in the devilish cycle which is embodied by the incestuous rape, and this characterizes Satan’s intelligent learning opposite to the process of “transubstantiation” that Raphael teaches Adam to be better substance. Satan’s intelligent learning signifies the devil’s self-fulfilling against self-abandoning of the good angels, and eventually, Eve and Adam fall into the devilish cycle of the insatiable lust. The satanic wonder implies “no end” with which Book 9 ends, and Jesus ends the “no end.”