Translation

                                                                               

                                                                     Paper No: 5

                                                                     Name: Pooja N. Trivedi

                                                                     Roll No: 36

                                                                     M.A. Part - I SEM - I

                                                                     Year: 2010-11

Submitted To:     Dr.Dilip Barad

                           Department of English

                           Bhavnagar University,

                           Bhavnagar.

Translation as an activity means moving from one language to another which again means the replacement of textual material in one language by appropriate textual material from another languages. In his article entitled “Towards a theory of translating” I.A. Richards observed that translation “may probably be the most complex type of event yet produced in the evolution of the cosmos.” It is dangerous to fully disagree with Richards However with affordable partial disagreement is not ‘probably’ the most complex type of event but it is.

Fortunately, much dust raised by wild welter of questions pertaining to its nomenclatural exercises, e.g., If its name should be transaction, transcription, than sufferance, trepanned, code switching or recodification, reproduction or reconstruction, sweekanam or maharaja or do mastication of the other or foreign or regarding position of the translator and his trainslatorial endeavors in literacy and critical hierarchy has been settled by now.

With emergence of multilingual society all over globe and reduction of the globe translation has emerged as an invisible yet inevitable bridge. Every language and every piece of creative writing provides a window on the expanding universe around the people using that language. It is exciting and enriching to see the same universe viewed and represented in different ways, in different languages. In our context in particulars As importance has been voiced by: Amitav Ghosh.

“And the thing about translation is that there is no way around it. In a counting as multilingual as ours unless you have really good translations, you are doomed.”

          In this respect, translation has attained more importance than ever before, and much has been said and written on this aspect.

          The notion of “replacement” operates at two levels: at one level a formal and literal replacement: at the other level, replacement would mean capturing the linguistic and thematic contents of the text, including the socio cultural concepts.  In this process the target language text may be an adopted version of the original a translation version, or a recreation of the original e.g. we had tried to translate a short story by Ruskin Bond from Gujarati into English and also compared it with English version of it.

          This story is entitled in Gujarati as ‘Aa>qo n4I’. While translating this short appropriate first difficulty arose about the appropriate title. It can be replaced with the titles as: ‘Having eyes no vision’, ‘Vision’, ‘Where is real vision’, ’sightless’ etc. further; the beginning of the story is like this:

                       

“rehana su2I hu kMpa3Rme>3ma Aeklo hto. p0I Aek 0okrI Aema c!I. Aene v5avva AavelI VyiKtAo 6`u krIne Aena mata- ipta hta. teAo AenI suqrup musafrI ma3e ic>tatur j`ata hta. AenI maAe tene saman Kya mUkvo, Kyare barInI bhar n Dokavu, Aja~ya sa4e vatcIt krvanu kem 3a5vu vgere babte ivgtvar sUcnaAo AapI htI. bNne ‘Aavjo’’ kyuR ne 3e/{ne S3exn 0oDyu.”

                        “Tyare hu iblkul A>2 hto. marI Aa>qo mat/ p/kax Ane A>2karno wed parqI xktI htI. Ae 0okrI kevI deqatI hxe Ae khevanu mare ma3e AxKy htu. p` AeDI sa4e A4Davana Avaj pr4I hu Anuman krI xkto hto ke Ae`e SlIpr pherI hxe. Aena deqav ivxe Anuman ba2>ta mne 4oDI var 4xe Ane kdac hu Anuman n p` ba2I> xku p` mne Aeno Avaj bhu gmI gyelo Ane AenI SlIprno Avaj p`.”

I tried to translate it as following:

I was alone in the compartment till Rohana and then a girl entered in the compartment. The people who came to see her off were probably her parents. They seemed worried about her continence journey. Her mother explained her at length about where to place the luggage, not to look out of the window and how to avoid strangers or (keep herself away from strangers. The bid her farewell (They good-byed each other) and the train blew its first whistle.

I was utterly blind. My eyes would only distinguish between light and darkness. It was impossible for me to say how she looked like. But from the sound arouse from her heels I could guess that she had worn sleepers. I many take sometime to assume her appearance. I (to desriber her look) and it may happen that I may not able to desribe it. But I like her voice very much and also that of sleepers.)

Original Version:

“I had the compartment to myself up to Rohana, and then a girl got in. The couple who saw her off were probably her parents; they seemed very anxious about her comfort, and the woman gave the girl detailed instructions  as to where to keep her things, when not to lean out of the window, and how to avoid speaking strangers. They said their good- byes; the train pulled out the station”

The paragraph displays the variation in use of languages Translation of a literary text demands close-reading, the degree of which is more intense than the close reading done for any other literary purpose except perhaps for textual emendation… But he (Translator) has the freedom to express his understanding in whatever manner that suits him, and quite often in the same language in which the original text was composed.

                       In translating this story, there confront some problems regarding words, phrases, sentence structure and yet the propriety remained unattended.  The very first line contains some feeling of the narrator about his loneliness and it might be loosed when we translate it word by word.  As Hans J. Vermer puts in

“Try to translate into the language you know best, your mother tongue perhaps you will certainly succeed to your satisfaction, even if only after some trials and hesitations. And now ‘prove’ hat your translation is ‘the’ capsulation of the text and that there is no one better besides it. ”

And further he says:

“There are several levels of obstacles which will prevent from doing so.”

First, finding the exact lexical equivalent in the mother tongue of the lexical item in a language like English. For example, the English item may have ten different meanings used with, specificity in ten different contexts, e.g., in the same story lines goes like that.

tena va5no pmra3 llcavnaro hto.

Here, there is difficulty of finding equivalent for ‘pmra3’. The one word is fragrance but it is used only for howlers and not for hair. ‘Aroma’ and ‘bounce’ are also used but they couldn’t convey the notion. The would here used is ‘perfume.’ Similarly the word ‘llcavnaro’ has multiplicity of equivalents. The words like ‘alluring’ and ‘tempting’ will not do perhaps tantalizing can be used.

Hence, it is admitted that language or linguistic system as a medium of articulation suffers from limitation, incompetence and inadequacies. That is why thy linguistic meaning wavers so much. Sometimes we claim to maintain literacy form as the same form whilst translating but involuntarily or unconsciously it is changed.

The preceding consideration, naturally, involve more than mere formal surface tincture phenomena. Now go on to semantic values. Here again how to find the words or equipments or in E.J. Nida’s phase, closest natural equivalent’ is the question which depends on the context. E.g. Charles Dickens in his ‘A Christies carol in prose writes,

“External heat and cold had little influence on scourge. No warmth could warm nor wintry weather chills him. No wind that blew was bitter than he….”

We are quick at translation heat and cold. It might be ‘germy our sardi’ in Hindi. It is world – for – word translation. But will a Hindi speaker spontaneously say so? And what does the other man ‘feel’ when he reads the passage, further, a wale of examples to illustrate the difficulties facing. E.g. Bengali short story writer uses the phase ‘pushpa shayya’ or the bed decorated with flowers prepared for a newly wed coupe. It has its significance. It loses, its value, when translated into English as ‘flower bed.’

Up to this point the formal and semantic values of linguistic signs taken into consideration in different language. Where here are some complicated sentence which are too complex in words of Goche ‘impossibility of translation’ and it words are replaces by words, then only ugly empty shall.

Here are some of the sentences which create trouble while translating:

-         “me kHyu, ‘me p` tmne joya nih. Mat/ A>dr Aavta sa>w5ela.’

-         I also told her that I had not seen but heard you approaching.

-          ‘tmaru dai9~y khevu pDe.’

-         The exclamation of source language may not find similar expression in target language. I have translated it sense by sense, which perhaps means ‘Salute to your sense of manners’.

-         ‘mne Tyare 4yu ke hu Aene qatr hsI l] p` hsvana ivcaro4I to hu v2u gu>cvayo ne mne Aeka>kIp`u laGyu.’

-         I felt that I should laugh to make her happy I was puzzled with this very thought and felt lonely.

-         ‘p` Ae calI g{. mat/ Ae jya }wI htI Tya AenI suvas rhI g{ htI.

-         She left yet her aroma remains there

-         “tme toDo, tme wa>go guldann

 p`, gulabnI toy rhI sug>2.”

         “You crack, You mash the vase,

           The essence of rose remains…”

-         ‘p0I bar`u jor4I b>2 4{ gyu ne bharnu jgt bhar j rhI gyu.’

-          To translate this sentence it is a bit challenging, to put the same feeling of blindness and departure with companion are included here. If these types of sentences are translated just by putting words it completely distorts the flavor of text. Yet I tried it as:

-          “The door was closed once again and with that my world also”

  Moreover there are some syntactic literary and cultural difficult ties also arise in the process of translation because translation is not merely an imitation of a text in another linguistic system but communication of a message among cultures. The transference in its literal, etymological meaning of the linguistic expression is precisely an attempt to integrate elements of one culture into and there.

“In effect one does not translate LANGUAGES one translate CULTURES”

The foregoing discussion may lead us to believe that translation is an act of violence – parasitic and subservient to creative arc. Because the problem is, as propounded by Raja Rao in his ‘Kathapura’,

“One has to convey in a language that is not one’s own the spirit that is one’s own. One has to convey the various shades and omissions of a certain thought movement that looks maltreated in an alien language.”

At that time cultural difference may arise, e.g. Suppose, we were to observe morning activities : for Indian getting up we consider his shower, pray, tea and it of German he would not forget to mentions his bread, butter and coffee’. To come out of such difficulties we have to find out cultural equivalents rather than linguistic equivalents. As again to quote the words of Raja Rao.

“The tempo of Indian life must be infused into our English expression even as the tempo of American or Irish life has gone into the making of theirs.”

Thus, the basic problems and controversies of translation remain the same down the ages and each translation finds its own solutions within the limits of the socio linguistic and cultural factors. Therefore one has to try this thing: Take the soul of source language text and translate means to produce the text in a target languages text with target setting, for target purpose, target addresses and target circumstances.

Tragic Hero

                                                                     Paper No: 3 Unit No: 1

                                                                     Name: Pooja N. Trivedi

                                                                     Roll No: 36

                                                                     M.A. Part - I SEM – I

                                                                     Year: 2010-11

Submitted To: Dr. Dilip Barad

                         Department of English

                          Bhavnagar University,

                          Bhavnagar.

        What constitutes tragedy in a world in which we witness everyday disaster in newspaper or television or on the internet? We wonder what makes a tragedy different from all these, all common horrors of life? In general, tragedy is essentially a tale of death or suffering. M. H. Abrams defines it in his 'A Glossary of Literary Terms' as:

      “The term is broadly applied to literary

And especially to dramatic representation

Of serious actions which evaluate in a

Disastrous conclusion for the protagonist”

        At that juncture the query crops up that: Is tragedy something that happens only to heroes? If one is asked this question, the prudent reply usually is: first, we need to know what a hero is: from there the conversation can run in circles: tragedy shapes our idea of what a hero is, but then we measure her or him by the values of our time. And tragic heroism is always in tension with these communal beliefs and standards of behavior. Hence

        The important question confronts here is: What sort of person ought the chief character of tragedy to be?

        The ideal type of protagonist is deduced by Aristotle from the function of tragedy, in other words, “pity being felt for a person who, if not wholly innocent meets with suffering beyond his deserts: fear being awakened when the sufferer is a man like nature with ourselves”. Aristotle wrote a small treatise called 'poetics' into which he put some of his ideas about “Literature in general and tragedy in particular” where he has enumerated the qualities of an ideal Tragic Hero.

        Aristotle has excluded certain types of characters:

·             A good man – coming to bad end.

·             A bad man - coming to bad end.

The downfall of the former, a completely virtuous man would be odious and repellent. His fall will not arouse pity or fear but is shocking. As Dr. Johnson certainly of that view “Good does not allow such things to happen”

Similarly, the spectacle of an utterly wicked person passing from happiness to misery may satisfy our moral sense, but is lacking in the proper tragic qualities. Such a person is not like us, and his fall is felt to be well deserved and in accordance with the requirement of “Justice”. It excites neither pity not fear. Thus, Aristotle disqualifies –purely virtuous and thoroughly bad. There remains but one kind of character, who can best satisfy this requirement – “A man who is not eminently good and just yet whose misfortune is not brought by vice or depravity but by some error of frailly.’ Aristotle used for this kind of fault or weakness in an otherwise good character is.

                                Hamartia

This term is usually rendered in to English as “tragic flaw” perhaps no idea has gripped the conversation about tragic heroism more than the tragic flaw. Like a conscientious doctor, we poke and prod each protagonist to find the “flaw” or the vulnebrability that explains everything. “The American Heritage Dictionary confidently defines the tragic flaw as:

“A flaw in the character of the

Protagonist of a tragedy that

Beings the protagonist to tuin

Or sorrow.”

The root meaning of Hamatia is “missing the make” He falls not because of the act of some outside agency or vice but because of “miscalculation”. As Aristotle himself specifies what he thought was the right course in shaping tragic hero : the proper tragic hero is the man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake.

“A single great error, whether Morally culpable or not: a single Defect in a character otherwise Noble – each and all of these May carry with them the tragic Issues of life and death”

“Othello” in the modern drama “Oedipus” in the ancient are the two most conspicuous examples of ruin wrought by characters, noble indeed, but not without defect, acting in the dark and as it seemed for the best.

Even the best of us makes mistakes, but a moral flaw in particular to an individual and part of nature. As the horrified audience witnesses the consequences of the hero’s hamartia., it may be a consolation.

“I am not like that, or I can try not to

be like that : it so, surely this misfor-

tune will not happen to me”

But in the end, the notion of the tragic flaw is not helpful critical tool for understanding the tragic hero. It obscures the complexity of the relationship between the hero’s values and those of the world he or she inhabits.

Instead of assuming the hero’s moral character(ethos), in contrast you could see them as the ritual scapegoat, a victim who takes on the collective guilt or pollution of society. With the death or expulsion of that scapegoat, a society is thought to be cleansed of its evils. As

Rene Griard describes the scenario in

“Violence and the sacred”

“The surrogate victim dies to that the entire community, threatened by the same fate, can be reborn in a new or renewed cultural order. Having sown the seeds of death, the God, ancestor, or mythic hero then dies himself of selects a victim to die in his stead. In so doing he bestows new life on men.”

The scapegoat takes on the collective guilt, not necessarily because he or she is guilty of any particular crime or sin or has a flaw, but rather because someone must do so. Oedipus as a scapegoat or sacrificed victim who must be expelled from these, not because he is proud or defies the gods, but because someone must carry that burden to care the city of the plague of its cycle of violence.

The paradox that tragic heroism poses is:

“TO assert yourself is to destroy yourself”

Stay out of trouble, keep a low profile: that’s the advice that the Greek chorus usually gives, and the advice that the protagonist must

“Ignore in order to be a Hero”. As the closing lines of “Antigone’s chorus solemnly declares:

“Wisdom is by far the greatest part of joy

And reverence towards the god

Must be safeguarded

The mighty words of the proud

Are paid in full

With mighty blows of fate and

At long last

Those blows will teach us wisdom”

        They fear hubris, a confidence that goes beyond a strong sense of self to threaten the fabric of ordinary society and the restraints of religion.

Further, the ideal hero always presents a conflict. In Greek tragedy, the conflict was different. The hero was pitted against two forces: firstly, the superior strength of the rival party and another against Destiny. Thus, in Greek tragedy, there is a clash or conflict of groups and cliques, of passions along with the hero’s frantic struggle against a ruthless fate. But the latter Greek tragedians have introduced the inner conflict. As Bernard Knox argued in “The Heroic Temper” about sophodes,

“The presentation of the tragic dilemma

in the figure of a single dominating

character”.

It provokes conflict which reacts on his character and culminates in tragic disaster. In Shakespearian tragedies, the conflict of tragic hero is different from Greek tragedies. Where not just by the impact of human and superhuman forces tragedy is brought, but catastrophe is owing to his mental or inner conflict. In the present age, things have radically changed. Tragic be roes are presented with notable contrast to Elizabethan Tragic Heroes.

Tragic heroes have various characteristics.The characteristics of a tragic hero are that he is generally superior to the average man and is a representative of mankind. “The chief reason why the hero must be generally superior to most men is that otherwise he cannot awaken that intense concern for man’s plight which is certainly essential to tragedy.” Although the hero no longer needs to be of high social rank, he must speak to us of the actions in which he surpasses ourselves; of the moments in which we attain some barely probable kind of excellence. He must sustain our belief that our finest moments are real and no illusion. In our times, the function may be accompanied by one of the humble social position as easily as by a kind or a general.

In the present era, The concept has undergone a revolutionary change with the course of the time. As Arthur Miller delivered a manifesto on “Tragedy and the common Man”, in 1949, in defense of the possibility of tragedy in a modern world in which we all seem more or less “common”.

“In this age few tragedies are written It has often been held that the luck Is due to a paucity of heroes among us, or else that modern man has Had the blood drawn out of his organs of belief by the skepticism of Science, and the heroic –attack on Life cannot feed on an attitude Of reserve and circumspection For one reason or another, we Are often held to be below tragedy Or tragedy above us. The inevitable Conclusion is, of course, that the Tragic mode is archaic, fit only For the very highly placed, the

Kings or the kingly, and where This admission is not made In so many words it is mot often implied. I believe that the common Man is as apt of subject for Tragedy in its highest sense As kings were”.

To sum up, more precise and detailed discussion of the tragic hero properly begins with although they should not end with – Aristotle’s classical analysis in the “poetics”. Aristotle based his theory on introduction from the only examples available to him. On the contrary, in modern era, the paradigm evoked is that of a hero as everyman from the medieval morality play, whose suffering is an emblem for all of our pain. The question remains of how to reconcile the tradition of the tragic hero as the exceptional human being who represents our aspirations in going beyond all our dreams and the idea that the everyday action of simply being human in itself holds tragic possibilities.

Character Sketch of SATAN

                                                                  

                                                                   Paper No: 1 Unit No: 3

                                                                   Name: Pooja N.Trivedi

                                                                   Roll No: 36

                                                                   M.A. Part - I SEM – I

                                                                   Year: 2010-11

Submitted To:    Mr. Jay Mehta

                         Department of English

                          Bhavnagar University,

                          Bhavnagar.

 

Satan is an embodiment of antagonism that originates from the abrahamic religions, being traditionally considered as Angel in Judeo-christian belief and Jinn in Islamic belief. Originally, the term was used as:

“A title for various entities that challenged the religious faith of humans in the Bible.”

Since then the Abrahamic religions have used “Satan” as a name for the devil. Known by a variety of names Satan, Lucifer, and Mephistopheles – the devil remains one of the most intriguing and ubiquitous figures in western literature, with such literary luminaries as Dante, Milton and Goethe finding in him the perfect personification of “the human impulse toward evil”. Since the advent of the Bible, the Devil has existed as the quintessential adversary and the ultimate antithesis to goodness and morality. In the Medieval era, the Devil evolved from a relativity minor role in the Holy Scripture to a dominant figure in the didactic mystery and morality plays of the day. During the reformation and renaissance Luciferian figures continued to be abstracted and allegorized in literature that is until the publication of “Paradise Lost” in 1661 where Satan has been portrayed as magnificent character who is subservient to protagonist.

Joseph Addison says “Satan” is “the most exalted and most depraved being.” In his epic-peon ‘Paradise Lost’ John Milton (1608-1674) lavished all his power, all his skill and the greater part of his sympathy on the splendid figure of Satan from beginning Milton fixes consciously his gaze on Satan. It is his suffering, his revenge, his struggle that constitute the main charm of the peon. Around this character Milton has thrown a singularity of daring, a grandeur of suffering and a rushed splendor.

“Milton’s devil as a moral being is far more superior to his God.” Wrote Shelley and for Blake. “Milton was of the devil’s party without knowing it.” The question confronts, here which has prudent reply is whether Milton’s portrayal of Satan is villainous or heroic?

In Book I Satan emerges as the most dynamic and most impressive character and embodiment of heroic spirit. The loftiest of Milton’s sentiments are found in his speech, e.g.

“To be weak is miserable

Doing or suffering”

                                                OR

                   What thought the field be lost?

                   All is not lost, the unconquerable will

                   And study of revenge, immortal late

                   And courage never to submit or yield”

C.W. Lewis holds the view that Satan thought himself neglected. He thought so because Messiah had been pronounced. Head of the Angels. This unjust and ill founded sence of wrong done to him is the root of his whole procumbent the doctrine that he is self existent being not a derived being, a creature.

Satan impresses us by his exceptional will power and courage. Satan expresses Heroic energy in such a way that no other character in the epic does. It is through Satan, his conflict and endurance. The odds are against him. He has to wage war against the omnipotent. Almighty but still he persists and struggles and wins our profound admiration and sympathy. In fact, his very revolt against God is act of unprecedented daring. His encouraging address electrifies the dormant spirit and dropping heart of the fallen angels and infuses a new spirit of courage in them. As he warns:

“Awake! Arise or be forever fallen.”

And again he says:

“Here we may reign secure and in my own choice

To reign is worth ambition though in hell.

Better to reign in hell, than to serve in heaven.”

As the poem proceeds, we watch a slow and steady determination, both moral and physical in character of Satan. His grandeur and magnificence fades away gradually and are replaced by meanness and baseness. His persistent refusal to choose the right, his deliberate choice of evil ultimately brings about his final degradation.

As in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ the tragedy opens with the villain of the piece and through a long soliloquy a peep is given to the readers into his mind and heart. Here, Satan is one of those villains who cannot endure the sight of the happiness of the others and who toy to wreck if by every means of disposal.

The Satan we have in Book IX is absolutely different from and inferior to the Satan we have in Book I from great revolutionary and leader, he degenerates into creator a mere twister. His professed glorious enterprise his much talked assault on the meanness attacks on two innocent and harmless characters: Adam and Eve.

Satan excited his passion for revenge to his former fierceness by taking to himself. For the time being he forgets his purpose and plans. Soon, however, he recovers and decides to assume the form of a snake, the craftiest of the beasts of the field. He knows that revenge is wicked, but such hot passion tortures his soul, that he is determined to have his revenge and face the consequences:

“So much hath hello debased, and pain

Enfeebled me to what I was in heaven.”

Further he uffers :

“O foul descent that I who erst contended

with Gods to sit the highest ”

“That to the hight of deity aspired but what will not ambition and revenge.

Descend to?”

          Gradual diminution of Satan’s character is and integral part of Milton’s epic design through Satan’s fall. Milton expounds that once baseness has been deliberately chosen there can be no redemption. Even the glorification of Satan is a dramatic device. In order to make the victory of over evil. It was necessary to make the force of evil as grand as that of good. An adversary of God had to be a massive stature. The power that was to seduce eve must have an impressive personality and character or else how could the mother eternal be seduced?

The seeds of decay are there in Satan from the very first. Even in his most eloquent speeches of liberty and freedom, he cannot forget to think of evil. Notice the following lines in the way he speaks, the very first book where Satan is portrayal of heroic dimensions:

“Ought to good never will be our task

But ever to do ill, our sole delight and study to revenge immortal hate.”

The way he seduces eve by lying, tempting and warning like a dirty politician diminishes him in our eyes. The man who began as a hero now ends in shear villain. God punished him for his evil deeds by malting him a serpent forever. Thus in the end he is not only defeated but degraded and dammed Milton point out.

“Who aspires most down or law as high he soared.”

Milton’s Satan is not a comic or grotesque figure like Devil or vice of me devils writers or the demons of other epic poets. Though it is true that the representation of his ‘self begotten’ attempts is comic and contradictory, Milton’s Satan is neither a fool nor a clown. He has the beauty of sublimity and the grandeur and majesty and dignity of bearing, perhaps; therefore, Reeling rightly notes that the nobility and greatness of some half-dozen of finish poetic passages in the world. The most stapes duos of the poet’s imaginative creations are intended to heighten by contrast the greatness of Satan. The same ability of Satan’s character is also praised by C.W. Lewis:

As he says,

“Set a hundred poets to tell the same story and ninety of the resulting poems, Satan will be the best character.”

Satan looms up as a magnificent figure, entirely different from the devil of the miracle plays and completely overshadowing the hero both in interest and in manliness. As in the view of prof. Macmillan.

“Milton’s Satan is distinguished from all other demons that have been described in literature by the absence of the grotesque.”

Indeed Satan’s character has been treated with such sympathy and dramatic power that Milton, in the person of Satan has revealed to the world his own proud spirit of independence and superiority to the blows of fortune. Satan, it has been said is a self portrait, a rebel. It is through Satan that Milton’s own heroic energy has been expressed. Lewis is of remark “We have in Satan” he says, “an expression of Milton’s own pride, malice, folly, misery and last.” But Milton expresses in Satan much more of himself than this.

One the whole, Satan is such a magnificently, drawn character and such is the fascination he has exercised on the readers of ‘paradise lost’ that ever since Dryden said that Satan is real hero of the epic, critic after critic has taken him to be. There is no doubt, that he dominates early looks of epic but after that consequently there is progressive degradation and shrinkage. By his own will he beams a serpent in Book IX in book he is replant whether he will or no.

The Progressive degradation, about which he is aware, is carefully market in the poem. He begging by fighting for ‘liberty’ how ever misleading, at once sinks to fighting for ‘Honor’, Dominion, Gloric and renounce. Defeated in all such, he craves for revenge which frames the main subject of the poem. In the remarks of Macmillan.

“From hero to general from general to politician, from politician to secret service agent and thence to a thing that peers at bed rood…. And finally to a snake – Such is the progress of Satan.”

Inspire of his final degradation it is Satan who gives real epic grandeur to ‘Paradise Lost’. He was the greatest power that ever overthrown. His ambition was the greatest and so was his fall and punishment. His stench of mind was as matchless as his strength of body.

Yet, we are more in dined to agree with C.W. Lewis who is of view that Satan expresses as particular nature, an aspect of human nature itself.

“He has the strange fascination of evil about him, and evil there is in all of us.”

A fallen man is very like a fallen angel. It is, therefore that trait of man has been put, but it is unwarrantable to include that he was pleased with that part of Satan or expected us to be pleased. No doubt his energy is unreasoned, no doubt it is devoted to his wicked passion for revenge, and he is carried away by hate and envy, but still we cannot help with admiring him for the heroic energy with which he achieve his aims. In short if Satan be ‘Paradise lost’ would be no more than a tedious theological thesis composed in verse. To end Satan’s glory with William Hazlitt’s words who justifies him as the heroic subject:

“Satan is the most heroic subject that was ever chosen for a poem, and the execution is as perfect as the design is lofty. He was the first of created beings, who for endeavoring to be equal with the highest and to divide the empire of heaven with the almightily was hurled down to bell.”