The Creator and the Creative Process in Milton's Paradise Lost: A Lyrical Analysis; .

Text sample: Chapter 3.1.2, Satan's Role and Identity in relation to Creation: In the poem, Satan has a similar double-edged role in relation to creation fulfilling his part of the philosophical dichotomy of good and evil. On the one hand, through his revolt against God and his temptation of man, he is the ultimate destructor. It is however notable that Satan's destructiveness did not involve the actual destruction of the world, but he rather indirectly achieved his goal by influencing his fellow creatures leading them to their own destruction. It is therefore most of all his seductive abilities, which are responsible for him being a destructive entity. He masters the art of seduction like nobody else in the poem. It was not only man who he tempted in the form of the serpent, but in Paradise Lost, Satan is also shown as seducing his fellow rebel angels leading them all to their downfall. After he is dissatisfied and jealous with God proclaiming he had begotten the son, while the other angels are celebrating the news, Satan takes this as an occasion to look for others among his comrades he can win for his plans. First, he starts convincing "his associate" by "infusing bad influence" into him, who then goes on to "assemble" Satan's other subordinates by tricking them to march against God and the Son under the false pretext of "ambiguous words" (V, l. 683-704). His seductions, although ultimately leading to devastation, exhibit a very powerful creativity. There is a particular beauty, diversity, and originality in the words Satan uses. Milton generally uses a very elevated language throughout his poem, which is of course also due to his work being an epic poem, and yet Satan's discourse stands out as particularly elaborate while he is talking and seducing other characters. Whereas he uses a lot of long, complex sentence structures, and a variety of extravagant words when he speaks, the sentences and words of God and his Son tend to be much simpler and more

Cora Santiago Langnau wurde 1985 geboren. Sie studierte Englische Literaturwissenschaft, Rechtswissenschaft, Religionswissenschaft und Archäologie an der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg und später an der Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München und Theologie an der Lund Universität, Schweden und der Universität Kopenhagen, Dänemark. Neben ihrer Arbeit als Sprachlehrerin widmet sie sich vorwiegend interdisziplinären und interkulturellen Forschungsschwerpunkten. Die Schnittstellen zwischen Literatur, Sprache, Kultur, Religion und Mythologie gehören zu ihren zentralen Themengebieten.