Jesus is the unsung hero, but frankly they are all sung heroes now. Read the judgement of Jesus and notice how infused with love it is.

BUT the real model for human heroism is indeed none other than Abdiel who openly defies Satan and his cohorts. Abdiel is who Milton wanted us to notice and emulate, surrounded by his enemies and their lies stands up and calls them out for their error and then returns to God expecting nothing leaving the rebel angels to their own and eventually self destruction. Abdiel is also the one who leads the charge against Satan in battle. Stanly Fish makes this argument in his book "How Milton Works" and I agree with him. Satan is horrible, vengeful, spiteful and hate-filled ./spat. Far too Roman. No love.

Another option would be Raphael, though harder to argue, he is the teacher (though incompetent) who instructs and reminds Adam and Eve not to err; noble effort indeed.

Good luck with your paper, the poem is sublime and worth a lifetime of meditation and reflection. One of the truly grand accomplishments of human intellect and imagination ever devised on Earth. Enjoy. Indulge. Open yourself to the poem and grow.

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I try to picture Milton, sick, going blind, bitterly disappointed at how their political hopes just fizzled out when Cromwell dies. Then another bitter stroke, CharlesII comes back with the most unrepentant hedonistic court possible just to put the boot in, plus claims his father was now canonised!

I think that by glorifying the highly unlikely character of Satan, in a way that is not in the bible I think Milton is making a very strong ironic protest statement about injustice on a human level.

I think I’ve most heard of Milton’s Satan referred to as the first anti-hero in English literature.

Understanding Milton’s history, being involved in a revolution against a king that won, for a while at least, until the monarchy returned. His obvious favour for the revolutionary interregnum, and having to lay low afterwards.

There’s a ton of political subtext that plays into Milton’s sympathy for the devil.

One of the demons, i believe Belial, actually advocated continuing war during the council of pandaemonium, on the logic that they are suffering so much in this place that only continuing war could offer any hope of total annihilation as an escape from existence and suffering. I always felt that perspective was the most poignant of the whole work.

Edit: it was Moloch: "If there be in Hell fear to be worse destroyed, what can be worse than to dwell here."

Satan's deeds were not exactly 'unsung' he was taking a lot of credit for what he was doing. But Satan as the hero tracks because I found the most interesting part of the story was when he rallied his troupes and hell started to form. I remember how he inspired them when they felt doubt, sadness, despair and fear.

Here's a decent video that I think sums it up pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NMDtsPgfD0

I would suggest looking for a few academic sources that certainly talk about this topic. Enlighten yourself through scholarly work (not reddit lol). It will also support your argument.

Yeah, Satan is only heroic because the Romantics re-imagined him that way. Milton most definitely didn’t think of him that way.

Sorry this isn’t helpful But I’ve always wanted to learn how to read Milton , can you point me to where they explain Milton for dummies

Thank you all for these insightful thoughts, there are only 5 people in my class so I hear the same discussions every day and wanted to hear other’s thoughts:)

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god is the unsung hero