Paradise Lost Book II

Book II:

• Satan begins his debate claiming that Heaven is not yet lost and believes they can overcome if they work together.
• Satan opens the floor
• Moloch - Pro-war- speaks second. He was one of the fiercest fighters in Heaven during the war.
• He pleads for another war, this time with weapons from hell
• He reasons they have nothing to lose because nothing can be worse than their current existence
• Belial speaks after Moloch, countering his argument with calm reason
• He cliams God has not yet punished them as severely as he could if they waged war against him again
• For example, they are no longer chained to the fiery lake which was so far their worst punishment
• Since God may one day forgive them it is best that they accept their punishment
• However, Belial does not necessarily advocate peace; instead, he uses his intelligence to find excuses and prevent further war through lassitude (apathy) and inaction
• Mammon follows Belial, and refuses to ever follow God again, he prefers to advance their freedom and asks the devils to be industrious in Hell. Through hard work, they can make Hell their own kingdom to mimic heaven
• Mammons argument find the greatest support
• Beazzlebub follows Mammon who prefers freedom to servitude under God, but counsels a different method
• He discusses rumors in heaven about a new world that is to be created filled with a new race called "man" whom God will favor over the angels
• Beezlebub suggests, at Satans secret request, that they seek revenge by destroying or corrupting this new race
• Everyone unanimously agrees
• Satan volunteers to scout this new world.
• When Satan flies off to find Hell's gate, he finds 9 gates: 3 each of brass, iron, & adamantine, and 2 strange shapes stand guard in front.
• One looks like a woman down to her waist, but below has the form of a serpent, with a pack of howling dogs around her waist.
• The other is only a dark shape.
• Satan chooses to demand passage from the dark shape
• They almost battle when the woman-beast explains to Satan who she and the companion are
• She and the shape are Satan's offspring while he was still an angel, she sprang forth from his head & was named Sin
• Satan incestuously impregnated her, and she gave birth to the ghostly son named death
• Death raped his mother sin, creating the dogs that now torment her
• Sin & Death were assigned to guard the gate and hold its keys
• Satan forgot these events & now explains his plans against God
• Sin unlocks the gate willingly, which opens to the vast darkness of night
• Satan flies out, but begins to fall until a cloud of fire catches him and carries him
• He hears great noise & finds it is chaos, ruler of the abyss 
• Chaos is joined by night, confusion, and others
• Satan asks for help, saying he will reclaim the territory of the new world, returning more of the universe to disorder
• Chaos agrees and shows the way to earth which has recently been created
• Satan continues onward with sin & death following behind, building a bridge from hell to earth on which evil spirits can travel to tempt mortals.
• Moloch - promotes open war
• can't be worse, but worse would be death - proposing "suicide by God"
• Belial - just accept and take the punishment
• says it can be worse
• we'll get used to it
• Mammon - turn hell into heaven
• make a rival kingdom
• Demons like this because they don't have to face God
• Beezelbub plots with Satan to get what Satan wants
• Words have lost meaning. All powerful doesn't mean all powerful.
• Satan makes the guest seem even worse than it is.
• He says he will do it for all of them
• "Seek deliverance for all" - a companion to Christ
• a false comparison because its all about him
• all the glory is for him
• Satan isn't afraid of Death, just God and his Son
• Line 666 Sin and death are together
• Sin is initially attractive
• Satan likes sin because she looks just like him
• This bit is allegorical
• Chapter 4 Satan's soliloquey
• Serving God wasn't so bad
  God deserved my praise
  Satan is so high that he wants to be the one more step higher
  Satan always owes gratitude to God and its a burden
  He recognizes that gratitude is all God wants
  If I was lower, I wouldn't have cared.