They sent me here
I don’t know why
They seem to think that
Rebelling against tyranny
Is psychosis rather
Than justice.
Though I suppose
That Justice is
JustUs.
I’ve been told
I’m not a good
Listener, or
At least that’s
What I think
They said.
Everyone says that
I only think about
Myself, but what else
Is there to think about?
There are only so many
People who understand
What it means to be
Free, and I’m one of them
So if you can’t
Comprehend what it means
To be free, why ought I
Comprehend you?
I’m undamaged, so if
You’re looking for the root
Of my thinking, look
Toward the blessing of freedom
Not the curse of emotions
For what is evil is free from
What is good, so I choose
Not to be crazy, but to be free.
To be crazy would be to choose
The chains of heaven
Over the open sea of hell.
That’s why I choose,
And nothing more.
Link
Analysis:
The point of this is to try to examine how Satan tells us things about himself, without actually saying anything about himself (or at least that was the intention). One of the most important conclusions of Paradise Lost is that Satan cannot correctly understand freedom, but instead his view is impulsive and needlessly rebellious, owing to his distorted sense of logic from choosing sin. I based this poem mostly on the famous but often misunderstood quote “better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” The purpose of having Satan talk to a therapist is to illustrate his inability to reflect on his own actions or psyche. Instead, he’s only able to imagine himself as perfect and free, and he thinks focusing on anyone else would force him to stoop to the level of misunderstanding about he world. This is (at least it’s intended to be) a subtle reveal by Satan (although maybe it didn’t end up as subtle as I would have liked) that his inability to tell his own story actually tells more about him than his own words ever could. Satan is revealed as foolish and crazy when he speaks like this, even though in his mind it’s just a defense of his own perfection.