The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
ere for his envy, will not drive us hence:
ere we may reign secure; and, in my choice,
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' associates and co-partners of our loss,
Lie thus astonished on th' oblivious pool,
And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy mansion, or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell? (1.254-270)
Analysis:
For this creative project I wanted to explore the false dichotomies that Satan presents within Paradise Lost, drawing upon the comparison of Coca-Cola versus Pepsi that was mentioned in class. With this art, I explored the idea of what a modern Satan would do with vending machines, which is an excuse for me to draw my affinity for Japanese vending machines. I am also trying out digital art for the first time, therefore I am not completely content with the work that I have made. To describe what a drew, the first panel shows the typical vending machine with an assortment of products and colors. The second panel shows Satan with a bottle of Pepsi, and a side character asks "why always Pepsi?". For the final panel, we return to the vending machine and see that it is no longer colorful or diverse in products; instead it is monochrome except for two products: Coke and Pepsi, individually labelled "God" and "against God," respectively. Finally, the second and last piece of speech is "because I have free will," making a connection to the line "Here at least / We shall we free" within the book (1.258-259). I made this choice to show the ironies of Satan's interpretation that only rebellion against God will give him free will. Instead of gaining free will, he sets up false dichotomies and actually limits his free will.
I had to look at the character of Satan with a new lens, and I also had to simplify Satan's conflict with God and struggle for free will within a couple of illustrations. A new interpretation that I gained was that Satan's creation of false dichotomies might not only just ignore the other options (in this case, Fanta), it could be that he does not realize that other options exist. While a small detail, I wondered if I should have the other products as simply "out of order," monochrome, or non-existent. I ended up with monochrome because I think Satan is intentionally color-blind to the other options that allow him to exercise free will. Also, "out of order" can have a secondary meaning, such as how buying a drink outside of Pepsi would be outside of the perceived "order" that Satan has in mind. However, reducing Satan's perception of free will into an illustration did leave out some details, such as Satan's desire for hierarchical and ontological power. Satan desires to be superior to others, but a simple vending machine analogy was not able to encapsulate Satan's hunger for power. The illustrations left out a lot of the complexity surrounding Satan's rebellion, but it also allowed me to focus more narrowly on hypocrisies or ironies that Satan creates