What the Devil?

We already know from our time in the Inferno that Dante established a vision of Hell that holds true to this day. We also know that many of his interpretations have not held up as well, cheifly being the diminishing of Satan.

Looney Tunes, "Devil's Feud Cake"



South Park

     We often see Satan as a malicious force of temptation and evil, with red skin, horns, a goatee, and impeccable skills on the fiddle. Despite Dante's rather ingenious way of showing how internally weak the Devil is, he's always coniving in popular culture.
    
     John Milton's 15th Century epic Paradise Lost speaks from Lucifer's point of view for a fair stretch of the tale. Satan is presented as a tragic hero, though still antagonistic. If that sounds really risky for an author to do, well it is. Satan's part of the story is about his unsuccessful rebellion in Heaven and sub sequent rallying of the Dark Angels in Pandaemonium. Lucifer leads his men from the front lines and rallies them with his power over the spoken word just as well as epic protagonists like Odysseus. If Milton's verses on the "behind the scenes" of God's will parallel with Dante's, then this portrayal of Satan polarizes them equally. It has also raised quite a stir among scholars, as they debate the meaning behind Milton's words.                                                                        20

Satan in Paradise Lost    

Hades vs. Satan

     Long before Lucifer took up his fiddle, a god named Hades presided over a similar kingdom of death. But not as similar as some believe. Even the nigh-infallible Dante drew somewhat unfair parallels between the orignal Dark Angel and Greece's God of Death (though this was likely due to the fact that even back then people thought the Greek myths were cool).

Satan in the Inferno

     Part of the Greek origin myth tells of how Zeus freed his brothers and sisters from the stomach of their father Cronus, thus overthrowing the titans. Zeus and two of his brothers then divided the world into three and drew lots over sovereignty. Zeus became king of the heavens and everything under the sun. Poseidon won lordship over the seas, and the third brother, named Hades, "the unseen," by the humans, gained the Underworld.                                                     12

And who wouldn't trust this guy?

     The Underworld is not Hell. All dead went to the Underworld, regardless of morality. If you did wrong, there were Hellish places for you to stay, but it wasn't the norm. Regardless of this, death was still scary. Hades became a name whispered, much as we don't speak of Hell in regular conversation.

     There is very little written about Hades, likely attributed to his less revered and more feared reputation. There is only one piece of evidence to suggest Hades was anymore violent or dark or evil than his kin. This would be the tale of Persephone and how Hades wooed her to be his bride with a pomegranate.

     So, the bottom line is that while Satan is an evil lord of evil evilness, Hades is just doing his job. Modern culture tends to show Hades with shades of his devilish counterpart.

How to be Evil (or not) by Brian Perkins

     Have you ever heard of an anti-hero or an anti-villain? I've always been somewhat confused as to what the difference was. At a glance, they seem like the same intermediate step between evil and good, but there is a difference.

     So, you have a good guy. He does good things in uncompromisingly good ways. He's polite, he follows the rules, and he will never go against his beliefs to accomplish his goal. As you travel down the ladder the hero gaets a little more tarnished; he may have a tragic past, or may have questionable methods.                                                           15 22 1

     The anti-hero takes this a step further. He has good goals/intentions, but is willing to do potentially bad things to accomplish them. Alternatively, he may believe in "good," but doesn't agree with the laws, and so he takes justice into his own hands.

     If an anti-hero does good things in a bad way, then an anti-villain does bad things with a strong moral fiber. His goals fit the "evil" standard, but there are things he will not do, lows he shan't sink to, in pursuing those goals. Anti-heros and anti-villains walk a fine line between good and evil.

     Then you have sympathetic villains. These guys are really evil, but the reason they became evil, or their behavior, warrants your pity or remorse.

     Finally, there are the completely irredeemably evil characters. They kick puppies, they twirl mustaches, and they do it with a smile on their face.

     Literarily speaking, there are a number of shades of grey in between the black and white of moral struggle. The "greyer" a character is, the more rounded of a persona they may be.

Writing Your Inner Self

     Sometimes when an author is writing a book or a movie, he will insert him/herself into the story. This can be literal, like Stan Lee or , or it can be more discreet.

     Often times a character based on the author appears in the book. Even if the character doesn't outwardly seem like their real-life counterpart, they may reflect the author's inner-self. What does this mean? Maybe it's the author at a different point in his life, or maybe it's a persona adopted by the author's mind. M. Night Shyamalan frequently gives himself nigh omnipotent roles in his movies, for example.                                                                                                                                     21 18

     Dante and other writers (like Stephen Colbert) take this a step further by using their own names. For example, Dante the Florentine writer wrote Commedia, starring a Florentine writer named Dante. They are essentially the same person, only the real Dante probably didn't vacation in Hell.