Hero or fool?

Description:

We may, if we will, identify ourselves wholly with Satan's party, or we may be so much on the side of the angels that we cannot give the devil his due. The two extremes are set before us plainly in Raleigh's attractively human but not quite judicial book on Milton, where he remarks of Satan that "his very situation as the fearless antagonist of Omnipotence makes him either a fool or a hero." And Milton, he continues, "is far indeed from permitting us to think him a fool."--Page 7.

subjects: Devil in literature,  Fall of man in literature,  Fools and jesters in literature,  Epic poetry, English,  History and criticism,  Heroes in literature,  English Epic poetry

People: John Milton (1608-1674)