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Postmodernism

“Him who disobeys”: A Comparative Analysis of Satan and Lucifer
Leonora Soledad Souza e Paula

Deviation

Lucifer's locking of Hell disobeys and challenges the creator's authority by questioning the permanence of an opposition between Heaven and Hell. His action shows that there is no point in maintaining such an obsolete conflict. On the contrary, his attitude demonstrates that Hell can be redefined, reshaped; Lucifer's vision of Hell is of a transitory ‘place' exposed to processes of transformation.

The emptying and closing of the infernal realm can be read as an opening of new paths leading to Hell. The existence of several entrances that are also exits shows the multiple passages and connections that can lead to Hell. It is reasonable to understand Lucifer's action of emptying Hell as an act of transformation, which gives rise to the manifestation of Hell's multiplicity. In other words, Hell is closed but simultaneously open to many other connections or readings, disregarding the totalyzing rules of an imposed place.

It is possible to trace a parallel between Lucifer's act and the rhizome theory defended by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guatarri if we consider that the modified Hell is like a rhizome, since the rhizome is characterized as non-hierarchical multiplicities that cannot be subsumed in a unified structure. According to Deleuze and Guatarri, the rhizomatic space is formed not around a center but on a dispersed plane; this plane is accessible in any place and the points of convergence formed by the accessed places are the hypertextual knots, filled with transitory and changeable sense (Deleuze and Guatarri. 1995:11). Thus, the constant movement occurring in a rhizomatic space is not orderly determined. In fact, a continuous process of transition that results in plural and variable knots of senses characterizes the rhizome.

In these terms, the angelic procedure in Hell, i.e. the emptying and closing, follows the same logic. That is to say, like the rhizome, Hell is open and connectable in many directions; it can be reshaped, transformed, adapted in different manners. Moreover, an empty Hell can potentially be any place; more than this, an empty Hell it is not necessarily a Hell.

Moreover, we may say that Satan is also interested in challenging the limitation established by Heaven in Paradise Lost . The rebellion against the Creator's impositions, expressed in the following verses, sounds like a claim to transformation, disregarding changes in power structures and questioning the established order:

O Chief of many throned powers
That led the embattled Seraphim to war
Under thy conduct, and, in dreadful deeds
Fearless, endangered Heaven's perpetual King,
And put to proof his high supremacy
(Milton, 1996:10)

God‘s supremacy and eternity as sole ruler is challenged, suggesting that even the power structure of Heaven can suffer transformation. Satan's action turns out to be a problematization of the Creator's permanence as the highest authority, and for that reason, he is sentenced to fall. But even after the fall, his attitude as questioner and challenger is maintained, as can be seen in the proposition of appropriating and disintegrating God's creation: “To waste his whole creation, or possess, / all as our own, and drive, as we were driven” (Milton, 1996:41). The idea of waste refers to returning things to the initial emptiness from where heaven and earth first arose. This does not mean to bring things to nothingness; it is much more like a process of dis-orientation, de-structuration, bringing things to dis-order: “This would surpass/ Common revenge, and interrupt his joy, / In our confusion” (Milton, 1996:41). Satan, like Lucifer, offers an alternative to binary oppositions, and this alternative is closely related to chaos. Yet, chaos is not conceived as a simple state of disorganization, but is closer to the idea of an initial void. From the Greek, Kaos means something like “gaping void,” that is to say, the nothingness state from which all things emerged; or the place in which things existed in a disordered and amorphous shape before being organized.

Paradise Lost is configured upon a problematic relation of authority, as the epic calls attention to the uncertainty of origin thus: an attentive reading of it opens the gates to more than one possibility of beginning. Furthermore, the idea is that the beginnings are there to be re-viewed, re-created. Such re-creations can be observed as possible translations of an original text: not only Milton translating the biblical text in his epic, but also Satan translating God's text of origin, through his new rebellion. Likewise, Lucifer's act shows that the possibility of creation is not concentrated in one single hand. Actually, he is a being who creates, that is, he has the power of creativity, which he shows through a de-creating (creative) act that results in closing Hell and quitting his job. Lucifer's view of origin, instead of permanent, is of a continuum changeable and ephemeral. When he closes Hell, he confirms the fact that origins are possible to be altered. All this contests the Genesis narrative as unique and complete. The origin, better saying, the origins, are far from finished, they are open-ended, incomplete and imperfect, which means that even God's creation can be affected by alterations.

For that reason, it is possible to say that the redefining movements of Satan in Paradise Lost and Lucifer in Sandman are in a sense, movements of rupture, transgression, and reverse reading. According to the Brazilian critic, Haroldo de Campos, the reversed reading, more than a simple inversion of dichotomies, is conceived as a creative translation, a “transluciferation”, of sacred texts. These purposes stimulate the unsatisfied characters to their movements of refusing the tyranny of an imposed origin, breaking with the confinement of unique readings, questioning the ownership of creation acts.

In Sandman , Lucifer's conduct in Hell can be read as a wish to enjoy himself in another possibility of life, but also a process of maturing, leaving his “place”, for a second time. By moving to Los Angeles, the city of Angels, and going to a place called Lux , “the best damned nightclub and restaurant in this whole city of angels” (Gaiman, Hempel, Case 1995#68:13), Lucifer is being ironic to himself and to his movement of leaving darkness towards light. With this act, Lucifer demonstrates awareness of his changing processes, and lives not as a mere force of negation anymore, but as a mutable self, aware of himself as a construct, not fixed and stable, but changeable and provisional.

Likewise, in Paradise Lost , Satan is aware of himself as an autonomous being: “What matter where, if I be still the same, /And what I should be, all but less than he, / Whom thunder hath made greater?” (Milton, 1996:14). This passage is based on Satan's consciousness of him-self as a changeable and creative being, one who is free to move according to his own plans. Thus Satan challenges the Creator: “Him who disobeys, /Me disobeys, breaks union, and, that day, / ...falls, / Into utter darkness” (Milton, 1996:131). This self-awareness causes his fall, because although conscious of a possible and severe punishment, he chooses to rebel. But this is the same self-awareness that, afterwards, allows him to create the plan to conquer God's creation.

We may therefore consider that Milton 's text is recovered in Sandman through the resignification of Satan. Lucifer, like Satan, is conceived as an angelic/demonic being who demands the abolition of defined directions, and takes upon himself a critical position not only in relation to Heaven but also to Hell, suggesting new reflections about the perpetuation of the oldest of conflicts.

Works Cited:

Bender , Hy. The Sandman Companion . New York . Vertigo DC Comics, 1999.

Campos , Haroldo. “Transluciferação Mefistofáusitca”. Deus e o Diabo do Fausto de Goethe . São Paulo: Ed. Perspectiva, 1981.

Deleuze , Gilles and Félix Guatarri. Mil Platôs . Rio de Janeiro: Ed. 34, 1995.

“ Chaos ” Encyclopedia Mythica Greek Mythology . Jan. 2002
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/chaos.html

Gaiman, Neil (w), Kelley Jones (a), and Malcom Jones III (i). Sandman: Season of Mists . #23. New York : DC Comics, 1991.

________, Kelley Jones (a), and P.Craig Russel (i). Sandman: Season of Mists . #24. New York : DC Comics, 1991.

_________ , Marc Hempel (a), and Richard Case (i). Sandman: The Kindly Ones . #68. New York : DC Comics, 1995.

Haglund , David. Unofficial Guide to DC Universe , 2004.
htt p ://www.comicboards.com/dcguide/index.htm

Milton , John. Paradise Lost . London : Penguin, 1996.