Paradise Lost

In Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” Satan or evil is actually given heroic qualities. What is evil anyway? Who is the judge? These questions can also be applied to some real life things such as the reasons behind the attacks on the United States on September 11th and the movie “The Siege” written by Lawrence Wright. Can evil really be viewed as heroic under any circumstances? The answers to these perplexing questions don’t come so easy.
The actions and beliefs of the men who orchestrated the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th can be applied to evil having somewhat heroic aspects. These men did what they did because of their beliefs that killing Americans and dying martyrs would enable them to enter heaven with their God, Allah. They follow their beliefs to the extent of suicide in hopes to live in eternal life. We feel any normal thinking person should view these thoughts and actions as absurd and radical. However, many people from the Middle East, ...