Essay about The Unholy Trinity as a Reverse Allegory

Edward Spencer celebrated allegorical writing with his classic romantic epic The Faerie Queen. Even as Milton criticized the use of allegory, he indubitably implemented the use of it in Paradise Lost. Although Milton does use allegory, his use of the form tremendously differs from that of Spencer. His application of allegory is a reversal of the typical Spenserian allegory. Milton uses a reverse allegory as an abstract representation of the Holy Trinity of God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by an Unholy Trinity of Satan, Sin and Death. As indicated by Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, an allegory is: a figurative sentence or discourse, in which the principle subject is described by another subject resembling in its†¦show more content†¦Satan deceives all in his presence, even the fallen angels whom he claims as his peers, whereas, God is not capable fabrication. Pride is also another example of an attribute to the Father of Deceit and in veracity the most influential attribute to Satans character. His pride leads him to avenge war in heaven and to return to Earth to deceive Man: New war, provokt; our better part remains/To work in close design by fraud or guile/What force has effected not: that he has no less/At length from us may find, who overcomes/By force, hath overcome but half his foe. Satan cannot back down from God without a fight. Even though he admits that God was the Potent Victor, he claims that God may have won the battle, but not the war. Satan must fulfill his pride by retaliation. Along with Satans pride and thoughts of deceit in Heaven comes Sin, his daughter. Sin sprang from the left side of Satans head when he formulated the plot of rebellion in Heaven. Sin is perceived as a representation of the Son because she is formed in the perfect image of Satan just as the Son is a perfect manifestation of the image of God; therefore, Sin is an ideal contradiction to the image of