Interpretation of God and Satan in Paradise LostIn Paradise Lost by John Milton, he recounts the banishment of Satan from heaven. He and his squad have plotted war against God and are now doomed to sink into the fiery pits of hell. Satan is a complex character with many significant qualities. The relationship between Satan's qualities and the atmosphere of Hell tells the reader more about why they seem to go hand in hand. Without the traits of Satan and the tormenting aspects of Hell, this place would not be all that it is. Milton declares that one will “remain in adamantine chains and under penal fire” if he defies God. Satan has definitely challenged him and will therefore suffer him. Chains symbolize Satan in that they tie someone up and keep them in control. Satan has disobeyed God and must be restrained, restrained and controlled. Fire only serves to show Satan's primary intentions. Fire indicates evil and pain, of which it is a part. He is the creator of evil just as God is the creator of everything. Milton also describes hell as a place where one must live forever, full of anger, without happiness and without constant pain. Satan once lived in a universe full of happiness, joy and surrounded by pleasure. Now that he has abandoned God, he must live without it, but to the worst extremes. He can no longer experience content or pleasure. He must be punished for his infidelity. Hell has “no light, but rather darkness which only serves to reveal spectacles of misfortune.” It is a “region of sadness, of dismal shadows, where peace and rest can never dwell, where hope never comes…but where endless torture still insists.” This is a very different atmosphere from the one from which Satan came. He was willing to give up everything he had, peace, love, joy, beauty and everything else, to defeat God and gain all his power. The war in heaven pitted the forces of Satan against the forces of God..