To be heroic, one must not necessarily be good. It is quite easy to posses many heroic qualities and still be evil at the base. This is exactly the case with John Milton's Satan from his poem Paradise Lost. A hero is generally defined as a great warrior, who shows great courage or the main male character in a literary or dramatic work. Heroic is defined as exhibiting courage or daring and having impressive size, power, or affect. Satan certainly fulfills each of these requirements to be a hero. Along with these heroic qualities that Milton portrays in Satan, he also gives Satan many of the characteristics of a villain. These evil attributes don't necessarily make him a true villain, just as heroic qualities don't make him a hero. These evil characteristics in the same person as the good characteristics cause many contradictions to arise throughout the poem. Although many writers agree that Satan is the poem's most well developed character, the contradictions that are caused by conflicting personality traits cause him to be a mediocre character because they prevent him from being either a true hero or a great villain.
In his efforts to develop Satan as one of the main characters in the poem, Milton gives him both evil and heroic characteristics. Many people are drawn to Satan through the reading of the poem because of Satan's courage, leadership, and resolve. Others immediately label Satan as evil and fail to give him credit for all of the good he possesses. Though the amount of time devoted to Satan's development in the poem is great, Milton fails to develop him along clear lines. His development of Satan's personality follows along two very separate paths, one positive and one negative. Had Milton chosen one of these personalities and truly developed it, Satan could have been a more powerful figure. Milton, however, fails in making Satan powerful by including so many contradictions between good and evil within the character.