In the epic story of Paradise Lost by John Milton, the character of Satan is the archetype of the tragic hero who has the fatal flaw of hubris, or excessive pride. While journeying to the Garden of Eden and seeing God's creation of Man, Satan reflects upon himself and his past actions through a long soliloquy. He realized that before when he was an angel, his ambition was so great that he was no longer satisfied with the kindness that God showed him, but instead wanted to be above God. In the following lines we see Satan admitting that God did nothing to deserve a rebellion such as the one he threw,.
"Till pride and worse ambition threw me down, .
Warring in Heaven against Heaven's matchless King: .
Ah wherefore? He deserved no such return .
From me- .
In addition to this, Satan also comes to the conclusion that it was out of his own free will to choose to challenge "Heaven's matchless King", and that none of the other angel's did this when they had the same opportunities. After this, Satan's thoughts return to his misery and exile and he considers the idea of repentance. However, nearing the end of his monologue, Satan understands that there will be no forgiveness for the crimes that he has committed, no matter how much he repents. From the lines, "None left but by submission; and that word/Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame/Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced-, Satan is saying that the only way for God to accept him back in Heaven is for him to swear submission, which Satan could not do without feeling guilty for abandoning his fellow Spirits in Hell, and therefore God would detect his feign and punish him even more. It is because of this that Satan decides that the only thing for him to do henceforth is to corrupt God's human creations so that they may join him in Hell.
