Please discuss the significance of three speeches by Satan in John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Satan’s speeches in Milton’s Paradise
Lost are interesting not only for what they say about the different topics he
discusses but also for what they reveal or imply about Satan himself. Whenever Satan
speaks, he is inevitably telling us something about Satan, no matter what the ostensible
“subjects” of his speeches are.

Take, for example, his very
first words in the poem, words which he addresses to Beëlzebub. Satan begins as follows:
“If thou beest he; but O how fall’n!” (1.84). Satan speaks just four words before he
interrupts himself and blurts out a surprised exclamation. He looks at Beëlzebub and is
shocked by the change he sees. He cannot, of course, at this point see himself, but
Milton will make clear throughout the poem that Satan has been physically changed as
well. Yet these physical changes in the fallen angels are far less important than the
spiritual degeneration they symbolize.

Later in the same
speech to Beëlzebub, Satan refers to their “glorious enterprise” in rebelling against
God (1.89). The word “glorious” is, of course, highly ironic, because the rebellion was
glorious neither in its inception, its execution, or its ultimate results. Satan is
either deceiving Beëlzebub or deceiving himself (perhaps both); he habitually refuses to
face reality, but he is also, of course, a great liar. Thus, when Satan a few lines
later refers to God’s “rage” (1.95), he actually reveals one of his own most important
characteristics. Indeed, he is exhibiting this characteristic in the present
speech.

Another interesting example of the ways Satan’s
speeches are self-revealing occurs in lines 681-87 of Book 2. In that speech, addressed
to Death (whose identity Satan does not yet recognize), he reveals his pride, his
contempt for others, his combativeness, his defiance, and his resolute determination.
Yet he also reveals his tendency to deceive himself, as when he calls himself one of the
“Spirits of Heav’n” (2.687). Of course, he is at present no such thing, and indeed he
will be such a spirit never again. Having led the revolt that caused his own fall from
heaven, he cannot really bring himself to admit that he is now a denizen of
hell.

Finally, another example of the ways Satan’s speeches
reveal aspects of his own character occurs in Book 4, where he essentially tries to
blame God for his own evil designs on Adam and Eve (4.387-87). Here as so often
elsewhere in the poem, Satan refuses to face facts, refuses to accept personal
responsibility, and lies as much to himself as he does to
others.

For an excellent brief overview of the poem, please
see C. S. Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1961).