Editing Paradise Lost (section)

=== Criticism of monarchy ===
Although Satan's army inevitably loses the war against God, Satan achieves a position of power and begins his reign in Hell with his band of loyal followers, composed of fallen angels, which is described to be a "third of heaven". Similar to Milton's republican sentiments of overthrowing the King of England for both better representation and parliamentary power, Satan argues that his shared rebellion with the fallen angels is an effort to "explain the hypocrisy of God",{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} and in doing so, they will be treated with the respect and acknowledgement that they deserve. As Wayne Rebhorn argues, "Satan insists that he and his fellow revolutionaries held their places by right and even leading him to claim that they were self-created and self-sustained" and thus Satan's position in the rebellion is much like that of his own real-world creator.<ref>Rebhorn, Wayne A. "The Humanist Tradition and Milton's Satan: The Conservative as Revolutionary". SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900, vol.&nbsp;13, no.&nbsp;1, The English Renaissance (Winter 1973), pp.&nbsp;81–93.</ref>

Milton scholar John Leonard interpreted the "impious war" between Heaven and Hell as [[civil war]]:<ref name="Leonard, John 2000">Leonard, John. "Introduction". Paradise Lost. New York: Penguin, 2000.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2016}}
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''Paradise Lost'' is, among other things, a poem about civil war. Satan raises "impious war in Heav'n" (i&nbsp;43) by leading a third of the angels in revolt against God. The term "impious war" implies that civil war is impious. But Milton applauded the English people for having the courage to depose and execute [[Charles I of England|King Charles&nbsp;I]]. In his poem, however, he takes the side of "Heav'n's awful Monarch" (iv&nbsp;960). Critics have long wrestled with the question of why an antimonarchist and defender of [[regicide]] should have chosen a subject that obliged him to defend monarchical authority.
</blockquote>

The editors at the [[Poetry Foundation]] argue that Milton's criticism of the English monarchy was being directed specifically at the Stuart monarchy and not at the monarchical system of government in general.<ref name="John Milton" />

In a similar vein, [[C. S. Lewis]] argued that there was no contradiction in Milton's position in the poem since "Milton believed that God was his 'natural superior' and that Charles Stuart was not."<ref name="Leonard, John 2000" />{{page needed|date=March 2016}}