Editing Satan (section)

===In literature===
{{rquote|right|If he was once as handsome as he now is ugly and, despite that, raised his brows against his Maker, one can understand,<br>how every sorrow has its source in him!|[[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] in ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', Canto XXXIV (Verse translation by [[Allen Mandelbaum]])}}
{{rquote|right|Here we may reign secure, and in my choice<br>to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:<br>Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.|Satan in [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' Book I, lines 261–263}}
In [[Dante Alighieri]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', [[Dante's Satan|Satan]] appears as a giant demon, frozen mid-breast in ice at the center of the [[Inferno (Dante)#Ninth Circle (Treachery)|Ninth Circle of Hell]].{{sfn|Fowlie|1981|pages=210–212}}{{sfn|Kelly|2006|pages=265–266}} Satan has three faces and a pair of bat-like wings affixed under each chin.{{sfn|Fowlie|1981|page=211}} In his three mouths, Satan gnaws on [[Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger|Brutus]], Judas Iscariot, and [[Gaius Cassius Longinus|Cassius]],{{sfn|Fowlie|1981|page=211}} whom Dante regarded as having betrayed the "two greatest heroes of the human race":{{sfn|Fowlie|1981|page=212}} [[Julius Caesar]], the founder of the new order of government, and Jesus, the founder of the new order of religion.{{sfn|Fowlie|1981|page=212}} As Satan beats his wings, he creates a cold wind that continues to freeze the ice surrounding him and the other sinners in the Ninth Circle.{{sfn|Fowlie|1981|page=211}} Dante and [[Virgil]] climb up Satan's shaggy legs until gravity is reversed and they fall through the earth into the southern hemisphere.{{sfn|Fowlie|1981|page=212}}

[[File:GustaveDoreParadiseLostSatanProfile.jpg|thumb|Satan in ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', as illustrated by [[Gustave Doré]]]]
Satan appears in several stories from ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'' by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]],{{sfn|Tambling|2017|pages=47–50}} including "[[The Summoner's Tale#Sources|The Summoner's Prologue]]", in which a [[friar]] arrives in Hell and sees no other friars,{{sfn|Tambling|2017|page=50}} but is told there are millions.{{sfn|Tambling|2017|page=50}} Then Satan lifts his tail to reveal that all of the friars live inside his anus.{{sfn|Tambling|2017|page=50}} Chaucer's description of Satan's appearance is clearly based on Dante's.{{sfn|Tambling|2017|page=50}} The legend of [[Faust]], recorded in the 1589 chapbook ''[[Historia von D. Johann Fausten (chapbook)|The History of the Damnable Life and the Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus]]'',{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=268}} concerns a pact allegedly made by the German scholar [[Johann Georg Faust]] with a demon named [[Mephistopheles]] agreeing [[Deal with the Devil|to sell his soul to Satan]] in exchange for twenty-four years of earthly pleasure.{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=268}} This chapbook became the source for [[Christopher Marlowe]]'s ''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus]]''.{{sfn|Kelly|2006|pages=268–269}}

[[John Milton]]'s [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' features [[Prince of Darkness (Satan)|Satan]] as its main protagonist.{{sfn|Verbart|1995|pages=45–46}}{{sfn|Bryson|2004|pages=77–79}} Milton portrays Satan as a tragic [[antihero]] destroyed by his own [[hubris]].{{sfn|Bryson|2004|pages=77–79}} The poem, which draws extensive inspiration from [[Greek tragedy]],{{sfn|Bryson|2004|pages=80–81}} recreates Satan as a complex literary character,{{sfn|Bryson|2004|pages=77–78}} who dares to rebel against the "tyranny" of God,{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=272}}{{sfn|Bryson|2004|pages=77–80}} in spite of God's own [[omnipotence]].{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=272}}{{sfn|Bryson|2004|page=80}} The English poet and painter [[William Blake]] famously quipped that "The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devils party without knowing it."{{sfn|Bryson|2004|page=20}} ''[[Paradise Regained]]'', the sequel to ''Paradise Lost'', is a retelling of Satan's temptation of Jesus in the desert.{{sfn|Kelly|2006|page=274}}

William Blake regarded Satan as a model of [[rebellion]] against [[Tyrant|unjust authority]]{{sfn|Poole|2009|page=10}} and features him in many of his poems and illustrations,{{sfn|Poole|2009|page=10}} including his 1780 book ''[[The Marriage of Heaven and Hell]]'',{{sfn|Poole|2009|page=10}} in which Satan is celebrated as the ultimate rebel, the incarnation of human emotion and the epitome of freedom from all forms of [[reason]] and [[orthodoxy]].{{sfn|Poole|2009|page=10}} Based on the Biblical passages portraying Satan as the accuser of sin,{{sfn|Werner|1986|page=61}} Blake interpreted Satan as "a promulgator of moral laws".{{sfn|Werner|1986|page=61}}