Athena

One of the obstacles facing Satan's exit of Hell is a female guardian that he seems to have known in better days. When Satan comes to blows with an amorphous dark creature the gate keeper intervenes saying, "O father, what intends thy hand... Against thy only Son?" (727-728). As she continues speaking it becomes clear that the key holder is Satan's daughter, as well as a former lover. She expresses her distress at Satan's failure to recognize her, "do I seem/Now in thine eye so foul, once deem'd so fair" (747-748). A change in appearance during the fall from Heaven is a theme Milton employs with several of the angels. It is considered an allusion to Virgil's Aeneid in which Hector's ghost is not at all indicative of his face and body as it was in life. The classical references are continued in Paradise Lost as the gate keeper recalls her birth. She explains how she "sprung" (758) out of the left side of Satan's head "a Goddess arm'd" (757). Although she reveals she is called "Sin", she is clearly a representation of the Pagan goddess Athena who likewise sprung out of Zeus' head in full battle gear as the goddess of war and wisdom. Why did Milton choose to place Athena in Hell? Milton chose to call her Sin. Milton elected for her to be the daughter of Satan and give birth to a son of incest. Why would Milton give such positions of honor (Satan's daughter and lover, and the key holder of Hell) to Athena? Surely she is of Pagan nature which would deem her unworthy of Heaven, but any Pagan god would do. Athena being the goddess of war and wisdom, perhaps showing her in Hell stripped of her primary traits is meant to depict the nature of Hell: one has no identity. Satan did not recognize her or his own son. Her son is a dark mass without recognizable features or even limbs. To have her strength and wisdom taken away is the worst punishment for the independent minded goddess.
    The Athena-like character is said to have been raped repeatedly by her own son. She suffers with no doubt but perhaps it is the recollection of past happiness that magnifies and ensures her suffering. Satan speaks of the "dalliance had with thee in Heav'n" (819) and how it was "Then sweet, now sad to mention" (820). As we talked about in class, the sorrow of Hell is capitalized on with memories of happiness. Satan himself acknowledges this.