English Literature

Miltons Paradise Lost tells of the most epic battle in all of history, the battle between God and Satan, the battle between good and evil.  He uses the poetic form of heroic rhythm to create the turmoil that is to come with the fall of Satan and his legion of angels. Within this poem, the mind of Satan slowly ebbs becoming increasingly hateful and spiteful.  The change is symbolic of the downfall not just of the angels but of man, and the hold that evil can have on a person. Even an exalted being such as Lucifer is driven insane in the vice of pride and the power of leadership.  This degradation of Satans personality, body, and mind are testifying to the fact that evil can not conquer good, that Satan cannot conquer God. 

The first time Satan is mentioned he is mentioned as a serpent and his part in the downfall and sin of man.  The poem starts and the end, but then flashes back to tell the story of the fall as well as the changes in Satan.  At this point he is already a serpent, and it is known that it was he that tempted and wooed Eve to eat of the apple and that Adam followed.  Who first seduced them to that foul revolt  Th infernal Serpent gives the exact actions of the event.  Satan disguised as a serpent tricked them into eating the apple.  Milton uses them, because the serpent did not just seduce Eve, but through her seduced Adam as well. 
This is the point that the poem reverts back to the beginning to show the reader how it came to be that Satan took the form of the serpent.  what time his pride Had cast him out of Heavn, with all his host of rebel angels tells the reader that he is being thrown from heaven and into the lake of fire.  At this time, Satan still has his heavenly angelic form strong stature, enormous wings, arrogance and pride in his walk. 

Their dread commander he above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent
Stood like a towr his form had yet not lost
All her original brightness, nor appeared
Less than Archangel ruined , and the excess
Of glory obscured. 

Here Milton shows the reader that Satan is still the epitome of what an angel should look like, but foreshadows through this verse that this form will not continue to be his form.
   
In Book 3, Satan finally has made his way to the gate leading to Eden, which was protected by the Archangel Uriel.  Satan used his powers to deceive to change himself to a cherub to gain access to the new world.  And now a stripling Cherub he appears and as a cherub he greets the Archangel Uriel with wonder for the new creations.  Satan uses this childlike angelic form and a glib tongue to gain entrance to the garden.  All these his works so wondrous he ordained,  Hath brought me from the choirs of Cherubim Alone thus wandring.  Satans exclamation of only wanting to see the glorious new beings instills the pride of Gods work in Uriel shows the exact place where Adam and Eve reside as Milton shows in the final verses of Book 3, That spot to which I point is Paradise, Adams Abode, those lofty shades his bowr. Thy way thou canst miss, me mine requires. It becomes obvious that the change in Satan from the stately heavenly angel to the lower echelon Cherub was successful.  Even his change in speech and his actions made Uriel believe that he was a Cherub and not the fallen angel Lucifer.
   
Once inside he made his way toward where Uriel had said he would find Adam and Eve.  The poem mentions that he Satan is like a prowling wolf he leaps oer the fence with ease into the fold .  While he did not transform per se in to the wolf, he is described as animalistic in this event and thereby showing that his persona is beginning to lose its angelic quality into a more beastly form.
   
Once he jumped the fence he found the Tree of Life
 The middle tree and highest here that grew,
Sat like a cormorant yet not true life
Thereby regained, but sat devising death
To them who lived.

He sits here and finds his prey for evil as they walked and did their chores.  He hears them talk about their only rule, not to eat of the tree of life and knows that this is the way in which to break their promise with God and heaven. However, his plans are almost thwarted by the Archangels Gabriel and Uriel.  But as he sits as a bird his mind flits around trying to plan for the ultimate evil plan.  He is losing more of his heavenly quality and gaining more animalistic and predatory actions and understandings.
   
The angels searched for Satan and found him
 Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve
Assaying by his devilish art to reach
The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
Illusions as he list, phantasms and dreams.

Here, Satan must blend with the earth in which to disguise himself.  Toads are normally considered slimy and quite disgusting, the thus the disguise was perfect, for the lies that Satan was telling to Eve were deceitful.  He was lowering himself again now taking claim to the animalistic feel of an animal that is regarded as unclean.
  
In the first book, the reader is told that Satan is the serpent that it is known him to have been cursed to remain for the remainder of his days.  As the serpent, he stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind.  However, the changes that he encounters throughout the first four books of the epic poem show just how his mind moves from being heavenly, to prideful to animalistic in thoughts and actions.  Changing to a cherub, symbolizes his lose of the true angelic form in heaven.  He has been cast out and now is a lesser being.  The bird is another step down from angel.  He has wings, but his thoughts are not pure and he does not think in ways other then gratification for his base desires.  The toad shows us that he has lost all vestiges of being an angel.  He is small and insignificant.  However, when he becomes the serpent, while he is forced to crawl on the ground, he can hide and strike with accuracy and kill.  He is truly the animal that his mind created as he gained pride and arrogance.  It is the serpent that truly shows the mind of Satan and verifies his actions of evil.