Terrorists Of 9 11 And Satan example essay topic

In Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" Satan or evil is actually given heroic qualities. What is evil anyway? Who is the judge? These questions can also be applied to some real life things such as the reasons behind the attacks on the United States on September 11th and the movie "The Siege" written by Lawrence Wright. Can evil really be viewed as heroic under any circumstances? The answers to these perplexing questions don't come so easy.

The actions and beliefs of the men who orchestrated the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th can be applied to evil having somewhat heroic aspects. These men did what they did because of their beliefs that killing Americans and dying martyrs would enable them to enter heaven with their God, Allah. They follow their beliefs to the extent of suicide in hopes to live in eternal life. We feel any normal thinking person should view these thoughts and actions as absurd and radical. However, many people from the Middle East, which is the dwelling place for many of these terrorists, observe them as a type of religion. Their fellow believers look up to these men as heroes.

To us they are looked upon as an evil group of individuals and will go down in history as the most diabolical and insane murders ever. In the motion picture "The Siege" by Lawrence Wrights, the city of New York is put in the same predicament as 9/11. Terrorists wage war against the city in an attempt to become heroes in their own minds. During the movie we take a look into the mindset of one of these men when one of the terrorists named Samir Nazhde says" To die for Allah is beautiful and if you did your parents would be taken care of, and you would be taken to a land of seventy virgins". This demonstrates what drives these men to do what they do and is a symbol of their justification similar to the Al Queda terrorists.

In Milton's literary work, "Paradise Lost" Satan is portrayed as a heroic character. An angel of God that went by the name of Satan rebels against God and even though he is defeated, it is a testament of his independence as an angel. This individualism and heroism appeals to some of the other angels who then follow him and help in the rebellion. Satan, defeated by God is then cast down into hell with his followers. The Bible talks of the battle between God and Satan's armies.

It says, "A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan" (Revelation XII).

Now in this place called Hell, Satan sets up his own kingdom with the angels that were cast down with him where people who had relatively the same thoughts, actions and beliefs of evil would be sent after death. Satan often is the personification of everything evil. Satan often gets his titles as the source evil by such sources of religious teaching as the Bible But can you really blame Satan from rebelling against God in the first place? If you do not believe in something and are opposed to the way something is being done what is wrong with fighting for your rights... It cannot be condemned and actually can be respected and maybe even found to be heroic. In Order for their to be a good there must be some sort of an opposite to make it right which in turn is evil.

The terrorists of 9/11 and Satan from "Paradise Lost" are prime examples of the heroic aspects of evil. Both view their beliefs, as right while the majority of people feel that they are pure wickedness. But you cannot really blame them for following what they believe in. In fact, it is heroic. So it really just depends on what you view as right or wrong. Only you can be the judge if something is good or evil.