Do you agree with Blake's statement that Milton, unknowingly, was of the Devil's party and that Satan is the true hero of Milton's epic?

Paradise Lost is a long epic, and to assess whether or not Blake is correct in his assessment that Milton unwittingly presents Satan as the hero, you will have to closely examine both what Milton says when he is the speaker and what words he gives to Satan.

Evidence in favor of Blake's reading tends to center on the appeal of Satan as a character and his centrality in the epic. Milton begins by describing Satan's fall "With hideous ruin and combustion down / To bottomless perdition" in Hell (I.46–47). This scene presumably follows the grand battle in Heaven that is described later between Satan's forces and those of God; therefore, it is striking that Milton begins by placing his focus on the fallen Satan rather than on God issuing his judgement on Satan or remarking on the victory of his side. Further, Satan has more frequent and often more eloquent and quotable speeches than God. In Satan's first speech he tells Beelzebub

"What though the field be lost?/All is not lost: th' unconquerable will/And study of revenge, immortal hate /and courage never to submit or yield - /And what is else not to be overcome" (I.105–109).

Here Satan sounds like a leader trying to inspire his followers: a role valorized in literary classics like Henry V and modern films. Satan, at this moment, resembles other hero figures and could be considered a member of this category.

On the other hand, you could argue that the appeal of Satan and his speeches is intentional and that Milton gives Satan these exciting lines in order to capture the appeal of sin. In other words, Milton may simply be portraying the chief tempter of humankind as good at his job.

Milton claims at the beginning of book I that Paradise Lost is an attempt to "justify the ways of God to men," which would seem to indicate his sympathies lies with God rather than Satan (I.26). In order to determine if you agree with Blake, you must examine evidence such as the passage above and decide if you believe Milton or if you think he has been taken in by the tempter he has written.

Do you agree with William Blake's comment that Milton, unknowingly, sided with the devil in Paradise Lost?

I think that Blake might have meant that Milton presented Satan as a heroic figure in his epic poem Paradise Lost. One of the characteristics of epic poetry is that there is a hero, a character that is greater than life. In Paradise Lost, there is no real hero but the character that comes closest to the definition of hero is Satan. Making Satan the hero, however, contrasts with Milton's purpose in Paradise Lost, so that is why Blake could say that Milton was in the devil's party without knowing it - he did not mean to present Satan as a hero, but he did.

If one understand's Milton's Christianity, however, there is no way that one could say that Milton favored Satan and what he represents, or that Milton felt sorry for Satan. Rather, I believe that when the poem is read as strictly literature, then Satan is strictly a character, and therefore larger than life and, in that sense, heroic. Do not forget that Satan was once "the angel of light" and as such, was very beautiful and compelling. The Bible, on which Milton's epic was based, warns that Satan is more dangerous when he appears in disguise as an "angel of light" than as a "roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." So when we read Paradise Lost strictly as literature, we tend to cheer for Satan.

That said, the work must be put in its context and the purpose of the author must be considered to answer your question. Milton would have believed that Satan was a real evil, a real spirit, not just a character in literature, even though he presents him that way and gives him a voice. So I don't think that Milton "was of the devil's party" without knowing it.

The devil crops up in a lot of literature (especially in American Literature in early Puritan writers) as a somewhat benign sinister character who can be outwitted by humans (as in The Devil and Daniel Webster), but in Milton's world, he would not have seen Satan in this way. If you read the information here on eNotes, you can find out more about this. Here is an excerpt from the "style" link on the Paradise Lost page.

Satan's character exposes the true danger of evil, which lies in the very fact that it is attractive. Through Satan, Milton exposes the false view of heroism as "egotistical magnificence" and the equally false idea that heroic energy is admirable, even when exercised in a bad cause (Daiches, Milton ).

To complete your assignment, once you have decided whether you agree or not with Blake, you will have to find passages in the work that support your view, but look for passages in which Satan appears as an "epic hero" and this should help. This would occur, for example, when he is talking to his demons - he is a strong leader.

How does Milton portray Satan and God in Paradise Lost? Do you agree with Blake's view that Milton favored the Devil's perspective?

William Blake claimed Milton was "of the devil's party without knowing it" because Milton's portrait of Satan and his fellow fallen angels is more compelling than his depiction of God, the Son, and the non-fallen angels. For Blake, Satan is the poem's tragic hero, an anti-establishment figure rebelling against an inflexible God.

Whether or not one agrees with Blake's assessment is of course a deeply personal matter. Some argue that Blake makes Satan the most initially attractive figure because most of the time, evil is attractive, even glamorous. After all, no one would be tempted to do evil if evil seemed repulsive from the start. Like Eve, the reader is supposed to be seduced by Satan's powerful command of language and persuasive argument. Only as the story progresses does Satan lose his allure, finally stooping to transforming into a serpent to corrupt Eve.

While Milton's God is less complicated a figure than Satan, Milton would likely point out that God the Father emphasizes free will for humanity. In book 3, God says outright that Adam and Eve are strong enough to withstand temptation and whether or not they do so is their own fault:

Whose fault? Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
All he could have; I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

Blake and his ilk might argue that God is still guilty of being unjust since, as an omnipotent being able to see the past, present, and future all at once, God would be well aware that Adam and Eve were going to make the wrong decision. Some might even argue their punishment is much too harsh for their crime. And others still might counter that the Son's intervention is God's way of making sure humanity can be rescued from its own fallen state.