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THAT SPACE THE EVIL ONE.....THUS EXCITES (LINES 463-472)
Eve appeared to Satan to have an angelic divine form, but her graceful innocence made her more grace fill and feminine than the angels. So charmed was Satan by her graceful innocence, that the malice and the bitter and strong desire for revenge which had brought him there was forgotten. For a brief space, Satan stood lost in contemplation of the beauty and innocence before him. It made him forget his own evil malice cunning, hatred and the overpowering desire for revenge. For this moment Satan appeared to have become good, to the extent that he does not think evil. However, he is not actively good and it is wholly unintentional and unconscious, as he is stupefied by Eve’s beauty.
Even this passive goodness does not last long. The Evil within him, the hot fire of Hell which he carries wherever he goes, reasserts itself and fills him once again with malice and hatred. His short-lived delight in the beauties of Paradise, and the charm and dignity of Eve, soon gave place to torture which increased as he realized that the pleasures were not for him. Satan reminded himself of the task for which he had come and the thought of Adam and Eve, being made of mere clay, enjoying the privileges which were his, originally awaken all his malice. He congratulates himself on his success in entering Eden and finding Eve alone and plans his revenge.