darkness Satan and the fallen angels lie in a burning lake after their defeat in Heaven The fire of Hell does not give comfort or light Instead it increases pain Milton calls it a place of darkness visible In hell there is No light but rather darkness visible This strange line shows that even light in Hell only helps suffering Nothing in Hell brings peace The fire burns without hope The darkness frightens the soul Milton wants us to feel that Hell is completely opposite to Heaven Hell as a Place of Eternal Pain and Punishment Hell is not a temporary punishment It is endless Satan and his followers are punished forever for their rebellion against God Milton shows this when Satan realizes that Hell will never end He says that Hell is a dungeon horrible A Dungeon horrible on all sides round As one great Furnace flam'd These lines show that Hell is like a burning prison There is no escape There is no freedom Pain fear and punishment continue without rest This makes Hell more terrible than physical pain alone Hell as Separation from God One of the most important ideas in Book I is that Hell means separation from God Satan understands that he has lost Heaven forever This loss hurts him more than fire or chains Heaven was full of light joy and peace Hell is full of suffering because God is absent Satan sadly remembers Heaven and says Farewell happy fields Where joy forever dwells This shows that Hell is painful because it is far away from God s love and grace Hell as a Condition of the Mind Milton also shows that Hell is not only a physical place It is also a condition of the mind Satan s body lies in the burning lake but his mind suffers even more His pride anger and hatred make his pain deeper In Book I Satan says The mind is its own place and in it self Can make a Heav'n of Hell a Hell of Heav'n By this Milton means that a person s thoughts can create Heaven or Hell Satan cannot feel peace because his mind is full of rebellion Even when he gathers courage and speaks proudly his heart remains restless He cannot escape Hell because he refuses to submit to God His sinful mind turns every place into suffering Thus Milton clearly shows that Hell exists inside Satan s soul as well as around him Hell as a Place of False Hope In Book I Satan tries to turn Hell into a place of false courage He encourages the fallen angels and pretends that Hell can be ruled like a kingdom But this hope is false Satan s speeches hide fear and pain Milton shows that pride cannot defeat God Hell remains a place of suffering no matter how bravely Satan speaks Overall in Paradise Lost Book I Milton presents Hell as a place of fire darkness pain and hopelessness It is a prison where suffering never ends More importantly Hell is separation from God and a state of the sinful mind