Satan was an angel challenged the almighty God in all his hypocrisy. Yet, failed and was exiled from the kingdom. He was hubristic yet somehow valiant, and showed bravery like in so many tragedies.
The very story of Satan fits the very definition of tragic hero.
Do any Christians sympathize with the devil? Or is this a sin?
His fall from grace and his imperfections are human, in contrast to the perfect being called God.
I can see where you’re coming from and mostly agree, but yes, it would most likely be a sin for a christian to ever sympathize with Satan. Thing is, Satan never preached to be as perfect as God, yet knew he himself was infallible. It’s kind of like fighting fire with fire
Yes - this idea really came from reading Milton’s Paradise Lost.
I found Satan to be the most human of all the characters.
I was just wondering if there is any Christian thought that views this a valuable story in the tragic sense.
The thing is satan was created by God as the most beautiful angel in Heaven, plus being known as the angel of music. The difference between satan and man is, satan had miraculous powers like God. He felt he should be worshiped and sit upon the throne like God. This didn’t go over well with God and satan was summarily kicked out of Heaven along with his followers. His pride and lust for power was his undoing.
More of a metaphor for man?
I think more than a metaphor due to what I believe is a strong correlation between satan and man’s fall from grace with God.
Have a talk with Shelley.
You must be referring to Prometheus Unbound! I will put this on my reading list.
“In other words, while Milton’s Satan embodies a spirit of rebellion, that character is flawed because his aims are not humanistic. In his Prometheus, Shelley seeks to create a perfect revolutionary in an ideal, abstract sense (thus the difficulty of the poem).”
So Shelley’s Satan may be more sympathetic a character than Milton’s. Very interesting.
Shelley’s satan is Milton’s. Read Paradise Lost and Frankenstein side-by-side. That is the whole point of Frankenstein. Prometheus Unbound is good too, but Frankenstein has the allusion down pat. Just ignore the “rawwwr!” movie.
I have read Frankenstein and I’m not seeing the connection. Frankenstein is an outsider, unnatural and a pariah. Is this meant to be analagous to Satan??
Excuse my silliness. Its been years since I read it. You mean Dr. Frankenstein is analogous to Satan? not the monster of course.
The Monster = satan.
Some people say the monster is Adam, but given Shelley’s essays where she details Satan as the hero of PL, I doubt that most sincerely.
People who would identify Adam in that position must be recognizing to some extent the correlation between him and satan. The events that occured in Heaven during satan’s insurrection resulted in him being cast down to earth as well as Adam and Eve being turned out of Eden for their disobeyance of God.
The many legends of Satan and the Devil go back to one Biblical source in Isaiah, the only reference in it to Lucifer. More about this coming under the topic title, “Biblical contradictions and problematic passages–Vol 2”. Look for it soon here in the Religion forum. You will be amazed.
Interesting! I hadn’t even considered that angle. Good call Liteninbolt!
Thanks Xun, but I can’t take credit for that observation. 
From Bible studies and other sources that concern this, I was able to form that opinion to which I feel strongly about.
No i do not sympathize with the devil. He got what he deserved and so will all those who reject God.
Cool post. I agree. He is a tragic hero definitely!
However, God created Satan in order that he would challenge him. Now that’s tragic! Creating a being for the purpose of condemning it! 
…which God wouldn’t do.
The Christian religion is as silly as the anthropological plot it is modeled from: the typical middle class sub-urban family. God is the dad, Satan is junior. He wants to take the car out on Friday but Dad doesn’t let him. He throws a fit. Dad kicks him out of the house. Satan starts a gang of rebellious youth. So on and so forth.