Satan in Paradise Lost

My brother read Paradise Lost for a great books class he had at his college. He couldn't stop raving about it, especially the role Satan plays.  And after reading the introduction, it was clear that my brother isn't the first person to be fascinated by him, Blake and Shelley thought he was the real epic hero of the story.  Anyway, my point is, I paid a lot of attention to Satan in this section we had to read.  The first thing that this Satan, as told by Milton reminded me of was of Don John in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Both characters recognize that they are more unhappy around beautiful things.  Satan says at one point "the more I see pleasures about me, so much more I feel torment within me" (lines 119-121).  This doesn't seem like an epic hero to me, just another villain.  The reason I don't think it sounds like an epic hero is because Satan has accepted his inability to be happy. He now knows he made a mistake in rebelling so he will bring everyone down with him.  I think that Satan must have been more admirable character in the previous books because he is currently just depressing.  As he possesses the serpent "mixed with bestial slime" (line 165), Satan sinks to a low.  The only way for him to be happy would be to repent, yet he is determined to destroy the human race.  I hope someday I can read the rest of the epic so I can closely read Satan's degeneration.
-Molly Hakso