In response to Beelzebub's lament that the fallen angels would have to "suffice his [God's] vengeful ire" (I.148), Satan sets a purpose for those who now reign the underworld to create evil as a direct response to the wrongs God continually does unto them. This brings to light Satan's self-characterization as an opponent of God, which, despite his proclaimed cause, seems to be created without precedent. This leaves us to wonder if his evil intent is created by circumstances that are external (God) or internal (himself, by nature).
He resolves to create an eternal task "to do ill our sole delight, / As being the contrary to his high will / Whom we resist" (I.160-162). Satan's choice to "resist" and act as "contrary" to God, who he believes "raised [him] to contend" (I.99) and to prefer "His utmost power with adverse power opposed" (I.103) is a deliberate pitting of himself as the opposite/foe/antithesis of God. This exemplifies the meaning of his self-named "Satan", with the Hebrew meaning "adversary", whose purpose is to create himself as an opponent to the "sense of injured merit" (I.98) he believes God has inflicted upon him. However, he also describes his resolution as a "reassembling [of] our afflicted powers" (I.186), which we we could interpret to mean that Satan is merely afflicted or overcome with a bad case of ego bruised, which implies that his enmity is self-made because he controls his own ego--or, at the very least, can be attributed to a random, impartial power or force.
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