Serving as the voice of the Devil, Blake acts as the narrator and prophetic voice of the text. He immerses himself in the fires of Hell to gather proverbs and vigorously defends human energy and the physical body against the restrictions of conventional religion. He believes the creative imagination functions as the ultimate truth.

A representative of conventional religious orthodoxy. He categorizes energy and desire as evil, believing himself bound for Heaven while warning Blake he is destined for Hell. His perceptions are dictated by strict moral codes, limiting his ability to experience the infinite.

The fiery spirit of political and spiritual revolution. Born of the Eternal Female, he possesses flaming hair and arises to stamp the stony laws of oppression to dust.

An eighteenth-century Swedish theologian whose dualistic writings Blake attacks. Though he claimed to offer a new religious understanding, he merely repackages old falsehoods by relying solely on reason and conversing exclusively with Angels.

An early version of the tyrant of reason who issues ten commandments to maintain his oppressive grip on humanity. He attempts to destroy the revolutionary spirit by hurling him into the night.

An Old Testament prophet who explains that his unconventional acts were driven by discovering the infinite in everything. He affirms that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God.

An Old Testament prophet who shares his belief that the Poetic Genius was the true God of the Israelites. He recounts performing extreme physical acts, like eating dung, to force others into perceiving the infinite.

A prophetic figure representing righteous wrath. He signals the arrival of a revolutionary age and the turbulent disruption of the stagnant old order.

A figure who transforms barren lands into fruitful places of life, represented by roses and honey bees. He is eventually driven into the wilderness by opposing forces.

A hypocritical figure who uses fake humility to usurp the true path of life. He represents the restrictive, controlling nature of the Church.

A mythological figure groaning in childbirth. She brings forth the revolutionary fire that sweeps across the nations.

An allegorical figure representing sexual pleasure and foundational creative energy. He clears away the accumulated misunderstandings that block human perception.

An allegorical representation of reason that folds around the cavern. He adorns the space with gold and precious stones to provide an outward circumference for energy.

A symbol of the Poetic Genius and imagination. With wings of air, he causes the inside of the cave to become infinite, expanding perception outward.

Symbols of fiery creativity who melt down and cast metals. They shape the raw materials of energy into the final artistic product.

The animating, prolific principles of life. They have allowed themselves to be put in chains by the cunning of weak minds, reducing them to shadows of their true energetic potential.

A hideous, monstrous serpent marked by tiger-like stripes. He represents the terrifying illusion of evil generated by false metaphysics.