PARADISE LOST

BY JOHN MILTON, 1664

JOHN MILTONS BIOGRAPHY

John Milton (9 December 1608 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of

England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote

at a time of religious flux and political

upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in

blank verse.

PARADISE LOST, A POEM

The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over

ten thousand lines of verse. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the
Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in

Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men".

PARADISE LOST SUMMARY

Fall of Man

SATANS PLAN & CHARACTERS

Rebellious angels reunite in the Lake of Fire, to complot against God. After discussing their options, they decide to surpass Earth and tempt Adam & Eve: Satan: inspires other fallen angels to raise and revenge against God the Father Mammon and Mulciber: build their palace and capital, Pandemonium Moloch: fallen angel that suggests to take over Heaven by forcing a war Belial: fallen angel that suggest to do nothing about their doomed fate. Mammon: materialistic angel that suggest to do the best they can with what they have. Beelzebub: second in command after Satan. He suggests to get at God by attacking his creation on Earth: man.

GODS OMNISCIENCE
God watches Satan approach Earth and predicts his success in corrupting Man. Man has free will. But God omnisciently knows what will happen. God adds that

Man can be saved through mercy and grace, but he must also accept the just
punishment of death, unless someone takes on death for Man. The Son offers to become a man and suffer death in order to overcome it. The angels rejoice.

HEAVEN CHARACTERS
Uriel: angel sitting in the sun, he realizes of Satan's approach to the earth and informs other angels Gabriel: angel that takes care of the Paradises security Ithuriel and Zephron: they catch Satan on his first attempt to surpass the Paradise

Raphael: God sent angel that warns Adam and Eve of Satans rebellion and the intentions to attack them.
Michael: angel that expels Adam and Eve from the Paradise, but leaves them with a biblical approach of what had occurred. Son of God: sent by God to Earth to pronounce judgment on the humans and the serpent. The Son goes to Earth and makes his judgments. He adds though, that through mercy, Adam and Eve and all humans may eventually be able to overcome death.

THE PARADISE
Adam and Eve are presented for the first

time in Christian literature as having a

full relationship while still being without sin.

They

have

passions

and

distinct

personalities. Satan, disguised in the form of a serpent, successfully tempts

Eve to eat from the Tree by preying on

her vanity and tricking her with rhetoric. Adam, learning that Eve has sinned, knowingly commits the same sin.

PARADISE CHARACTERS
Adam is the first human created by God. Though initially alone, Adam demands a mate from God. Considered God's prized creation, Adam, along with his wife, rules over all the creatures of the world and resides in the Garden of Eden. Eve is the second human created by God, taken from one of Adam's ribs and shaped into a female form of Adam. Far from the traditional model of a good wife, she is often unwilling to be submissive towards Adam. She is more intelligent and curious about external ideas than her husband. Serpent, after previous failed attempts, Satan manages to enter the Paradise in the shape of a serpent. He is cunning, deceptive and persuasive.

THEMES
Besides the fall of man, Paradise Lost has other approaches or interpretations related to these themes: Marriage: The relationship between Adam and Eve is one of mutual dependence, not a relation of domination or hierarchy. They compliment each other. Idolatry: In Book XI of Paradise Lost, Adam tries to atone for his sins by offering to build altars to worship God. In response, the angel Michael explains that Adam does not need to build physical objects to experience the presence of God

THE END