Paradise Lost, epic poem in blank verse, one of the late works by John Milton, originally issued
in 10 books in 1667 and, with Books 7 and 10 each split into two parts, published in 12 books in
the second edition of 1674.
Many scholars consider Paradise Lost to be one of the greatest poems in the English language. It
tells the biblical story of the fall from grace of Adam and Eve (and, by extension, all humanity)
in language that is a supreme achievement of rhythm and sound. The 12-book structure, the
technique of beginning in medias res (in the middle of the story), the invocation of the muse, and
the use of the epic question are all classically inspired. The subject matter, however, is distinctly
Christian.
The main characters in the poem are God, Lucifer (Satan), Adam, and Eve. Much has been
written about Milton’s powerful and sympathetic characterization of Satan. The Romantic poets
William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley saw Satan as the real hero of the poem and applauded
his rebellion against the tyranny of Heaven.
Many other works of art have been inspired by Paradise Lost, notably Joseph Haydn’s oratorio
The Creation (1798) and John Keats’s long poem Endymion. Milton wrote a companion piece,
Paradise Regained, in 1671, which dramatizes the temptation of Christ.
As an epic
An epic is a long narrative in which the characters and actions are presented in heroic proportion.
Paradise Lost is long poem written in 12 Books. the subject matter of this poem is the fall of
Man from paradise and the purpose of the poet way to justify the ways of God to man.
Another characteristic of a classical epic is the invocation to the muse of poetry. The subject
matter of this epic Milton has taken from the Bible. That is why Milton invokes the heavenly
Muse. Heavenly Muse here is the holy spirit of God. he sought God’s inspiration so that he can
be able to successfully present the subject matter. the poet wants to justify the ways of God to
man. He says—
I may assert, Eternal Providence
And justify the ways of God to Man.
The subject matter of a classical epic is generally of national importance but the subject matter of
Paradise Lost is more than this. Its subject concerns the whole cosmos—man, Angels, God,
earth, heaven and hell. According to Coleridge–
The epic represents the origin of evil and the combat of evil and good, it contains a
matter of deep interest to all mankind.
In a classical epic, there is a national hero of national importance. the character belongs to the
higher class of the society.in paradise lost the hero is Adam who is the father of Mankind. The
character is of universal importance. Typically, with the downfall of the national hero, the whole
nation suffers the downfall. but in paradise lost with the downfall of Adam, the whole nation
suffers the downfall. We can mention the opening lines of Book -1 in this regard –
Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the world, and all our woe.
Generally, an epic involves heroic deeds. This epic also includes war and heroic deeds. We see
war in heaven. The archangels under the leadership of Satan waged a war against God. They
shook the throne of God. The might of the fallen angels cannot be compared with any force of
the earth. Satan himself takes the adventure of the underworld journey to discover the Earth
where human beings will live. the angels of God and the fallen angels are the real duex-ex-
machina (supernatural agents) who determine the destiny of Man through their dreadful war.
Typically, the epic is written in grand style. Enriched language has been used throughout the
book. The horrendous description of hell and the rowdy speech delivery of Satan are the exact
replica of grand style. Tennyson evaluated Milton in this regard—
Go-gifted voice of England.
Use of epic simile is another stereotypical element in Paradise Lost. epic similes are rampant in
the poem. We can remember how Satan has been compare with the Briareous or Typhon.
Typhon is a giant with hundred heads and Briareous is a giant with hundred arms mentioned in
Greek mythology. Satan has been compared with the sea beast Leviathan. Leviathan is a sea-
monster, whale. The size of this monster is like that of an island. Let us mention the lines—
..or that sea beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim the ocean streams.
In the light of above discussion, we can very safely say that John Milton his outstanding skill in
employing all the epical qualities in Paradise Lost. Milton is an epic poet of outstanding calibre
indeed.
Tragedy.
The prologue to Book IX says that the work must now take on a tragic tone, and that this
acclaimed Christian epic is considered to be greater in stature than theIlliad and the Aeneid.
Milton disagrees with the kind of heroism that staple tragedies deal with . He asserts that the
heroism associated with Paradise Lost is higher than that of traditional tragedies as it not only
pertains to an individual or a nation but the whole of the human race. In tragedies, the hero is
characterized by ‘hamartia’ or tragic flaw that lead to his downfall. There is anagnorisis
(knowledge of the true circumstances); and peripeteia (reversal of fortunes).The tragedy leaves
us with a feeling of catharsis leading to pity for the protagonist and fear for spectator/reader.
Here the ‘tragic flaw’ of Adam is that his love for Eve dominates over the dictates of God. This
leads him to devour the apple that leads to his doom.Adam is is nowhere characterized by hubris
or overbearing pride in oneself. He is neither typified with vengeance as with typical tragic
heroes and archetypal militarism as with the warrior heroes of It does not abide by the three basic
unities particularly the unity of time, and the setting that transmogrifies from Eden to earth. It
does not include ‘the ekkylema’ or ‘a cart which was wheeled out at the end of a play, to display
the aftermath of some great battle so bodies were often laid on it and brought out;the people are
transfigured into human beings vulnerable to death, and the stage is set for procreation of the
human race susceptible to death. The general feeling that tragedy leaves us with is a sense of
waste that Paradise Lost does not leave us with. It rather leaves us with a positive streak of
optimism that the paradise and Edenic glory will be regained. Tragic heroes approach problems
in a set of binaries, but for Adam here the bad option leads not to an irreversible bad future but
there is the positive streak of redemption. There is social isolation in Tragedies, the people and
heroes of high stature are regarded as individuals. They are not linked to the society that they
thrive in .For instance, Shakespeare’s King Lear deals with the fall of an individual and the
ramifications on the nation are not dealt with. Edward Bond wrote Lear to signify that the
actions of an individual at the seat of power has consequences on the society or kingdom also. So
Paradise Lost does not deal with an individual only unlike the classic tragedies that generally
portray the downfall of an individual ; the flaw of the protagonist here results in the doom of the
whole of human race.
However, at the end of a tragedy there is the death of the hero with no hope of regeneration. In
Paradise Lost, there is the hope of redemption in the form of the savior. Man is also given the
opportunity to make amends for his sin. If there is a mistake, it is a felix cupla or happy mistake
that leads to Adam’s downfall. Therefore, Paradise Lost is not a tragedy in the true sense of its
conventions.
Hierarchy and Order
In portraying the “Fall of Man” and the war in Heaven, Milton spends much of Paradise Lost
describing the universal hierarchy and order that these events upset. In his 17th century view of
the cosmos, Heaven exists above, Earth below, and Hell and Chaos below that. Within this
geographically ordered cosmos, the most important hierarchy of Heaven is that of God as
supreme monarch, the creator and ruler of the universe, and his “only begotten” Son as equal in
rank, a separate person but of the same essence as God. Below these are the Archangels and
Angels, arranged in different categories depending on their proximity to God’s light – these
include Thrones, Powers, Dominions, and Cherubim, among others. When God creates Earth, he
sets Adam and Eve in rank above the animals, and he sets Adam above Eve in terms of authority
and wisdom. The devils of Hell are the lowest ranked of all, as they have been totally cast away
from God.
In his personal life, Milton was a proponent of individual freedom and the overthrow of
monarchies, and he actively defended the regicide (i.e. execution) of King Charles I. One of the
great ironies of Paradise Lost is that the radical Milton would make his masterpiece a poem that
defends the ultimate system of monarchy and order. A probable explanation for this (from C.S.
Lewis) is that Milton felt God was the rightful ruler of all, while monarchs were not. Thus he felt
no qualms about defending God’s sovereignty while simultaneously attacking Charles I and II.
Despite Milton’s personal beliefs and biography, the overarching moral lesson of Paradise Lost
is that the hierarchy of Heaven and Earth must be respected and upheld, and that the evil in the
world is the result of an upset of the divine order.
Disobedience and Revolt
Paradise Lost is about the fall of humanity and the rebellion of Satan and his angels, so the plot
and conflict almost entirely come from acts of revolt against the hierarchy of God’s universe.
The “Fall” comes when Satan grows jealous of God honoring the Son so highly. Satan then
convinces a third of Heaven’s angels to rebel with him, claiming that they should be honored as
gods and not have to worship God and his Son. This leads to a civil war in Heaven, with the
rebels eventually being defeated and cast into Hell. In his bitterness Satan plots to corrupt
humanity, who are then innocent, and in this second rebellion he uses fraud and disobedience
instead of open revolt. The central conflict and subject of the poem then becomes Adam and Eve
disobeying God by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which God had forbidden. This
single act of disobedience leads to the “Fall of Man,” and the Christian explanation for all the
suffering and evil in the world.
In Milton’s universe there is no question about punishment for disobedience and revolt. Even
though God shows mercy in sending his Son to redeem humanity and bring good out of the Fall,
he still causes endless misery for the sake of one piece of fruit, and he shows no mercy at all in
punishing Satan. The order of the universe and God’s supremacy must be maintained, and when
this hierarchy is upset the result is always pain and punishment.
Sin and Innocence
Free Will and Predestination
In Paradise Lost Milton argues that though God foresaw the Fall of Man, he still didn’t influence
Adam and Eve’s free will. Milton’s God exists outside of time and so sees all times at once, and
thus can see the future without actively affecting it. God specifically says that he gives his
creatures the option to serve or disobey, as he wants obedience that is freely given, not forced.
Some critics have claimed that the God of the poem undercuts his own arguments, however.
Milton did not believe in the Calvinistic idea of “predestination” (that God has already decided
who is going to Hell and who to Heaven), but he often comes close to describing a Calvinistic
God. God purposefully lets Satan escape Hell and sneak past Uriel into Eden, and basically
orchestrates the whole situation so that humanity can be easily ruined by a single disobedient act.
In describing the Fall before it happens, God already predicts how he will remedy it and give
greater glory to himself by sending his Son to die and restore the order of Heaven.
This possible predestination leads to the theory of the “fortunate fall,” which is based on Adam’s
delight at learning of the eventual coming of the Messiah. This idea says that God allowed the
Fall of Man so that he could bring good out of it, possibly more good than would have occurred
without the Fall, and be able to show his love and power through the incarnation of his Son. In
this way the free will of Adam and Eve (and Satan) remains basically free, but still fits into
God’s overarching plan.
Love and Marriage
Milton was seen as radical and lewd for suggesting that Adam and Eve had sex before the Fall
and still remained sinless, but Milton creates a picture of marital love that is innocent and pure
and still involves sexuality, mostly as a form of obedience to God’s command to “be fruitful.”
Milton also emphasizes the hierarchy in marriage, which relates to the general ideas about
women at the time. Adam is created to be superior to Eve, communing with God directly, while
she communes with God through him, and while Eve is more beautiful, Adam is wiser and
stronger. Along with this marital hierarchy, there is also a proper order for love itself. Love of
God should come before romantic love (or self-love, in Satan’s case), so when Adam chooses to
disobey God’s commandment for the sake of Eve’s love, this is as much his “original sin” as the
actual eating of the forbidden fruit. Though this romantic love leads to the Fall, it is also a great
comfort to the couple (along with the ever-present love of God) as they are expelled from
Paradise. Adam and Eve can still take some joy in each other, and look forward to the day when
God will prove his divine love through his Son’s incarnation.
BEELZEBUB, MAMMON, MULCIBER AND MOLOCH
Beelzebub in Paradise Lost Book I, is the first mate of Satan. He is Satan’s “bold compeer” and
next to him “in power, and next in crime.” There are few legends in The Bible associated with
Beelzebub, but, Milton seems to portray him in Paradise Lost rather as an allegorization invented
by St. Jerome, in which Beelzebub is the “lord of the flies”, flies being a symbol of pertinacity.
Beelzebub never ceases the human race in every way. He, however lacks Satan’s “indomitable
courage” in Book I. He would have surrendered unconditionally to God had not Satan cheered up
his failing spirits by his fiery eloquence. Beelzebub’s first speech, following immediately that of
Satan, is in marked contrast to his leader. He does not talk about a never-ending war against God
but rues the “dire event” that had lost him, and the other fallen angels, “Heaven”. He fears that
the future might hold even greater punishment and humiliation for them as, having lost the war,
they are now slaves to God by the “right of war”. It is now in God’s hand to humiliate them as he
wishes; he might torture them as and when he pleases or he might use them “to do his errands in
the gloomy deep.” He accepts Satan’s argument that being immortal, they can hope for their
strength to return but laments that it can be of little use against “almighty” God. He rather fears
that being eternal they would only be forced to “undergo eternal punishment”.
This is an especially critical moment in the play as Satan’s plan of continuing “eternal war” can
only be feasible if he can rouse his army and if he cannot rouse Beelzebub, his closest comrade,
there is little hope of doing so. He, therefore, is quick to point out to Beelzebub, “Fall’n Cherub,
to be weak is miserable”. Like an able general he points out God’s “minister of vengeance and
pursuit” no longer torment them and hence they should not let “slip th’ occasion”. He asks
Beelzebub to follow him to the “yon deary plain, forlorn and wild”. This desolate plain is where
they would reassemble and plan their future course of action. It is a burning testimony to Satan’s
leadership qualities that the next time we meet Beelzebub, he is a far cry from the diffident fallen
angel earlier seen. It is he who suggests that Satan should call upon his fallen angels and is
utterly confident that they would respond to his “voice, their liveliest pledge/ Of hope in fears
and dangers…” He is now full of vigour and confident that the fallen angels, after one call from
Satan, “will soon resume/ New courage and revive…” His judicious nature is evident in his
astute understanding of the situation. The fallen angels in Book I indeed react exactly in the
manner he had predicted. It is quite clear that his advice would be of great use to Satan in his
battle against God.
Another major fallen angel who Milton singles out for mention in Book I is Mammon. He is
greed personified as even during his stay in heaven he could never moved his eyes from the
“gold” pavements of Heaven. This made him the “least erected spirit that fell”. The word
“Mammon”, meaning riches, or the greed for the riches that takes man away from God appears
in Matthew 6.24: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” at the same time. He is considered by
angelologists to be the prince of the lowest order of angels. He is entrusted by Satan in Book I to
collect the necessary metal for building “Pandemonium”, Satan’s palace in Hell. He performs his
duty with perfection and within hours rips open the bowel of mother earth to collect enough gold
for building the palace. Milton indicates that it is the spirit of Mammon that prompts men to dug
Mother Earth and excavate gold, a metal responsible for much human misery. It is he who fuels
our desire for worldly riches that inevitably takes us away from the divine path.
Mulciber is one of the major fallen angels in Satan’s horde. There are many legends surrounding
his fall, but Milton believes he fell along with Satan and his crew. The Italians erroneously
believe that Jupiter hurled him out of heaven and fell into the Isle of Lemnos, but Milton
considers him to be a part of the “horrid crew” that God punished along with Satan. He is
reputed to have built many palaces in Heaven and he proves his expertise once again by giving
shape to the grand palace called Pandemonium. His name literally means “one who refines ore
by melting it and pouring it into mould” is also associated with Vulcan, a Roman fire God, or
God of Smiths.
Among the large catalogue of angels that Milton considers as the major warriors in Satan’s
camp, Moloch stands supreme. The name literally means “king” and he is worshipped in the
form of a huge brass idol with the head of a calf and outstretched hands. There is a large hollow
in his idol’s stomach where burns a continuous fire into which misguided worshippers threw live
children to satisfy his eternal hunger. The priests play loud music during such ceremonies to
drown the cry of the dying children. He is by far the most horrid of Satan’s companions and the
very valley where he is worshipped Gehenna, came to stand for a synonym for Hell. He was
successful in convincing the aged Solomon to build a temple for him on the “opprobrious hill”.
The Egyptian name for the planet Mars, often associated with war and bloodshed is Moloch and
Milton might have known of this when he conceived Moloch as warlike.
The list of horrid angels who supported and fell with Satan highlights the evil that they wish to
perpetuate. Their sole delight, like their leader, is to “do ill”. Beelzebub and the rest give an epic
grandeur to Milton’s work by providing a truly frightening picture of Satan’s army.
