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John Milton's Paradise Lost is a religious work, and is in many ways an autobiography of Milton's own life. John Milton was raised catholic and converted to Protestantism. Later in life he became a Calvinist. His strong Calvinists beliefs can be seen throughout Paradise Lost. It was Milton's desire to be a great poet, but he did not believe that was his purpose in life. He believed that he had been put here to serve God, and that any thing that he wrote should be in one way or another related to that purpose.
In this way Milton felt that in writing Paradise Lost not only was he writing the epic poem he had always wanted to, but also fulfilling his godly purpose here on earth. At the time that Milton was writing Paradise Lost he was a prisoner in his home and to his blindness. He had been involved in the rebellion with Cromwell when the King had been executed and the monarchy had been run out of England. When Cromwell died and the King returned to power he was forced to go into hiding and no longer had any rights of an English man. If he had come out of hiding he most likely would have been executed for treason. He had also lost his sight completely and was being taken care of by his daughters.
The subject of Paradise Lost is mans disobedience and how disobedience leads to the loss of happiness. He is dealing not only with the disobedience of Adam, Eve, and Satin, but also with his own disobedience. Different autobiographical issues are dealt with through Adam and Satin. Adam seems to represent his sins against God, which led to his blindness, and Satin could represent his disobedience to the King.
The first book deals with the war in heaven and the devils being sent out into chaos. Satin is the leader of the rebellion in heaven and he and all of the devils that were on his side of the rebellion arrive on the lake of fire. In book two they all discuss what to do about their situation. There is talk of returning for another battle, but it is agreed that they dont have a chance. Finally Satin decides that they should try and destroy the new world that he has heard God was creating. When Satin reaches the new world that has been created in book IV he considers what would happen if he were to repent for what he had done.
He talks the matter over with himself for quite some time and decides that even if God would take him back it would not do him any good. The lower still I fall, only supreme In misery; such joy ambition finds. But say I could repent and could obtain By act of grace my former state; how soon Would high recall high thoughts, how soon unsay What feigned submission swore: ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. For never can true reconcilement grow Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep: Which would but lead me to a worse relapse, And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear Short intermission bought with double smart. (Book IV lines 91 - 103) This is where I see the first bit of Milton in Satin. Satin thought about it and decided that if he were to repent he would only do the same thing again, because he believed in what he had done. I believe Milton felt the same way.
Even if he could have said he was sorry for the treason he had committed and been forgiven and allowed to come out of hiding he wouldnt have done it. He knew in his mind he had done what was best for him and he would do it again if given the chance. Although it is easy to draw parallels between satins situation and Milton's situation, which I believe was intentional, I do not believe that Milton was sympathizing with Satin. He believed very strongly that Satins rebellion was wrong but he would have defended the rebellion that he had been involved in. In book three Milton deals with his own religious views, specifically the doctrine of the elect. He does this by setting up a conversation between God and his Son.
God says he knows that man will fall, and knew even before he created them, but that he did not make them fall. He explains the basis of the elect starting on line 183. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace Elect above the rest; so is my will: The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warned Their sinful state, and to appease betimes Th incensed Deity, while offered grace Invites; for I will clear their senses dark, What may suffice, and soften stony hearts To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, Though but endeavored with sincere intent, Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut. And I will place within them as a guide My umpire conscience, whom if they will here, Light after light well used thy shall attain, And to the end persisting, safe arrive. (Book 3 lines 183 - 197. ) The book continues to tell how the Son of God volunteered to be the one to become a mortal and go to earth to save the elect. In book IV Satin reaches the Garden of Eden and begins to try and temp Eve in her sleep.
The good angels who saw him enter the garden caught him. He tried to play innocent, but eventually became angry and was going to fight Gabriel. Just before the fight satin saw a sigh from heaven and knew that he could not win the fight and quickly flew back to hell. In the morning when Eve woke up she remembered parts of what Satin had whispered in her ear. She told Adam what had happened and he comforted her. Shortly after this talk an angel came to warn Adam about the bad angel in the garden and that he would try and tempt them.
God sent the angel so that Adam could not clam he had been surprised and unprepared for the temptation he was going to be faced with. Raphael explained to Adam Gods reasoning for allowing him to be tempted in Book V lines 524 - 534. God make thee perfect, not immutable; And good he made thee, but to persevere He left it in thy power, ordained thy will By nature free, not overruled by fate Inextricable, or strict necessity; Our voluntary service he requires, Not our necessitated, such with him Finds no acceptance, nor can find, for how Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must By destiny, and can no other choose? After sharing the reason for his free will he told Adam the story of Satins fall.
It appears that he told him what had happened to the angels who had been disobedient to God to encourage his obedience. In book VII Raphael discusses the creation with Adam. In this book Milton follows the book of Genesis very closely. He added very little embellishment and did not change any of the facts from the way that they were presented in the bible.
Next Adam questioned Raphael about the solar system and how the stars move. It is believed that Milton's reasoning for bringing up the subject was that it was a rather hot topic at the time. Some people believed that the Earth moved around the sun and others believed that the solar system moved around the Earth. It is interesting that Raphael avoided directly answering the question and simply says that it may appear that the planets are moving around the earth because of the earths rotation on its axis. He also brings up the fact that the axis was not tilted until after the fall of man in a later book. Milton and others of his time believed that the universe was directly connected to spiritual occurrences so the arrangement of the solar system was very much a religious topic.
At the end of book VIII Raphael warns Adam one last time of the evil lurking in the garden and of his own ability to resist the temptation that it might present and leaves the garden. In book IX the tragedy began. During the night Satin had snuck into the garden once more. There he found a sleeping serpent and took over his body. Milton did not present the serpent himself as evil, but possessed by evil. The next morning when Adam and Eve prepared to do their work in the garden Eve wanted to go work by herself.
At first Adam disapproved because of the danger of Satin, but eventually she convinced him to let he go off on her own. Shortly after they separated Satin found Eve alone and took advantage of the situation. Satin went and spoke to Eve in the form of the serpent. He convinced her that he had gained the ability to think and to speak from eating the forbidden fruit.
After a lengthy conversation Satin convinced Eve to eat the fruit. Milton makes the first sin committed sound quite beautiful in Book IX lines 781 - 784 Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate: / Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat/ Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe, / That all was lost. The first thing that Eve decided to do after she had eaten the fruit was find Adam and convince him to eat it too so that they would be even. He knew what eating the fruit would do, but he loved Eve and could not imagine living with out her so he decided to eat it also. After they have both fallen they went to sleep. When they woke up they began blaming each other for the fall.
In book X God sent Christ to the garden to pass judgment on the couple. Adam immediately blamed Eve and Eve in turn blamed the serpent. Christ cursed the serpent to slither on its belly for causing Eve to sin. Then he cursed Eve and all women who would come after her to painful childbirth and submission to man. Adam and all men after him were cursed to have to labor for food.
After he did this he returned to heaven. When Satin returned to Hell he first encountered Sin and Death who were building a bridge to earth to make it easier for them to corrupt its inhabitants. Next he gave a speech to the rest of the fallen angels. When he was done he expected to here cheering, but instead there was A dismal universal hiss, the sound/ Of public scorn (Book X 508 - 509).
Satin and all the other fallen angels had been turned into snakes. There was also a tree placed in the center of hell and whenever the snakes tried to eat the fruit it turned to ash. After Christ had returned to heaven the angles altered the universe so that there would be hot summers and cold winters. Before the fall the universe had been arranged so that there would be one comfortable temperature. Milton once again included both theories of how the universe was arranged by saying that the angels either actually moved the sun and the planets or tilted the earths axis. At the end of book X Eve begs for Adams forgiveness then they both beg for Gods forgiveness.
In book XI God hears their pleas and allows them to live and his son agrees to be an advocate for them. Although his mercy allowed them some leeway he still kicked them out of the garden because they were no longer pure and said that they would eventually die for their sins. Being kicked out of the garden also has some autobiographical significance in the life of Milton. He loved gardens and both of his punishments, blindness and being imprisoned in his home made it impossible for him to enjoy them.
In the last book Michael shows Adam what is to come for the human race. This gave Adam some hope for the future and makes it easier for him to carry on after falling from God. Adam sees that much good will come from his sin in the end. 4 a 5 Masson, David. Afterword A Brief Life of Milton Paradise Lost. By John Milton.
Ed. Scott Elledge. New York: W. W.
Norton &# 038; Company, 1993. Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge. New York: W.
W. Norton &# 038; Company, 1993. Wagenknecht, Edward. The Personality of Milton. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
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