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Paradise Lost was the first epic poem that was written in Blank 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. The book was first published in 1667 and it was revised and reprinted again in 1674. It was arranged in 12 parts in the manner of Virgil’s Aeneid and it contained more than 10,000 lines of verses. John Milton had gone completely blind in 1652 while he started writing Paradise Lost in 1658 with the help of amanuenses and scribes.
Paradise Lost is based on the biblical theory of Fall of Man and the central character of the story is Satan, formerly known as Lucifer in Heaven. Lucifer was an Angel closest to God. When Lucifer realized that he isn’t the second in the hierarchy and he will have to follow the commands of the Son of God (Christ), he revolted and many other Angels joined his rebellion.
On many accounts, Satan appears to be the tragic hero of the epic Paradise Lost because Milton has presented him in such a manner. The poem begins with the Fall of Lucifer from Heaven. There was no Hell before it. As he revolted, he was thrown out of heaven to a palace recently invented by the Almighty. To punish Lucifer, who is now Satan, this new place is ornamented with some dreadful and frightening aspects. Satan still has the angelic glow that makes him appear charismatic and attractive. However, he continues to disobey God and engages in evil activities which further pushes him away from God and he continuously becomes more unattractive, frightening, and disgusting.
Milton mentioned in the first lines of Paradise Lost that the main theme of the epic will be Man’s first disobedience, which resulted in his fall. Obedience to God is thus the central theme of the poem. Lucifer disobeys and revolts against the Almighty and he continues to follow the downward spiraling path of sin and degradation. Adam and Eve also disobey God, but they realize their fault and chose the path of redemption that leads to betterment.
Another major theme of Paradise Lost is the Hierarchy based on the proximity of God. Heaven is above the earth, and Hell is below it. Son of God is closest to God, a high position that Lucifer once enjoyed. Then comes Angels, Archangels, Cherubs, and others. Adam, Eve and other Earth-dwelling animals come next, and then comes Satan and other fallen angels. To obey God is to accept and follow this hierarchy. Eve comes next to Adam in this hierarchy. The Fall of Man also depicts the breach of this hierarchy. Raphael suggests to Adam that Eve is a little away from God as she was created to serve both Adam and God. Thus, Adam is superior and Eve is naturally his subservient. However, Adam gets trapped in his passion for Eve and heeds to her whims while ignoring God and reason. That leads Adam to eat the Apple and cause his fall. As Adam breaches the hierarchy and allows Eve to lead him while she should have been his subservient, it results in the disobedience of God.
Another important theme of Paradise Lost is the Design of God that always brings good. As Satan falls, he creates Sin and Death. As Adam and Eve Fall, they suffer the terror of death. But this also offers God a way to show his temperance and mercy. The Son of God appears as a gift to humankind who leads humankind to its prior pure state. While the man is forced to suffer pain and death, he also becomes able to feel the salvation, mercy, and grace of God. Thus, sin and death can lead to the good of humankind.
Summary of Paradise Lost Book 1
Book 1 contains 722 lines of verse of Milton’s magnum opus. The opening 16 lines of Paradise Lost are comprised of a Single Sentence.
Milton was influenced by Ancient Greek and Roman poets and he took inspiration from Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene too. Just like in Lycidas, Milton again offers a prologue (Lines 1-26) before beginning his epic. In these lines, Milton not only announces the main subjects of his epic poem but also offers his intention. He also continues the age-old tradition of pleasing the Muses and seeking their mercy and help for the creation of creative artwork, his epic poem. However, Milton doesn’t invoke any of the nine Greek Muse or goddesses of Art, rather he invokes, the Holy Spirit, representing the Trinity and thus, following the norms of Christian Protestantism. He specifies that his Muse is the same that inspired Moses to receive the Ten Commandments and write Genesis. Milton then describes the topics of his epic: the story of Man's first disobedience and the "loss of Eden," subjects which have been "unattempted yet in prose or rhyme."
The next section begins as Milton raises the question of what led Adam and Eve to disobey God? He then suggests that their disobedience was partly instigated by a serpent. This serpent is Satan.
Milton then introduces his central character Satan who has just fallen from Heaven. There was no hell before this, God invented Hell where Lucifer could be thrown. Satan is chained to a fiery, yet dark lake of hell. Satan is coming to his conscious and he sees himself chained to hell. Satan raises his head and finds Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies next to him. In Heaven, Beelzebub used to be a beautiful archangel who has now been turned into a horrible, ugly fallen angel. Beelzebub is a closed confidante of Satan. Satan gathers his guts and calls Beelzebub, telling him how God never showed his actual power to them before the war. He bemoans his loss as he remembers how he presumed himself equal to God and denied obeying the Son of God. As he declared war against the Almighty, many angels and archangels joined him in opposition to the hierarchy suggested by God. A cosmic war began that shook the throne of God. However, God exercised his enormous power, and Satan and his cohorts were thrown out of Heaven by the Son of God to "nine times the space that measures day and night,” that is hell.
Satan raises his voice and vows to raise his power again for the second attack. Beelzebub is not that enthusiastic as he now believes that God cannot be defeated. Satan doesn’t contradict Beelzebub and hence accepts the insurmountable power of God. Yet, he devises a plan and says that they should at least prevent God’s good works to evil purpose as this will reduce the power of God making him vulnerable. The two fallen angels rise again and fly off to a nearby land which is firmer than the lake yet, is fiery, brazen, and dark. They can do so because God allows them to break off the chains as the almighty intends to bring good out of their evil plans.
Beelzebub asks why the Almighty let them live? What plan did he have for them as the god could easily kill them forever? Satan says that God definitely wanted to punish them for eternity but now when they know the real power of God they can better plan how to continue fighting against God and making him weaker. Satan is not willing to change his ways and determines to pervert the good ways of God to evil. He calls Twelve angels closest to him and then raises his huge army and calls them to raise his cause. As he observes the dark, brazen, fiery surroundings, Satan declares, "Better to reign in hell, then serve in heaven."
The rebels gather their energy and find new strength in Satan’s call. Satan’s soldiers start playing music and beating drums, they are beaten, vanquished, tired, yet, loyal to their general. Satan then reveals his plan. He has heard about a new creation of God which is the man. He declares that they will continue their war against Heaven but their pawn will be mankind. God will make Man for doing good but they will force mankind towards evil. Satan’s soldiers respond to his roar by digging up a nearby mountain. As they continue to dig more, they find gems, gold, and other precious metals. Mammon, another fallen Angel takes the lead. He suggests that he will now make the marvelous palace of hell with the help of another architect angel Mulciber. Mammon and Mulciber declare that "Hell is bad, but with a few improvements we can make it lots better, even attractive."With the help of other fallen angels, they soon raise a great temple which they name Pandemonium. This word was invented by Milton. Pan in Greek means All, and thus, Pandemonium is the place where all demons prevail. All the demons and fallen angels enter the Pandemonium. While Satan and his twelve close associates maintain their structure, all the other fallen angels shrink and reduce their size to have a proper place in the newly erected palace to hold a summit. These demons have special powers as they can easily change their shape from huge winged demons to the smallest creatures as they wish.
Analysis of Paradise Lost Book 1
Milton presented Satan in a specific manner that renders him a shadow of a tragic hero. He is the central character of the first few books. In the first book, Milton shows his struggle and how he bravely gathers his strength to fight against the odds. Milton invested the first three books of his epic in developing and expressing the Antagonist so that when he introduces the protagonists, Adam and Eve, the reader may have a good idea of what foes they are going to face.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss Paradiz Lost as we intend to cover all 12 books of this epic poem by Milton. Please stay connected with the Discourse, thanks, and regards!
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