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Book 10 begins in Heaven. God, being omniscient, is aware of the fall of Man. He instantly came to know when Eve and then Adam took the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Meanwhile, Gabriel and other guards of Paradise return to Heaven to inform what happened. Gabriel says that they tried everything possible to stop Satan from entering the Garden of Eden and they are sorry for their failure. God calls a meeting of all angels and informs them about the fall of Man. He says that he knew that Eve and Adam will fall to temptation by Satan but it was their own decision and He in no way influenced it to occur. He addresses Gabriel and other guards of Eden and says that there was nothing they could do about stopping Satan and mankind from making their decision. In a sense, he says, this was destined to happen. It was Adam and Eve’s own free will and now their action must be judged. However, God says that justice can be tempered with mercy. God sends the Son down to Earth to judge Adam and Eve.
The Son reaches earth and calls Adam and Eve who were hiding in bushes. Adam and Eve appear in front of him but there is a stark change in them. Earlier when any Angel used to visit Paradise, Adam and Eve used to greet him cheerfully while singing the prayers of God. However, they are not praising God now nor do they greet the Son. They are ashamed of their nakedness and they cringe into their guilt of disobeying God.
The Son asks them to confess. Adam admits to disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit but he blames Eve and says that she gave the fruit to him to eat. Eve also admits taking the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge but she blames the serpent who tricked her and took her to the Tree of Knowledge. The Son contemplates the situation and then he condemns the serpent whose body was used by Satan to tempt Eve. The serpent and Eve suddenly feel an enmity against each other that will never end. The Son decrees that all snakes now must crawl on their bellies, never to carry themselves upright again. The Son ordains that Adam and Eve’s children will bruise the serpent’s head, while serpents will forever bite humans by the heel.
Then the Son judges Eve and decrees that Eve and all women following her will be given the pain of childbirth as well as subjugation to their husbands. The Son then confronts Adam and ordains that Adam and all men after him will have to labor to hunt and harvest food in the cursed ground. The Son further adds that Adam and Eve and all their offspring will be subject to death, literally returning to the dust from which they were created. The Son realizes the guilt and shame that he sees in Adam and Eve and he then shows the mercy of God and offers cloth made of animal skin for Adam and Eve to cover themselves. The Son then quickly returns to Heaven.
Meanwhile, Sin and Death were busy creating the ladder from Hell to Earth. They get the information of Satan’s success and Fall of Man and they decide to speed up the formation of the Bridge from Hell to Paradise and begin to proceed towards Earth to meet him. Sin and Death reach the boundary of Paradise where they see Satan. They congratulate him for his success and promise to infect the entire Earth. Death says that he will inflict and corrupt all living things and will become the ruler of Earth. Sin says that she will concentrate more on inflicting humankind. Sin says that earlier they were not able to proceed towards Earth but after his success, they easily reached the edge of Paradise. Sin says that it suggests that now Satan has control over Earth and Human Kind. Satan again feels a false pride and starts believing that he actually acquired the powers suggested by Sin and Death. He thanks them for their good wishes and urges them to conquer and corrupt the earth as soon as possible. None of them were aware of the sentence of the Son against Adam and Eve. They didn’t realize that God allowed Sin and Death to reach Earth so that the Son may vanquish them when he appears on earth as a human.
Satan leaves them and goes to Hell while Sin and Death complete the bridge between Hell and Earth so that Sin, Death, and Satan can more easily invade the earth and Man can be easily brought to Hell.
Satan returns to Hell and addresses all his fellow fallen angels from the altar of the temple of Hell. His companions eagerly listen about his success on Earth however they do not cheer Satan as he expected. Rather he listens to strong hissing sounds. Soon he realizes that he too has been changed into a giant snake and he starts hissing along with other fallen angels.
All the fallen angels then turn into snakes, scorpions, and other monsters. They gather around a tree of the fruit of Hell which exactly resembles the Tree of Knowledge of Paradise. When they taste the fruit of that tree, it tastes like ashes.
Meanwhile, Sin and Death invade earth. Death starts taking control of plants, moving up to animals. Sin, on the other hand, concentrates on humans. God changes the nature of Earth as now Man is destined to struggle to produce his own food. He tilts the axis of the earth in such a way that now the earth will have seasons. Light and order will not always remain on Earth and there will be phases of darkness, disorder, and cold.
Adam and Eve observe these changes. Adam becomes sad and repels Eve. He laments how their children will suffer the consequences of their wrong deeds. To avoid that, Eve suggests that she should commit suicide or should never become a mother. Adam says that it will again mean disobedience against God’s justice. He embraces Eve and soothes her and says that they will bear the consequences with patience and will try to seek forgiveness from God. He says that it is not so bad because they are still together and alive. Eve agrees and both begin praising God again.
Analysis of Book 10
The major theme of Book 10 is Fall of Man and it shows the contrast of the fall of man with that of the fall of angels. After the fall, the fallen angels, under the leadership of Satan, vowed to corrupt God’s creation and established an unending enmity. On the other hand, Man realized his mistake after the fall. Eve swayed again and suggested ways to avoid the decree of punishment but Adam convinced her to accept the punishment and follow the correct path of asking forgiveness while praising God. This difference shows why God will continue to show mercy for Man while paving a way for Man’s redemption. Satan, on the other hand, is forever shunned from the light of heaven. Satan doesn’t allow himself to repent as his disobedience comes from within. On the other hand, Eve and Adam were not internally disobedient to God, they were tricked and as they realized their mistake, they repented. Adam and Eve produced true sorrow and regret that Satan couldn’t.
The other theme of Paradise Lost is the hierarchy. Adam is superior to Eve. It was obvious in previous sections too but in Book 10, Eve is punished to suffer pain while giving birth to children and always remain submissive to Adam. When Adam repels Eve, she considers committing suicide or never procreating so that their offspring may not suffer the consequences of their blunder. However, Adam reminds her about Jesus, the promised birth of the Son as a human for their salvation. This hope prevents the couple from committing suicide.
Satan and the Son are presented in contrast. In the first scene of Book 10, God sends the Son to judge Adam and Eve, His children. In the second scene, the Son meets the children and judges them. In the third scene, Satan, the father meets his children Sin, and Death, and offers them instructions and advice for the future course.
Milton also made a political jab against the Catholic church by mentioning hell as “wonderous art pontifical.” Catholics consider the Pope as the bridge between God and Man. Milton on the other hand describes it as a bridge to hell and the Roman Catholic Church as the way to get there.
So this is it about Book 10 of Paradise Lost. We will soon conclude the remaining two parts of Milton’s epic. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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