Hello and welcome to the Discourse. In Book 12, John Milton continued depicting the vision of Adam that God permitted him to have with the help of Michael.
This vision is a punishment to Adam as he comes to know how his and Eve’s wrongdoing will create ruins. He learns one of his firstborn sons will murder his brother. He learns how the whole of humankind will fall and get corrupted and will meet Death as a result of the Great Flood. At the same time, the same vision offers a ray of hope to Adam who realizes that God will continue to show mercy on man and there will be virtuous heroes like Enoch and Noah who will save Humanity and man’s connection to God.
Summary of Book 12
Book 12 begins with the biblical story of Nimrod. Adam sees that Noah successfully led the re-establishment of humankind in obedience to God. One of Noah’s great-grandsons was a great hunter, a brave warrior, and an able leader. His name was Nimrod. Nimrod was called the “first heroic warrior on earth.” Michael says that men ‘shall be his game.’ Just like Satan, Nimrod also falls prey to self-pride and challenges God. He creates a tower so high that no flood can endanger it. The tower is very strong made of mortar and solid rocks. The tower is named as Tower of Babel and Nimrod wishes to reach Heaven through this tower. Despite his vociferous attempts, God is still calm and instead of punishing him harshly, he decrees that now men will speak different languages. Thus, the men working under Nimrod start speaking different languages and fail to comprehend each other. This way, Nimrod’s pretentious attempts fail.
Adam is saddened by the acts of Nimrod. He wonders why some men are allowed to have dominion over others who are free by nature? Michael explains that this is all because of Adam’s own fall. Michael says that since men cannot control their whims and passions, other men take control of societies and rule over them. God sends unjust rulers to control some groups to restrict their personal freedom.
Michael then explains that wickedness continues to rise again and hence God chooses a particular group of people led by their faithful leader Abraham, who carries the seed that will give birth to the Son, the Saviour of mankind. Michael then recites the story of Jacob and Joseph quickly while explaining the enslavement of Israelites in Egypt. He further depicts the rise of Moses who leads the exodus from Egypt. Moses leads men to a desert where God appears and gives commandments to Moses. Moses then makes laws based on those commandments for the societies of people. Adam again asks why men need so many laws? Michael says that since now men are not pure as a result of Adam’s fall, they need laws to keep remembering things that they should do and things that should not be done. Michael further says that even laws will fail to protect men until the Saviour incarnates on earth and sacrifices himself for all mankind.
Joshua leads Israelites to the Promised Land where they make societies and start living under the rules of kings and judges. One of the kings is David who is just and virtuous. His lineage will carry the seed of Saviour. David’s son is Soloman who builds a great Temple where the Ark of Covenant will be safely kept. Michael then says that Sin will again triumph and men will fall prey to corruption and death. Ultimately, God will allow the whole nation into captivity in Babylon. The society will be divided into small factions which will continue to struggle against each other until Jesus the Saviour takes birth from the womb of a Virgin during Roman rule.
Adam is curious and wants to know how the Son defeats Satan. Michael says that the Saviour's victory won’t be easy nor it will be a literal fight of the Son against Satan. The Son fought and defeated Satan and threw him out of Heaven. Satan knows that he cannot win against the Son. However, to save humans, the Son will become human in Jesus and will suffer for his beliefs and will be executed by his fellow men. However, after three days, the Son will rise from the dead and thus will defeat the Death. Jesus will then send his disciples to various parts of the world to spread his message. Those who obey God’s command will be saved and will have eternal life. Michael says that at the end of the time, Jesus will judge all the living and the dead and will take the truly faithful people to the most wonderful paradise of all.
Adam is pleased by knowing that ultimately humankind will again reach the Paradise that is lost because of his and Eve’s fall. However, he is sad because of the ordeal that humankind and the Son himself will have to go through because of his sin. Yet, he feels that it is the greatest pleasure to know that ultimately, death will lead mankind to the greatest reward. Adam feels that his disobedience will now appear to be a good mistake or happy blame because of which, mankind will reach the most wonderful paradise where humans will be able to live eternally with God. Adam says that his hope and possibility appear to be a greater good than his having remained sinless and obedient eternally in the Garden of Eden. Michael is pleased by Adam’s reasoning and he says that now is the time when Adam and Eve must leave the Garden of Eden. Michael says that Adam should add faith, virtue, patience, temperance, and love to his understanding and he will lead a good life and ultimately be with God.
Michael then instructs Adam to wake Eve and tells him to let her know all that he told Adam later on. Meanwhile, Eve was also having a revealing dream. As she wakes up, she appears calm and says that she has learned much from her dream and she knows that her place is with Adam. Eve says that she will follow Adam wherever he leads her. As she learns that she will seed the Saviour, the Son, she becomes happy. Michael holds the hands of both Adam and Eve and leads them out of the Garden of Eden.
Analysis of Book 12
The vision of the future of mankind works as a punishment for Adam as he comes to know how painful and excruciating the future will be for mankind because of his fall. However, he is comforted by the fact that he and Eve will seed the Son who will incarnate as a human to free all humankind free of Sin and Death. He uses his reason to comprehend that despite the ugly episode of his disobedience, it was just a way to let men reach a much better paradise where men will be able to live with God eternally.
With the example of Nimrod, Milton offered his own idea of personal freedom and anarchy. Adam expresses displeasure as he sees some men dominating others. Milton believed in the ability of individual persons to make their own decisions about their lives and God. When a man uses his own rational faculty, he is most free. However, because of Adam’s own fall, men will find it difficult to follow reason as they will fall prey to whims and passions as Adam did and will become slaves to their own desires. Yet, Milton believed that complete freedom will not lead to anarchy as it happens in closed societies such as Churches. Milton further offers his ideas of legal framework and laws. He suggests that while laws are helpful to identify and punish wrongdoing, laws cannot eradicate sin, corruption, and crime.
Book 12 further distinguishes between the fall of Satan and the Fall of Man. Adam and Eve’s disobedience was a sin of their appetite. Eve wishes to taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and Adam was subservient to his own passion for Eve. On the other hand, Satan committed the Sin of Reason. He used reason and convoluted it to convince Eve to take the fruit and fall. Thus, Satan used reason for fraudulent purposes and this is considered the greatest of sins.
The vision serves another important purpose in the poem as it strengthens the major theme of Paradise Lost which is Man’s fall. Milton makes it as a series of stories of man’s fall and ascension and again fall and again ascension until Jesus takes birth and sacrifices himself to save entire humankind. Throughout the vision, the poem suggests a story of fall and ascension, freedom and slavery, reason and animal appetites. Milton describes human history as a series of falls from God’s grace as men disobey God from time to time and act irrationally. As men disobey God, they create corruption and reach their doom (as in Tower of Babel) and are again saved and returned to the continual cycle of God’s grace.
In the end, Michael takes Adam and Eve away from the Garden of Eden and the poem ends in hope of a chance to eternally live with God in the most wonderful paradise of all.
Adam describes his learning through the vision as --
Henceforth I learn that to obey is best,
And learn to fear that only God, to walk
As in his presence, ever to observe
His providence, and on him sole depend,
Merciful over all his works, with good
Still overcoming evil, and by small
Accomplishing great things, by things deem'd weak
Subverting worldly strong, and worldly-wise
By simple meek; that suffering for Truth's sake
Is fortitude to highest victory,
And to the faithful Death the Gate of Life (561-571).
This is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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