Paradise Lost

“The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” 

This quote demonstrates a deep psychological undertone prominent throughout Paradise Lost. The idea that our mindset can dictate how we perceive our environment is an advanced concept, one that demonstrates that we can’t escape who we are inside. Wherever Satan goes, he will carry Hell with him.

“Peace is despair’d,

For who can think submission? War then, war

Open or understood, must be resolv’d.” 

Satan resolves himself to his future of war. He refuses even the possibility that one day he may repent and ask for forgiveness, to find peace. This attitude will later be referenced by God as the difference between the fallen angels and humans. The humans open themselves up to the possibility of mercy, whereas Satan cannot imagine a life of submission.

“High on a throne of royal state, which far outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous east with richest hand

Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,

Satan exalted sat, by merit rais’d

To that bad eminence: and from despair

Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires

Beyond thus high; insatiate to pursue

Vain war with heaven; and by success untaught,

His proud imaginations.” 

This quote shows that Satan is not all he appears to be. Although Satan’s goal is self-determination, and his claims against God are tyrannical overrule, Satan replicates the same power structure of Heaven in Hell. This demonstrates that Satan is as hungry for power over others as he is for power for himself, and it highlights Milton’s distaste for his antagonist. Phrases that echo the language of monarchy (“throne,” “royal state,” “eminence,” “kings barbaric”) also highlight Milton’s anti-monarchist stance.

“Where there is then no good

For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

From faction: for none sure will claim in hell

Precedence; none, whose portion is so small

Of present pain, that with ambitious mind

Will covet more; with this advantage then

To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,

More than can be in heaven, we now return

To claim our just inheritance of old…” 

Satan claims that in Heaven there is no goal to work toward, but in Hell the fallen angels can create their own destiny. Satan also recognizes that his ambitious mind makes him covet more, a warning Milton issues to his readers as well. Satan’s argument that the fallen angels can claim their just inheritance now that they aren’t in Heaven echoes much of the language of war in Milton’s time. Milton was also anti-war and so portrays Satan’s ambitions as greedy and violent.

“This deep world

Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst

Thick clouds and dark, doth heaven’s all-ruling Sire

Choose to reside, his glory unobscur’d

And with the majesty of darkness round

Covers his throne; from whence deep thunders roar

Muttering their rage, and heaven resembles hell?

As he our darkness, cannot we his light

Imitate when we please?” 

Satan’s argument that Heaven can be replicated and God’s power imitated emphasizes the depth of his disrespect for the almighty God. Satan believes that, in getting to know Heaven and God well, others may be like God. To Milton, this is heretical, but it also foreshadows Satan’s plan to trick the humans into betraying God.

“To be created like to us, though less

In power and excellence, but favour’d more

Of him who rules above: so was his will

Pronounc’d among the gods, and by an oath,

That shook heaven’s whole circumference, confirm’d.

Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn

What creatures there inhabit, of what mould,

Or substance, how endued, and what their power,

And where their weakness, how attempted best,

By force, or subtilty. Though heaven be shut,

And heaven’s high arbitrator sit secure…” 

This first mention of the new race is a crucial turning point in Paradise Lost. That this new race is described as being more favored is important, because it is absolutely true that God chooses to forgive the human race but not the fallen angels. What Satan doesn’t understand is that God favors the humans because of their potential for humility and regret. It’s also notable that Satan chooses what God favors the most as his target for revenge, which highlights that the destruction of the human race is based on a battle between Satan and God.

“…possess

All as our own, and drive, as we were driven,

The puny habitants; or, if not drive,

Seduce them to our party, that their God

May prove their foe, and with repenting hand

Abolish his own works. This would surpass

Common revenge, and interrupt his joy

In our confusion, and our joy upraise

In his disturbance; when his darling sons,

Hurl’d headlong to partake with us, shall curse

Their frail original, and faded bliss:

Faded so soon.”

Satan articulates his idea to drive the humans out of Paradise as the fallen angels were driven from Heaven. This venomous desire shows how poorly Satan believes he was treated in Heaven, as though a slave. However, this does not excuse Satan’s actions. As Milton depicts, Satan’s desire to imprison or enslave others shows his hypocritical nature, thereby making him an unworthy leader.

“In discourse more sweet,

(For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense,)

Others apart sat on a hill retir’d,

In thoughts more elevate, and reason’d high,

Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,

Fixt fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute;

And found no end, in wand’ring mazes lost.

Of good and evil much they argued then…” 

While Satan tries to find his way out of Hell, the other demons go off to make their new home more hospitable and to engage in discussion. As the demons talk, they find themselves lost in wandering mazes. Their new chaotic world is literally a maze, but the demons are also lost in the metaphorical maze of their discussion about knowledge. This is the start of a recurring symbol Milton uses to warn against the dangers of seeking knowledge that you need not know.

“And Tumult, and Confusion all embroil’d,

And Discord with a thousand various mouths.

T’whom Satan turning boldly, thus: Ye powers,

And spirits of this nethermost abyss,

Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy

With purpose to explore, or to disturb

The secrets of your realm; but by constraint

Wand’ring this darksome desert, as my way

Lies through your spacious empire up to light,

Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek

What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds

Confine with heaven…” 

As Satan leaves Hell, he activates other forms of evil and chaos. Concepts such as tumult, confusion, and discord are capitalized and personified as beings that go into the world and wreak havoc. It is important for Milton to establish this subtext early in the poem because at a certain point readers will wonder why God, who is omnipotent, allows such awful things to happen. By personifying these concepts as beings, Milton can take the blame away from God.

“With other notes than to th’Orphean lyre,

I sung of Chaos, and eternal Night;

Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down

The dark descent, and up to reascend,

Though hard, and rare. Thee I revisit safe,

And feel thy sovereign vital lamp: but thou

Revisit’st not these eyes, that roll in vain

To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn…” 

Milton again calls upon his muse to help him see, both in a literal and literary sense. At the time of his writing Paradise Lost, Milton was steadily becoming blind. He literally saw darkness and wished to see the light again. Literarily, Milton has spent the first two books dwelling in Hell and focusing on Satan, a dark place and a dark soul to spend so much time with. Milton now wants to transition to a purer, and therefore lighter, narrative phase.

“Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose,

Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine:

But cloud instead, and ever-during dark

Surrounds me; from the cheerful ways of men

Cut off; and for the book of knowledge fair,

Presented with a universal blank

Of nature’s works, to me expung’d and raz’d,

And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.

So much the rather thou, celestial Light,

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers

Irradiate; there plant eyes; all mist from thence

Purge and disperse; that I may see and tell

Of things invisible to mortal sight.” 

Milton expands on his blindness, though here he means it in the sense of finding the inspiration and story to write. Calling upon the muses is a common trope in classic epics and blank-verse poems, for when telling the stories of great heroes and Gods, ancient Greek authors were careful to assume that they knew more than others. But as Aristotle explains in his Poetics, a poet is a seer. Consequently, as a poet Milton has insight into knowledge and imagery that the reader does not, but he must ask for help seeing the light. This particular motif is especially complicated given that humans are not meant to know too much about celestial light, as Adam learns throughout the epic.

“Whose fault?

Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me

All he could have; I made him just and right;

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

Such I created all th’ethereal powers,

And spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail’d;

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.”

This point is crucial in understanding how something like the fall of Adam and Eve and the future destruction of humankind could have happened under the watchful gaze of an all-knowing God. God makes it clear to the Son, and therefore the reader, that all of his creations have willpower. Although he made his creatures good, they can choose to fall. This individual freedom is important to God because it forces his creations to choose loyalty to him even when it is difficult.

“The first sort by their own suggestion fell,

Self-tempted, self deprav’d: man falls, deceiv’d,

By th’other first: man, therefore, shall find grace,

The other none. In mercy, and justice both,

Through heaven and earth, so shall my glory excel;

But mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.” 

God and Milton identify a very specific and important difference between Satan and Adam and Eve. While the fallen angels chose to rebel and committed to their fall, Adam and Eve were tricked into it. To God (and Milton), the distinction between these two scenarios explains why Satan can never be forgiven but humankind can still be saved.

“With that, thy gentle hand

Seiz’d mine; I yielded; and from that time see

How beauty is excell’d by manly grace,

And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.” 

Eve explains how she first discovered she was subservient to Adam, in her own words. This is an important piece of information, as it invites questions about Eve in Paradise. Milton’s Eve and his view of women in this epic is sexist and judgmental, but nonetheless there are hints throughout the poem that Eve must break free, even if that means going against God. Here, she is “seiz’d” by Adam and sees that her physical beauty is surpassed by that of a man’s grace and wisdom, and volunteers the idea that she is inferior to Adam.

“One fatal tree there stands of knowledge call’d,

Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge forbidden?

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord

Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?”

Satan is frustrated on Adam and Eve’s behalf, and his frustration echoes a concern many humans have when thinking about God and the Tree of Knowledge. The question “Can it be sin to know?” propels the fall of humanity and is the constant thread between all God’s fallen creatures, angels and humans alike. Although Milton himself doesn’t fully answer the question, the epic’s conclusion teaches that it’s best not to even ask.

“But listen not to his temptations; warn

Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard,

By terrible example, the reward

Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,

Yet fell. Remember, and fear to transgress.” 

Raphael’s warning to Adam is clear and specific. Now that Adam has been told the story of Satan’s fall and been warned that Satan will try to trick him and Eve into a similar fall, there can be no doubt that God has done everything he needed to prepare Adam and Eve for the decision they must make. Again, Milton structures his narrative in such a way that makes it difficult to place blame on God for foreknowledge. Because Adam and Eve have free will as well as all the tools needed to understand the precariousness of their situation, it stands to reason that their fall is their fault, not God’s (or even Satan’s). This theme of personal responsibility will become important in their repentance.

“…touch’d by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.

Yet went she not, as not with such discourse

Delighted, or not capable her ear

Of what was high: such pleasure she reserv’d

Adam relating, the sole auditress;

Her husband the relater she preferr’d

Before the angel, and of him to ask

Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix

Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute

With conjugal caresses; from his lip

Not words alone pleas’d her.” 

Milton explains that Eve is not privy to the conversations between Adam and the angels partly because she only wants to hear the news from Adam. This relegates Eve to second-class status and suggests that Eve is happy to be second to Adam and left out of the big discussions. This will prove untrue when Eve is given the chance to discover knowledge; being equal to Adam turns out to be one of her more sinful desires. This also foreshadows the gross indignity of Eve’s choice to listen to Satan over her husband, thereby heaping more blame on to Eve’s weakened state.

“O much deceiv’d, much failing, hapless Eve,

Of thy presum’d return! event perverse!

Thou never from that hour in Paradise

Found’st either sweet repast, or sound repose;

Such ambush hid among sweet flowers and shades

Waited with hellish rancour imminent

To intercept thy way, or send thee back

Despoil’d of innocence, of faith, of bliss.” 

This exclamation pivots the story from the preparation for the fall to the climax of the poem, which is when Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge. The reader experiences dramatic irony, knowing full well what will happen to Eve, her world, and her descendants.

“Him who to worth in woman overtrusting

Lets her will rule; restraint she will not brook,

And left to herself, if evil thence ensue,

She first his weak indulgence will accuse.

Thus they in mutual accusation spent

The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning

And of their vain contest appear’d no end.” 

One of the consequences of the fall is that human beings now feel inner turmoil when they once felt only peace and joy. Milton ends Book 9 with a firm claim that inner turmoil exists because of women who do not follow their husbands and husbands who allow their wives too much freedom. This quote is also important in that it shows Adam and Eve battling over blame instead of repenting for their sins, demonstrating how close humankind was to not taking responsibility and asking for God’s forgiveness.

“Because thou hast done this, thou art accurs’d

Above all cattle, each beast of the field;

Upon thy belly grovling thou shalt go,

And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.

Between thee and the woman I will put

Enmity, and between thine and her seed;

Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.” 

When the Son goes to Eden to confront Adam and Eve over their transgression, he outlines future consequences but leaves some hope that humankind will win grace again. That mankind will win back grace by defeating the serpent who tempted them to fall in the first place provides some poetic justice and, crucially, alleviates God from needing to really do anything.

“And thou God

Made thee without thy leave, what if thy son

Prove disobedient, and reprov’d, retort,

Wherefore didst thou beget me? I sought it not:

Wouldst thou admit for his contempt of thee

That proud excuse? Yet him not thy election,

But natural necessity begot.

God made thee of choice his own, and of his own

To serve him; thy reward was of his grace,

Thy punishment that justly is at his will.

Be it so, for I submit; his doom is fair,

That dust I am, and shall to dust return…” 

Adam, in despair, wonders why God made him in the first place and cries out that it was not his choice to be this person or even created. This echoes one of Satan’s complaints about subservience to God, but the crucial difference that saves humanity is Adam’s willingness to acknowledge God’s supremacy. Adam knows that no matter what his own feelings are, it is God’s world and will that Adam lives in. Adam accepts God as his ruler and knows that he will spend his life atoning for his sin. This ability to be humble and repent is the key difference between Adam and Satan.

“Now therefore bend thine ear

To supplication, hear his sighs though mute;

Unskilful with what words to pray, let me

Interpret for him, me his advocate

And propitiation; all his works on me,

Good or not good, ingraft, my merit those

Shall perfect, and for these my death shall pay.” 

The Son begs God to hear Adam and Eve’s prayers for forgiveness and to show them mercy. He volunteers himself as tribute and sacrifice for that mercy, thereby foreshadowing the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This also highlights the Son’s altruism as a stark contrast to Satan’s narcissism.

“O goodness infinite! goodness immense!

That all this good of evil shall produce,

And evil turn to good; more wonderful

Than that which by creation first brought forth

Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,

Whether I should repent me now of sin

By me done and occasion’d, or rejoice

Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring,

To God more glory, more good will to men

From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.” 

Adam wonders if it is good that he fell, as it might allow for more, better goodness to occur later in existence. Maybe, Milton suggests, the fall led to a better appreciation for God and therefore a purer love. It is an interesting moment, as Adam says this on the heels of witnessing centuries of despair, violence, and pain. Adam’s belief that God will ultimately forgive humanity and bring beauty to the world again is one of Milton’s final messages. In other words, no matter how bad things get on Earth, as long as you truly believe in and serve God, there is another chance at a better life after Earth.