17. JOHN MILTON'S
PARADISE LOST BOOK-I (1667, Rev.in 1674)
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John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674)
Biography:
John Milton was born in London in 1608
at the height of the Protestant Reformation in England. Around this time, Shakespeare began writing
his romance plays (Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest). His father was a
scrivener (law writer) who had achieved some success by the time Milton was
born. This prosperity allowed him to provide the young Milton with an excellent
education, first with private tutoring, then a private school, and finally
Cambridge. Milton, a studious boy, excelled in languages and classical studies.
His father had left Roman Catholicism
and Milton was raised Protestant, with a heavy tendency toward Puritanism. He
matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge. As a student, he wanted to go into
the ministry, but was disillusioned with the scholastic tendency of the clergy
at Cambridge. Cambridge, however, afforded him time to write poetry.
Because of his personal beauty, flowing hair style he was called ‘Lady of Christ’. He was rusticated
from the college because of rebellious temper. Dryden called him as “Poetical son of
Spencer”
William Hayley’s 1796 biography
called him the “greatest English author”
Milton composed his early verse in
Latin, in the fashion of a classically educated person. As soon as his third
year at Cambridge, however, he expressed his desire to abandon such fashionable
poetry in order to write in his native tongue. Unlike the learned classicists
of his day, who imitated Greek and Latin versification, Milton sought to
rehabilitate the English poetic tradition by establishing it as an extension or
flowering of the classical tradition. He saw himself as a poet whose lineage
extended, through the Romans, back to the Greeks. Like Homer and Virgil before
him, Milton would be the epic poet of the English nation.
The poetic vocation to which Milton
was heir is both nationalistic and religious in character. The epic poet
chronicles the religious history of a people; he plays the role of
prophet-historian.
After Cambridge, he continued his
studies for seven years in a leisurely life at his father's house. It was here
that he wrote some of his first published poems, including "Comus"
(1634) and "Lycidas" (1638), both of which he published in 1645.
Milton toured the European continent
in 1638-1639 and met many of the great Renaissance minds, including Galileo and
Grotius. The beginning of the Puritan Revolution found Milton back in England,
fighting for a more humanist and reformed church. For more than twenty years,
Milton set aside poetry to write political and religious pamphlets for the
cause of Puritanism. For a time, he served as Secretary for Foreign Tongues
under Cromwell.
Milton was a mixed product of his
time. On the one hand, as a humanist, he fought for religious tolerance and
believed that there was something inherently valuable in man. As a Puritan,
however, he believed that the Bible was the answer and the guide to all, even
if it curbed man's freedom. Where the Bible didn't afford an answer, Milton
would turn to reason.
Milton himself was married three
times, and all of his marriages were rather unhappy affairs. He defended
divorce in "The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce" in 1643. With
this and other treatises, Milton often came in conflict with the Puritanism he
otherwise advocated.
At the end of the war, Milton was
imprisoned for a short time for his views. In 1660, he emerged blind and
disillusioned with the England he saw around him.
He lost his eyesight in 1652. Nevertheless,
he was yet to write his greatest work. Paradise Lost was published in 1667,
followed by Paradise Regained in 1671. Milton's ability to combine his poetry
with his polemics in these and other works was the key to his genius.
The classical influences in his work
can be clearly delineated: Homer, Ovid, and especially Virgil. Shakespeare was
the leading playwright of his day, and there are some references to his works
in Milton's own poetry. The style and structure of the Spencer's The Faerie
Queen was another influence on Paradise Lost. It was one of only a few books
that were owned by the Miltons during John's upbringing.
Milton died from gout in 1674 and was
buried in the Church of St. Giles in London.
Poems:
1. Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity 1629: describes Christ's Incarnation and Cruxification.
2. On Shakespeare 1630- It was Milton’s first published poem in English, anonymously included in
the Second Folio edition of William Shakespeare's plays in 1632. Milton has a
high opinion of Shakespeare. He refers to him as ‘dear son of memory’, ‘my
Shakespeare’. opening line: What
needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones
3.
On His Being
Arrived to the Age of Twenty-Three (1631): metaphor of
Time as a bird (thief) flying away with (“stol’n on his wing”) Milton’s youth.
Opening line: How
soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wing my three and
twentieth year!
4. L’Allegro 1645 (Happy man)- sunrise, II
Penseroso 1645 (Melancholy Man)-
moon -both are masques, called as twin
poems, Italian in title but English in spirit).
5. Comus or A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle
1634– a masque, The plot concerns two
brothers and their sister, simply called "the Lady", lost in a
journey through the woods. The Lady becomes fatigued, and the brothers wander
off in search of sustenance.
6.
Lycidas (1637) – pastoral elegy on the death of his friend
Edward King. Tennyson remarks ‘Lycidas is the touchstone of poetic taste’. Famous
line: ‘’Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep
no more’’
Last line is: To-morrow to
fresh woods, and pastures new
7.
Paradise Lost- Christian Epic in Blank verse. It was published in 1667 in 10 books. It was
reissued in 1674 with 12 books. It is the biblical story of the fall of man.
Satan wants to defeat God by seducing the Man - i.e., by temptation of Adam and
Eve. Finally, the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. It begins
in hell (In Medias Res). The main theme of “Mans disobedience”. His purpose to write this is to justify the ways of God
to man. For many critics “Satan is the
Hero” of this poem.
Famous Lines:
Ø
“Awake, arise,
or be forever fallen!”;
Ø
“The
mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of
heaven”;
Ø
“Better to reign in Hell, then serve in
Heav'n”;
Ø
“Solitude
sometimes is best society.”
8. Paradise Regained (1671)- it is the sequence of Paradise Lost. It
discusses Christ’s temptation and victory. It issued into 4 books.
9. Samson Agonistes (1671)–a tragic closet drama on the Greek models of
Sophocles and Aeschylus. - the last work of Milton appeared in the same volume
with Paradise Regained.
10. On His Blindness 1623: Petrarchan Sonnet. Original title is: “"When I Consider How My Light is Spent". It is an Acrostic Poem (first letter of each line makes a word)
11. Aeropagitica, A speech of Mr. John Milton for
the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parliament of England (1644): -speech of Milton about freedom of speech and expression. It opposed the
licensing and censorship
12. On Education, On Divorce, History of Britain- his prose works
Quotes about Milton:
1.
Keats said ‘Milton corrupted the English language’
2.
William Blake said ‘Milton was of the Devil’s party without knowing it’
(about the hero in Paradise Lost)
3. Coleridge said ‘Milton is in every line of Paradise Lost’
4. Tennyson said, ‘Milton is the God gifted voice of England”
5. English
epic begins and ends with Milton- other writers tried and failed.
6.
He is the
acknowledge master of what Mathew Arnold
called ‘the
grand style’
William Blake considered Milton the major
English poet. Blake placed Edmund Spenser as Milton's precursor, and saw
himself as Milton's poetical son. In his Milton: A Poem in Two Books,
Blake uses Milton as a character.
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PARADISE LOST BOOK-I (1667, Rev.in 1674)
Background/Context:
In Book 2 of The Reason of Church
Government, Milton declares his desire (i)to write a great work that
will serve (ii)to glorify England as earlier poets had glorified their
native lands and cultures: He declares his intention (iii)to write in
English rather than another language such as Latin, and then ponders (iv)what
genre to adopt: epic, tragic, or lyric.
In deciding to write an epic, Milton
consciously places himself in the tradition of prior epic writers, such as the
ancients Homer and Virgil, and the Medieval and Renaissance poets Dante, Tasso,
Ariosto, and Spenser. By doing this, he raises specific sets of expectations
both for himself and for readers. Formally, Paradise Lost contains many
classical and Renaissance epic conceits: it begins in medias res; it concerns
heavenly and earthly beings and the interactions between them; it uses
conventions such as epic similes, catalogues of people and places, and
invocations to a muse; and it contains themes common to epics, such as war,
nationalism, empire, and stories of origin.
Milton's range of variations on epic
conventions contribute to Paradise Lost's stunning effects. Unlike classics
such as the Iliad and the Aeneid, Paradise Lost has no easily identified hero.
The most Achilles-like character in the poem is Satan. Critics and writers such
as William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley believed Satan to be the hero of
Paradise Lost. Another possibility for the hero of Paradise Lost is the Son of
God, but although he is an important force in the poem, the story is not ultimately
about him. The most likely possibility, therefore, is Adam. Adam resembles
Aeneas in many respects: he is the father of a new race, responsible for
founding civilization on earth. But unlike Aeneas, Adam's primary heroic act is
not heroic at all: it is the first act of disobedience.
It should be noted that in Paradise
Lost Milton was not only justifying God's ways to humans in general; he was
justifying God’s ways to the English people between 1640 and 1660. That is, he
was telling them why they had failed to establish the good society by deposing
the king, and why they had welcomed back the monarchy. Like Adam and Eve, they
had failed through their own weaknesses.
The failure of the Puritan revolution
was tantamount, for Milton, to the people's failure to govern themselves
according to the will of God, rather than of a royal despot. England had had
the opportunity to become an instrument of God's plan, but ultimately failed to
realize itself. Paradise Lost was more than a work of art. Indeed, it was a
moral and political treatise, a poetic explanation for the course that English
history had taken.
Milton began Paradise Lost in 1658 and
finished in 1667. He wrote very little of the poem in his own hand, for he was
blind throughout much of the project. Instead, Milton would dictate the poem to
an amanuensis, who would read it back to him so that he could make necessary
revisions. Milton's daughters later described their father being like a cow
ready for milking, pacing about his room until the amanuensis arrived to
"unburden" him of the verse he had stored in his mind.
Milton claimed to have dreamed much of
Paradise Lost through the nighttime agency of angelic muses. Putting its
infrequent (and certainly minor) plot defects aside, Paradise Lost is nothing
short of a poetic masterpiece. Along with Shakespeare's plays, Milton's
Paradise Lost is the most influential poem in English literature as well as
being a basis for or prooftext of modern poetic theory
Publication History of Paradise Lost
One can learn a great deal from the
gap between when Milton wrote Paradise Lost and when it finally went to press.
As David Kastan notes in his helpful introduction, "it had been finished
at least two years" before Samuel Simmons finally published it in 1667.
Between completion and publication, the political instability of the period
conspired to delay the release of Paradise Lost. In a practical sense, the
second Anglo-Dutch war of 1665 caused a paper shortage. The confusion and fear
after the plague (1965-66) and fire of London (2nd to 5th
Sep, 1966) added to the turbulence of the period. Altogether, this created an
unfavorable environment for controversial literature
The first edition of Paradise Lost was
published in 1667. Major changes to the first edition, however, did not occur
until the 1668 printing, which added fourteen pages. In this printing, Milton
added the introductory "arguments" for each book; these were compiled
at the beginning of the poem, since the type was not re-set. This printing also
included a letter from Simmons to the "Courteous Reader;" in fact,
this printing is the first in which Simmons' name appears.
Milton received only 5 pounds
for the copy right of Paradise Lost from Samuel Simmons, and another 5
pounds when the first impression of 1300 copies exhausted.
In 1674, Simmons printed the second edition of Paradise Lost, which featured significant changes. Books seven and ten were each divided into two books, moving the total number of books from ten to twelve. This may have been because books seven and ten were exceptionally long, but twelve books also suggests a half-epic. Whereas the first edition was a quarto, the second is an octavo. It is not ruled, and does not feature line numbers. However, the arguments appear before their respective books, and the printing includes two poems and a portrait of the poet.
Paradise Lost- Book Wise Summary
|
Book
No. |
Plot
Summary |
|
Book I |
About Satan in Hell. Begins in Hell after the
Fall of Satan and his rebel angels. Satan gives a rousing speech and gathers
his council. |
|
Book II |
About the Council in Hell. Debate among fallen
angels about next steps; Satan volunteers to journey to Earth. He leaves Hell
and meets Sin and Death at the gates. |
|
Book III |
About Heaven and Satan’s Journey. God sees Satan’s
plan. Foresees the Fall. The Son volunteers to sacrifice himself. Satan
approaches Earth through the cosmos. |
|
Book IV |
About Satan at Eden. Satan enters Eden.
Observes Adam and Eve. He debates his own motives and is discovered by
angels. |
|
Book V |
About Eve’s Dream & Raphael’s Visit. Eve
dreams of temptation. God sends Raphael to warn Adam and explain the
rebellion in Heaven. |
|
Book VI |
About War in Heaven. Raphael narrates the war
in Heaven: Satan’s rebellion and the Son’s victory over the rebels. |
|
Book VII |
About creation of the World. Raphael continues
the story; recounts the creation of the world in six days. |
|
Book VIII |
About Adam’s Story. Adam tells Raphael about
his creation and meeting Eve. Raphael warns against excessive curiosity. |
|
Book IX |
About The Fall of Man. The Fall: Satan tempts
Eve as a serpent. She eats the fruit and convinces Adam to do the same. They
fall into sin and shame. |
|
Book X |
About the consequences. God sends the Son to
judge Adam and Eve. Sin and Death begin building a bridge from Hell to Earth.
Adam and Eve repent. |
|
Book XI |
About Future Suffering -Archangel Michael shows
Adam the future of mankind — violence, death, the Flood. |
|
Book XII |
About Redemption and Exile. Michael continues
the vision: Israel’s history and the promise of redemption through Christ.
Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden but comforted. |
Paradise
Lost Summary
Milton's epic poem opens on the fiery
lake of hell, where Satan and his army of fallen angels find themselves
chained. Satan and his leutenant Beelzebub get up from the lake and yell to the
others to rise and join them. Music plays and banners fly as the army of rebel
angels comes to attention, tormented and defeated but faithful to their
general. They create a great and terrible temple, perched on a volcano top, and
Satan calls a council there to decide on their course of action.
The fallen angels give various
suggestions. Finally, Beelzebub suggests that they take the battle to a new
battlefield, a place called earth where, it is rumoured, God has created a new
being called man. Man is not as powerful as the angels, but he is God's chosen
favorite among his creations. Beelzebub suggests that they seek revenge against
God by seducing man to their corrupted side. Satan volunteers to explore this
new place himself and find out more about man so that he may corrupt him. His
fallen army unanimously agrees by banging on their swords.
Satan takes off to the gates of hell,
guarded by his daughter, Sin, and their horrible son, Death. Sin agrees to open
the gates for her creator (and rapist), knowing that she will follow him and
reign with him in whatever kingdom he conquers. Satan then travels through
chaos, and finally arrives at earth, connected to heaven by a golden chain.
God witnesses all of this and points out
Satan's journey to his Son. God tells his Son that, indeed, Satan will corrupt
God's favorite creation, man. His Son offers to die a mortal death to bring man
back into the grace and light of God. God agrees and tells how his Son will be
born to a virgin. God then makes his Son the king of man, son of both man and
God.
Meanwhile, Satan disguises himself as
a handsome cherub in order to get by the angel Uriel who is guarding earth.
Uriel is impressed that an angel would come all the way from heaven to witness
God's creation, and points the Garden of Eden out to Satan. Satan makes his way
into the Garden and is in awe at the beauty of Eden and of the handsome couple
of Adam and Eve. For a moment, he deeply regrets his fall from grace. This
feeling soon turns, however, to hatred.
Uriel, however, has realized that he
has been fooled by Satan and tells the angel Gabriel as much. Gabriel finds
Satan in the Garden and sends him away.
God, seeing how things are going,
sends Raphael to warn Adam and Eve about Satan. Raphael goes down to the Garden
and is invited for dinner by Adam and Eve. While there, he narrates how Satan
came to fall and the subsequent battle that was held in heaven. Satan first sin
was pride, when he took issue with the fact that he had to bow down to the Son.
Satan was one of the top angels in heaven and did not understand why he should
bow. Satan called a council and convinced many of the angels who were beneath
him to join in fighting God.
A tremendous, cosmic three-day battle
ensued between Satan's forces and God's forces. On the first day, Satan's
forces were beaten back by the army led by the archangels Michael and Gabriel.
On the second day, Satan seemed to gain ground by constructing artillery,
literally cannons, and turning them against the good forces. On the third day,
however, the Son faced Satan's army alone and they quickly retreat, falling
through a hole in heaven's fabric and cascading down to hell.
This is the reason, Raphael explains,
that God created man: to replace the empty space that the fallen angels have
left in heaven. Raphael then tells of how God created man and all the universe
in seven days. Adam himself remembers the moment he was created and, as well,
how he came to ask God for a companion, Eve. Raphael leaves.
The next morning, Eve insists on
working separately from Adam. Satan, in the form of serpent, finds her working
alone and starts to flatter her. Eve asks where he learned to speak, and Satan
shows her the Tree of Knowledge. Although Eve knows that this was the one tree
God had forbidden that they eat from, she is told by Satan that this is only
because God knows she will become a goddess herself. Eve eats the fruit and
then decides to share it with Adam.
Adam, clearly, is upset that Eve
disobeyed God, but he cannot imagine a life without her so he eats the apple as
well. They both, then, satiate their new-born lust in the bushes and wake up
ashamed, knowing now the difference from good and evil (and, therefore, being
able to choose evil). They spend the afternoon blaming each other for their
fall.
God sends the Son down to judge the two
disobediant creatures. The Son condemns Eve, and all of womankind, to painful
childbirths and submission to her husband. He condemns Adam to a life of a
painful battle with nature and hard work at getting food from the ground. He
condemns the serpent to always crawl on the ground on its belly, always at the
heel of Eve's sons.
Satan, in the meantime, returns to
hell victorious. On the way, he meets Sin and Death, who have built a bridge
from hell to earth, to mankind, whom they will now reign over. When Satan
arrives in hell, however, he finds his fallen compatriots not cheering as he
had wished, but hissing. The reason behind the horrible hissing soon becomes
clear: all of the fallen angels are being transformed into ugly monsters and
terrible reptiles. Even Satan finds himself turning into a horrible snake.
Adam and Eve, after bitterly blaming
each other, finally decide to turn to God and ask for forgiveness. God hears
them and agrees with his Son that he will not lose mankind completely to Sin,
Death and Satan. Instead, he will send his son as a man to earth to sacrifice
himself and, in so doing, conquer the evil trinity.
Michael is sent by God to escort Adam
and Eve out of the Garden. Before he does, however, he tells Adam what will
become of mankind unitl the Son comes down to earth. The history of mankind
(actually the history of the Jewish people as narrated in the Hebrew Bible)
will be a series of falls from grace and acceptance back by God, from Noah and
the Flood to the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people.
Adam is thankful that the Son will
come down and right what he and Eve have done wrong. He holds Eve's hand as
they are escorted out of the Garden.
Character
List
Satan- Called
Lucifer in heaven before the his disobediance, Satan is one of God's favorite
angels until his pride gets in the way and he turns away from God. Satan brings
many of heaven's angels with him, however, and reigns as king in hell. He
continues an eternal battle with God and goodness for the souls of human
beings. Satan, at first, is an angel with a single fault, pride, but throughout
the story he becomes physically and morally more and more corrupt.
God- The
Absolute, ruler of heaven, creator of earth and all of creation. God is all
seeing, though he seems to pay less attention to things further away from his
light. He is surrounded by angels who praise him and whom he loves but, when
Satan falls and brings many of heaven's population with him, he decides to
create a new creature, human, and to create for him a beautiful universe in the
hopes that someday humans will join him in heaven. God has a sense of humor,
and laughs at the follies of Satan and seems to be a firm and just ruler.
Son of God- God's
begotten Son, later to become fully human in the form of Jesus, the Christ.
God's Son will continually beat down Satan, first in the three day battle in
heaven, then, as Jesus, when he sacrifices himself for the salvation of man.
The Son of God is more sympathetic to the plight of mankind and often advocates
on behalf of him in front of God.
Holy Spirit- Third
of the God/Son Trinity. Although the Holy Spirit does not play a large part in
the narrative (leading some critics to think that Milton did not even believe
in the Trinity), he is continually referred to as Milton's inspirational
"muse" in the writing of the epic. The Holy Spirit is, in fact, the
creature through whom the Old and New Testament were written according to
Christians, therefore he is the best vehicle from which Milton can draw the
truth.
Sin- Daughter
of Satan born when Satan first disobeyed God. Satan later rapes Sin and they
have Death. The three form the unholy trinity in contrast to God, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Sin is sent to hell with Satan and stands guard at hell's
gates. She is a horrible looking thing, half serpent, half woman, with
hellhounds circling her. She will invade earth and mankind after Satan causes
Adam and Eve to fall.
Death- Spawn
of Satan and Satan's daughter Sin. He is a dark, gigantic form who guards the
gates of hell with Sin. He, too, will reign on earth after Satan causes the
Fall. Death, however, will plague not only men and women, but all living
creatures on earth down to the smallest plant. Death, as a terminal end, will
be defeated when God sends his Son Jesus Christ to earth.
Adam- First
created man, father of all mankind. Adam is created a just and ordered
creature, living in joy, praising God. Lonely, Adam will ask for a companion
and will thereafter feel deep and uncontrollable, though ordered, love for her,
named Eve. This love will ultimately get Adam in trouble, as he decides to
disobey God rather than leave her. Adam has free will and, by the end of the
poem, also has the knowledge of good and evil.
Eve- First
created woman, mother of all makind. Eve is rather a fickle and vain woman,
easily flattered by Adam and Satan. Her weakness becomes her downfall, as her
vanity drives her to disobey God. She loves Adam as well, though the
implicaiton is that she loves herself much more.
Raphael- Gentle
archangel sent to befriend and warn Adam of the dangers in the Garden. Raphael
is traditionally seen as a friendly and sociable angel and, in fact, sits down
to eat and gab with Adam for most of an afternoon. Raphael is a gentle guide
and appears as a luminous, soft being.
Michael- General
in God's army. In contrast to Raphael, Michael is a firm, military type of
angel. He is more of an instructor and a punisher than he is a friend and a
guide,. He and Gabriel are sent to battle Satan's forces in the heavenly war,
and he is sent to evict Adam and Eve from Paradise.
Gabriel- Another
archangel who is a general in God's army. He, too, was sent to lead God's
forces into battle against Satan and it is he who, with a squadron of angel
soldiers, finds Satan in the Garden of Eden the first time.
Abdiel- The
only angel who stands up to Satan and his thousands of minions when Satan first
suggests rebellion. He is praised as being more courageous than even those who
fight in God's army because he stood up in the middle of evil and used words to
battle it.
Beelzebub-Lord
of the Flies, one of the Fallen Angels and Satan's second in command. Beelzebub
is the name of one of the Syrian gods mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He is the
first with whom Satan confers when contemplating rebellion and he is the first
Satan sees when they are in hell. Beelzebub relies totally on Satan for what he
thinks and does. Later, Satan uses Beelzebub as a plant to get hell's council
of fallen angels to do what he wants them to do.
Moloch- another
fallen angel, one of the generals of Satan's army. Moloch is an authoritarian
military angel, who would rather fight and lose battles than be complacent and
passive. Victory over God is less important to Moloch than revenge against him.
Belial- a
complacent, passive fallen angel. Belial doesn't want to fight. He represents a
part of all the fallen angels that secretly wishes God would take them all
back.
Mammon- another
fallen angel. Mammon thinks that the fallen angels should try to build their
own kingdom and make their life as bearable as possible in hell. He is the
ultimate compromiser, and, though his compromise is illogical and will not
work, the crowd loves him.
Paradise Lost: Summary and Notes for Book 1
Book 1 breaks down
naturally into six sections: they are:
☞ Invocation
and introduction of theme (1-26)
It is characteristic of
classical epic that the poet invokes the aid of his patron muse. Milton marries
Christian theme and neo-classical method by invoking, as his muse, the Holy
Spirit, third Person of the Trinity. This section is a prayer, in which Milton
states his subject, and asks for divine assistance in giving voice to it.
Milton states that his purpose is to:
"Assert eternal
providence
And justify the ways of
God to men."
Note that this section
contains only two sentences. The main verb, in the first, is the thirty-ninth
word in the sentence. The various indirect objects of the verb “sing” reflect
the magnitude of the poem's subject and its author’s task: “disobedience...Death…woe...loss
of Eden...one greater Man.”
☞ Satan's
revolt (27-83)
Note how easily Milton
moves from prayer into an account of Satan's fall, by asking who or what caused
man to fall. According to Milton Satan’s motive was to be above his peers. The
expulsion of Satan from heaven is depicted more fully in Book VI (his revolt,
partly, in Book V) of Paradise Lost
Satan is cast out of
heaven, together with his "horrid crew". Nine days they lie on the
lake of fire, then regain consciousness to find themselves in hell.
☞ Satan's
speech to Beelzebub (84-127)
Satan acknowledges how
utterly his confederate, Beelzebub, has been changed, for the worse, by the
devils' defeat, but stresses fact that they are still united in their fall. He
recognises God's superior strength, but points out that he now knows the extent
of God's power, previously unknown because untried. Despite the change they
have outwardly undergone, Satan stresses the unchanged nature of his attitude
to God's Son, "the potent Victor". "All is not lost"
because Satan will never submit freely to God’s authority. Satan suggests that
God’s rule was endangered by his revolt, that he will never sink to the
indignity of asking forgiveness, and outlines his intention of conducting
further warfare against God. Satan's speech smacks of wishful thinking; he speaks
boastfully, but at the same time tortured by pain and profound despair.
☞ Beelzebub's
reply and Satan's second speech (128-191)
Beelzebub acknowledges
Satan’s trial of God's might, bewails loss of heaven, and the punishment the
fallen angels are suffering, though this will not be alleviated by death. He
suggests that God has deliberately left devils their strength, to be His slaves,
carrying out "his errands in the gloomy deep" of hell.
Satan replies that the
devils' task must be never to do anything good, but always to strive to pervert
to evil ends whatever God does, turning to evil His good actions. Satan
suggests leaving the lake of fire in which they lie, and reassembling their forces.
Note Satan’s resolution
and his taking the initiative. As the poem continues we also note Beelzebub’s
support of Satan, his ready agreement with all he says – Beelzebub is very
shrewd: he makes sure he defers to his superior. Milton gives some account here
of the topography of hell.
☞ Satan's
and Beelzebub's quitting the lake of fire (192-282)
Satan and Beelzebub leave
the lake of fire and fly to land. Milton compares Satan with the sea-monster,
Leviathan, and stresses the fact that it is only with God's permission that the
devils quit the lake. Satan acknowledges the horrible nature of hell, but
argues that, for him, to be in heaven would be hell (being subservient to God)
and it is better to reign where he is than serve in heaven. Beelzebub repeats
Satan’s suggestion, advising him to call to other angels, who will be revived
by sound of their leader's voice.
☞ Satan
rallies his subjects (283-621)
Satan, "the superior
fiend, goes to the edge of the burning lake and calls to his legions who are
lying inert on its surface. Note his sarcastic humour: he asks, in effect, “Are
you having a rest? Have you chosen to lie in the lake as a way of adoring God
(by readily bowing to His will)?”
The devils, waking, stir
themselves, fly up into air, and assemble around Satan The chief devils are
named and described:
•
Moloch (crude, warlike, blustering);
•
Chemos (associated with sensual, orgiastic demon worship,
idolatry);
•
Astarte (female equivalent of Chemos);
•
Thammuz (fertility god, believed to die and rise to life every
year; associated with rebirth of vegetation);
•
Dagon (god of the Philistines, referred to in Biblical book of
Judges and Samuel);
•
Rimmon (referred to in Biblical book of Kings); Osiris, Isis, Orus (gods of
Egyptian mythology), and Belial (deceitful, lustful, lewd).
The devil host assembles
in military fashion. Move forward, and come to a halt ready for inspection by
Satan. Milton describes the martial prowess and glory they retain despite their
fall, and notes how moved Satan is by this display of loyalty.
Note that Moloch and
Belial reappear in Book 2, where they are more interestingly portrayed as
speakers in the great debate.
☞ Satan's
speech to the devils (622-669)
Satan opens his address to
his followers by praising them, claiming that none save the Almighty could have
matched their strength. He claims that it is hard to believe the fallen angels
will not re-ascend to heaven, and regain their rightful position. Satan blames
God for apparently holding His position by "repute" and the ready
submission of the angels, while concealing His true strength, and thereby
tempting the followers of Satan to rebel.
Satan mentions the rumour,
heard in heaven, of the creation of a new world, and suggests the idea of
exploring it, as "celestial spirits" will never be held in bondage by
the "infernal pit" of hell. Satan finishes by insisting that war of
some kind "must be resolved". As he concludes his speech, the devils
affirm their loyalty, striking their shields with their swords, "hurling
defiance" at heaven.
Note how Satan flatters
his legions, persuades them they can still thwart God’s designs and that hell
cannot hold them. He hints at war, but leaves it till later to determine what
kind of conflict this will be. This prepares us for the great debate of Book 2.
☞ The building of Pandemonium
(670-798)
Utilising the natural
mineral wealth of hell, the devils, under the guidance of the materialist
Mammon, construct a great council chamber. This is Pandemonium (“All devil
place” or “place of all devils”). A
solemn assembly is announced, and the devils scale themselves down in size,
till they are small enough to be "at large" in the hall. (“At large”
means having enough space in which to move freely – but Milton puns on the
expression) The chief devils, however, retain their full dimensions, and the
"great consult" begins.
Divine & Supernatural Beings:
a) Satan (Lucifer)
·
Lines: 34–282 (Key speeches), 594–622
·
Description: The fallen archangel, " Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile, Stird
up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd, The Mother of Mankind”, leader of the rebellion. Retains his pride and
charisma despite defeat.
b) Beelzebub
·
Lines: 81–127, 283–363
·
Description: Satan’s second-in-command, "One next himself in
power, and next in crime, Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd, Beelzebub” More pragmatic, proposes the plot to corrupt Man.
c) Moloch
·
Lines: 392–396
·
Description: " First
Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood, Of human sacrifice, and parents
tears," warlike and bloodthirsty.
Later associated with child sacrifice., The
Ammonites (an ancient tribe) worshipped Moloch;
d) Chemos (or
Baal-Peor).
·
Lines: 406–420
·
Description: " Next
Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moabs Sons, From Aroar to Nebo, and
the wild" . Linked to
pagan rituals and sexual corruption.
e) Baalim & Ashtaroth
·
Lines: 421–438
·
Description: “Of Baalim and Ashtaroth,
those male, These Feminine. For Spirits when they please” Plural deities, can change shape and size
(male/female forms). Baalim = storm gods; Ashtaroth (Astarte) = fertility
goddess.
f) Astoreth (Astarte)
·
Lines: 438–446
·
Description: Came
Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Astarte, Queen of Heav'n, with crescent
Horns; has cresent moon horns; worshipped as queen of heaven.
Phoenician goddess of love/war. Symbolizes false worship..
g) Thammuz
·
Lines: 446–461
·
Description: " Thammuz
came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd. Dying-and-rising god, dies
every year; making the rivers red; mourned by
women; symbol of resurrection
h) Dagon
·
Lines: 462–466
·
Description: Dagon
his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man, And downward Fish: yet had his Temple high, Philistine sea-god, half fish half man; Represents
unnatural hybridity.
i) Rimmon
·
Lines: 467–476
·
Description: Him
follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful Seat, Was fair Damascus, on the fertil Banks,
Syrian storm-god worshipped in Damascus.
Symbolizes political idolatry.
j) Osiris,
Isis, Horus.
· Lines: 477–489
·
Description: Osiris (god of the dead), Isis (his
wife), and Horus (their falcon-headed son). demons in disguise, taking on
animal shapes (like bulls, birds, etc.) to fool people.
k) Belial
·
Lines: 490–505
·
Description: Belial
came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd, Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to
love; master of rhetoric. Advocates sloth and
moral ambiguity.
l) Mammon
·
Lines: 678–690
·
Description: "Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell From heav'n, for ev'n
in heav'n his looks and thoughts".
Embodies materialism; directs Hell’s gold mining.
m) Mulciber (Vulcan)
·
Lines: 739–751
·
Description: “Men
call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell, From Heav'n, they fabl'd, thrown by angry
Jove.” Fallen
architect of Pandemonium. Once built palaces in Heaven, now in Hell.
Line by Line Summary
BOOK 1
THE ARGUMENT
This first Book proposes, first in brief, the
whole Subject, Mans disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he
was plac't: Then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather
Satan in the Serpent; who revolting from God, and drawing to his side many
Legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his
Crew into the great Deep. Which action past over, the Poem hasts into the midst
of things, presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell, describ'd
here, not in the Center (for Heaven and Earth may be suppos'd as yet not made,
certainly not yet accurst) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest call'd
Chaos: Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning Lake, thunder-struck and
astonisht, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who
next in Order and Dignity lay by him; they confer of thir miserable fall. Satan
awakens all his Legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded; They
rise, thir Numbers, array of Battel, thir chief Leaders nam'd, according to the
Idols known afterwards in Canaan and the Countries adjoyning. To these Satan
directs his Speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells
them lastly of a new World and new kind of Creature to be created, according to
an ancient Prophesie or report in Heaven; for that Angels were long before this
visible Creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To find out the
truth of this Prophesie, and what to determin thereon he refers to a full Councel.
What his Associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the Palace of Satan rises,
suddenly built out of the Deep: The infernal Peers there sit in Councel.
Section-I
The first section (lines 1-26)
contains the invocation and the purpose of writing:
Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, [ 5
]
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen
Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill [ 10 ]
Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that
flow'd
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues [ 15
]
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the
first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
[ 20 ]
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Illumin, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert Eternal Providence, [ 25 ]
And justifie the wayes of God to men.
The poem Paradise Lost opens with an
invocation and the poet explains the theme of his poem-first act of
disobedience towards the God and then its consequences. Poet explains the story
of Adam and Eve who ate the Fruit of Forbidden Tree that brought sorrow and
death to human beings until Jesus came to the world and purified it again
brought happiness back.
Now Milton invokes the Muse (source of mystical inspiration) to assist him divinely in giving voice to his purpose of writing (Milton calls it Adventurous Song). Milton’s muse is Holy Spirit which, in his views, makes his song superior to the others. According to Milton, his purpose of writing is to “assert Eternal Providence and justifie the wayes of God to men.”
Section-II
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