PARADISE LOST

Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost

Introduction

John Milton's Paradise Lost in its simplest sense is a poem about disobedience, loss, and sin. Borrowing much of its inspiration and material from the Book of Genesis, the great English epic tells of the Fall of Man, or the choice of Adam and Eve to disobey God by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge. The consequences of this action are, according to Milton and Christian tradition, tremendous. The very first lines of Paradise Lost emphasize this point, telling how “Man's first disobedience” brought “death into the world and all our humanity's woe”. The aim of the author was to demonstrate how Paradise Lost, while being a poem primarily telling of humanity's first sin, also functions as an inspirational poem, one that promises that the fallen human beings that Milton was writing for can hope for spiritual transcendence. In other words, they can hope for a form of personal development that can bring them closer to the God that both Milton and his readers believed in so fervently (Rumrich, 1987). Therefore, all the issues and aspects related to the book novel known as “Paradise Lost” will be discussed in detail.

Discussion

The Renaissance was a particularly important time for the idea of the individual and for the pursuit of individuality. As Jacob Burckhardt explains, rather than thinking of oneself as a member of a race, people, party or family, one was encouraged to think of one's self as spiritual individual, capable of contributing the state and world of art in unique and significant ways. A man could not just gain knowledge and excel in one particular field; he could succeed in all fields, becoming what Burckhardt calls the “all-sided” or what we might now like to think of as the “Renaissance man”. Such a conception of humanity and individual potential lies at the very heart of Paradise Lost. As a poem that tells of “man's first disobedience,” this great English epic shows readers the drastic changes that can befall mankind as a result of a single sin by an individual. Not only do Adam's and Eve's transgressions bring “death into the world and all our woe; their noncompliance with God's will also encourage their maker to change the way the heavens organize themselves (Burckhardt, 1958).

The promise and hope this pronouncement gives to humanity is later stressed by the archangel Raphael, as he tells Adam in Paradise that there might come a time when “men / with angels may participate,” that is, if Adam is found obedient. Of course, Adam does fail to remain obedient to God's law, thus leaving humanity with the prospect of death, struggle, sadness and pain. Yet despite the fact that Milton makes it clear that mankind is forever beholden to these and other punishments, he also assures his readers are still endowed with the potential to develop in ways that bring them closer to God and the divine. In this essay, it is my intent to reveal how Milton encourages readers ...