Milton: The Achievement Of Humans

What is human nature? The Bible says in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all fallen, sinful and depraved, all of us are. Humans are evil. Genesis 1-3 shows us that God made us whole and good, but we have ruined his perfect plan. The greatest of men were all sinners. Moses, the leader of Israel was a murder (Exodus 2:11-15), David slept with Bathsheba and then killed her husband (2 Samuel 11-12), Paul murdered christians (Acts 9), and the list goes on and on.

The great debate whether Satan is the hero of Milton’s Epic Poem, Paradise Lost, has been speculated for hundreds of years. Milton, a writer devoted to theology and the appraisal of God, may not have intended for his portrayal of Satan to be marked as heroic. Yet, this argument is valid and shares just how remarkable the study of literature can be. Milton wrote his tale of the fall of man in the 1674. His masterpiece is an example of how ideas of a society change with time. This is because it wasn’t until the 1800’s during the Romantic era, that people no longer saw the hero of literary works as perfect in every way. It started to become more popular to develop the flawed character similar to the ones written in the classics. A literary

Humankind was created in the image of God; He gave them like characteristics such as compassion, love, and faithfulness. In Genesis 3 we learn of the Fall of Humanity, which introduces not only sin into the world but also pain. (“Lecture 3”, 2015) After the Fall human nature is then scarred by sin, humans are born sinful by nature. In Genesis 4 Cain brings murder into the world; from here we see humanity relentlessly depart from the wisdom of God. (“Lecture 3”, 2015) Only by accepting Jesus Christ into their hearts, can they atone for their sins and get right with the Lord.

God was very angry about this act of betrayal as he saw it and so he turned his head and the beautiful angel was dropped from God's hands and fell so far he reached a place of darkness and sadness to stay there forever... he chose to build and make his barren wasteland of a home into a place where, like he wanted Adam and Eve to be, whoever they want, to do whatever they want, to be free. Though he was in this place he still wanted to help the humans. through time god had whispered into the human's ears about how awful and evil Lucifer was, and if we worshiped god and followed his rules we could stay with him in heaven, But if we disobey the rules we are condemned to an eternal fire.

Diffey (2014) explained that “The fall was the ultimate act of rebellion that changed the very nature of humanity” (para.12). And there was consequences of the fall for human nature. God gave a consequence to Eve and for all women, that he “will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). Because of Eve sin, god made all women suffer pain of giving birth. Additionally, Diffey (2014) told that “In Genesis 2:17, God said that death would enter the world if they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and now, not only did sin and death affect Adam and Eve, but also their children” (para.12).

Of Things Invisible to Mortal SightThe Holy Bible is in many ways a story of origins. The history recounted both in the Old and New Testaments has at its base the perception of a fallen humanity; beginning with the fall from Eden and the nature of evil, to the means of regaining Gods grace and the discussion of free will, it emphasizes humanitys inability to fully comprehend the nature of God and of the universe. In writing his epic Paradise Lost, John Milton is fully aware of his limitations as a mortal man; however, in an attempt to transcend the finite to the infinite, to describe the indescribable and to understand the unknown, Milton bases his arguments on Biblical theology to show that mankind has fallen from immortality to mortality

Paradise Lost, Milton’s epic poem narrating “things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme” builds on the subject matter of the Biblical story of the Genesis and sings of Satan’s temptation of “man” and his consequent fall. Having invested the first three books in revealing the rebellion in heaven and fall of Lucifer, and the divine plans concerning the fate of human kind, it is in the fourth book that Milton first takes the reader to the hallowed setting of the best part of the action, the Garden of Eden, and introduces two of his arguable protagonists, Adam and Eve, the general parents of mankind.

John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, has been the subject of criticism and interpretation through many years; these interpretations concur in that Adam and Eve are the sufferers of the poem, and it is their blight to lose Paradise because of their disobedience; however, their exile is merely a plight brought by Satan, and it is he who suffers exile before any others. Satan changes from Book I of the poem to Book XII; his introduction is heroic and grand, appearing as a hero rebelling against an unjust God. But by the finalization of Milton’s poem, Satan is a burnt shell of himself and, though ruler of Pandemonium, he sits in a throne in the lowest pit from God’s light. Satan’s exile brings forth the salvation of mankind and his own regressive transformation; tying in with the theme of disobedience, Satan’s exile gives

God is described as the evil one in the story, because of how he allows mankind to have free will, but punishes all who displays free will. In the later books of Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve were punished because of

When John Milton decided to write, he knew from the start he wanted his creation to be that of an epic. Paradise Lost is just that. It is Milton's own take on the biblical story of Satan's fall from grace as well as man's fall. Milton was not only armed with an extensive knowledge on the Bible, but in everything a man of his time could learn. With his wisdom he emersed himself into his work, making Paradise Lost not only a tale of epic perportions, but one that would "Justify the ways of God to Man." (I 26)

     In Paradise Lost, the consequences of the fall and the change in relations between man and nature can best be discussed when we look at Milton's pre-fall descriptions of Eden and its inhabitants. Believing that fallen humans could never fully understand what life was like in Eden and the relationships purely innocent beings shared, Milton begins his depiction of Paradise and Adam and Eve through the fallen eyes of Satan:

Paradise Lost is a story of Genesis told as it normally would be, but with a protagonist focus on Satan. The story is told largely with Satan being favorably portrayed and God having little presence other than cursing things, which convinces the audience that Satan’s view of God as a tyrant may not be too far off. Still, Satan is portrayed as the villain of the story. However, he has characteristics of a classical hero; including flaws that make the audience relate to and feel sympathy for him. By using part of the black-and-white Genesis story which paints Satan as evil and juxtaposing a narrative which paints Satan as a sympathetic hero, Milton raises a question about morality that largely define the audience’s reaction to the story:

The most important characters in the epic poem, “Paradise Lost”, are Satan and Eve. These two characters are most responsible for the development and progression of events within the poem. Satan is the main figure throughout the vast majority of the plot. “Paradise Lost” follows Satan’s ultimately successful attempt to destroy God’s perfect creation, humanity, by forcing Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. In creating humanity, God set expectations and put in place boundaries for Adam and Eve, yet they were not particularly restrictive.

Through his work of Paradise Lost, Milton exposes his view that God allows suffering in order for a greater good of the human race to exist. Milton uses the Fall- both Satan’s and Adam and Eve’s- as a device to demonstrate human corruption, as each fall is “a step down from a higher being to a lower being”. Both the Fall of Satan and the Fall of Adam & Eve are falls away from a position of divine power to a position of chaos and disorder- something Milton illustrates as an undesirable event. Milton introduces Satan as a selfish, power-hungry character; similar to an individual of today’s society who believes they are the greatest- nobody can ‘one-up’ them. He inherently denies of the existence of a greater God, as that would discredit his own belief that he is the utmost being. Instead of blind denial, Satan instead builds up a power against God himself, in an effort to “contest the throne of Heaven” (slide). However, this in of itself is a hypocrisy on his own beliefs, as he cannot be autonomous in a search for autonomy, since he is unable to defeat God on his own. This is Satan’s first fall, because he has now relinquished his stance on denying a being greater than himself, and must maintain his uprising unless he wants to face what Milton would consider a second Fall. Milton uses Satan as a representation of disobedience within the human race; he is the ‘wrong direction’ in the two paths of moral decisions. He uses Satan to show that rebellion that stems from self-

John Milton's epic “Paradise Lost” is one that has brought about much debate since its writing. This epic tells the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, although from a different perspective than what most people usually see. Milton tells the story more through the eyes of Satan, whom most people usually consider the ultimate villain. The way in which Satan is portrayed in this story has caused speculation as to whether Satan is actually a hero in this situation. He certainly has heroic qualities throughout the story, yet still is ultimately responsible for Adam and Eve's sin. Satan can easily be classified as a hero in this story, as well as the main antagonist, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. Milton introduces Satan as an important