Paradise Lost

7 Pages 1754 Words

The book “Paradise Lost” is quite confusing to read, not only the language, (which I need a dictionary to understand), but also the ideas. I think Milton himself was quite unsure where he really was going with that. From the first view it appeared that the whole book is basically the re-telling of the Book of Genesis, just in poetic verse, but it is not so. However, for people who are familiar with epic poetry of such authors as Homer, we can see that this is really a great example of an epic poem, which is no surprise since in his times, Greek poetry was quite famous and influential. The only difference is that Milton’s poem is not really intended to be read as the poem of adventures, great kings, etc, but as the religious text. After all, Milton is a Puritan, living in 16th century and there is one course that he can take when writing.
“Of Man’s first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree……
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.”
Of course in every epic poem, there is a hero, and this one is no different, but who is the real hero in this book? Is it G-d, his Son, Satan, Adam, Eve or the Angels? I really believe that the real hero is Satan, though of course that is not what was intended. However, as every hero, he goes against the authority, he has followers who he encourages with great speeches, and he has a quest which he finally accomplishes. It is generally believed that Angels have no free will, and that they are preprogrammed to be good and cannot turn to evil. Of course with the fall of Satan and his followers we can see that this is not so. It is also believed that G-d if all knowing, and he knew perfectly well what is going to happen, which means that whatever Satan or Adam and Eve did or didn’t do, the fall and exile would of still occurred. So essentially, it is all G-d’s doing, and it is his fault that we were expelled from Eden, and then the...