Paradise Lost Essay

Paradise Lost is divided into xii books. In obligate I Milton explains the theme of his work, mans disobedience to God, his expulsion from Heaven and the history of the resist angels sent to colliery. In Book II the angels meet in council to decide what they will do. In Book III God makes a speech on mans freedom to carry between good and evilness. In Book IV Satan observes the happiness of Adam and eventide in the Garden of Eden. In Book V God sends Raphael to state of warn Adam. In Book VI the war in Heaven in described. Book VII and VIII tell the story of the creation of the public and the universe. In Book IX Satan persuades Adam and Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. In Book X Gods Son pronounces the sentence of expulsion. In the last two books Adam and Eve abandon paradise.Paradise Lost is an epos poem. Milton chose the epic genre because of the greatness of the subject. He follows the typical epic conventions in his masterpiece, such as the opening with the statement of the theme. This epic takes place in the universe, in Heaven, Hell and Eden. The main characters, God, Satan, Christ, Man and the fallen angels remind the warriors and heroes of the classical epic, even though they are more philosophic heroes.Milton knew the Copernican cosmology but he based the universe of Paradise Lost on the conventional Ptolemaic system because he thought that this conception was fixed in the minds of the people and it had limits within which it was easier for him to work. In Miltons Heaven God created the Earth, fixed in the centre of the Universe, and he put his life and thoughts in the natural world so that the external reality reflects the divine soul.In Paradise Lost evil and good are opposed. However, Satan has many characteristics of the epic hero, courage, leadership, initiative. Milton has sympathy for his Satan because he himself was a rebel against the political and religious authority.Both Milton and Dante said that their works had divine inspira tion but they had contrasting ideas virtually Satans physical appearance and meaning. Dantes Satan becomes a means of punishment and it resembles a mythic monster, with wings and three heads. Miltons Satan is a symbol of Gods justice and it takes several forms, first it is a fallen angel, then it has an inhuman form and finally he becomes a snake.The style of the poem is elevated, the poet used a new kind of magnificent blank-verse.