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Paradise Lost
Milton, John (1667) Albert Labriola (Duquesne University) Genre: Poetry. Country: England. John Milton (1608-1674) composed Paradise Lost as his magnum opus, an epic of almost 11,000 lines. Though the dates of composition are uncertain, the work was published in ten books in 1667, then slightly revised and restructured into twelve books for the 1674 edition. At the behest of his printer, Milton in the later edition included prose arguments at the head of each book to provide a synopsis of the action, to identify major characters, and to facilitate the understanding of readers. The narrative begins with the defeat of Satan after his failed attempt to overthrow the godhead, follows him through the stages of his vengeful plot to subvert Gods newest creation, humankind, and achieves its climax at the downfall of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Eden. The epic ends with two books in which the archangel Michael narrates a dream-vision of the future, which Adam views. Unifying the twelve books of Paradise Lost is the overarching theme to assert Eternal Providence, / And justify the ways of God to men (I. 25-26): to explain how and why God permits evil, and to vindicate Gods justice. God contends that he endowed humankind with the capability to exercise both right reason and free will against evil temptation. He affirms that all human beings, typified by Adam and Eve, were created Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall (III. 99). Because human beings are not foreordained to fall, but free to pursue or reject a sinful course of action, they bear responsibility for their misdeeds. But in the Christian theology of Paradise Lost, the sacrifice of the Son on behalf of fallen humankind meets the demands of Gods justice and affords the merciful opportunity for repentance and regeneration.

Synopsis
Book 1. While the downfall of Adam and Eve and their loss of Eden (4) is foreseen at the outset, also emphasized is the role of the Son as the redeemer who performs the consummate act of humility, compassion, and mercy by assuming human nature to become one greater man (4) and by offering himself as a sacrifice on behalf of fallen humankind. After this initial section of Book 1, the narrator recounts the aftermath of the War in Heaven, particularly the defeat and banishment of the fallen angels to hell. Satan, who remains defiant, revives the fallen angels after their defeat and assembles them to plan how they will avenge their loss.

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Book 2. A consultation takes place in Pandemonium, a structure built by the fallen angels in hell. In this edifice, which resembles both a temple and a palace, Satan occupies the position of preeminence: high on a throne of royal state (1). Four angels present their views concerning the means of vengeance, and the overwhelming opinion inclines to open war or covert guile (41) against some new race called Man (348) that is less than the angels in power and excellence (350). Satan volunteers to conduct a reconnaissance of these newly created beings. Exiting the gates of hell, Satan flies through Chaos, a turbulent environment in which he is buffeted, until he lands on the convex exterior of the cosmos, which is encased by a crystalline sphere or shell. Book 3. Seeing what has happened, God the Father informs the Son that Satan will succeed in his plan to subvert Adam and Eve, who will fall from their state of grace. Though God foresees the downfall of Adam and Eve, he emphasizes that the fault is theirs, not his; for they are creatures whom he created with free will. In the meantime, Satan having found an opening in the exterior of the cosmos dives into it and flies to the brightest body in the heavens, the sun. Disguising himself as a lesser angel, a stripling cherub (636), Satan seeks information from Uriel, the seraph who is regent of the sun, concerning Adam and Eve and their habitat. Directed to earth, he flies till on Niphates top he lights (742) within view of Eden. Book 4. Having assumed the shape of a cormorant, Satan perches on the Tree of Life, from which he surveys Eden. When he notices Adam and Eve, he enters the bodies of other animals; and as if he were stalking prey, he approaches Adam and Eve to overhear their conversation. He learns of the one prohibition on the activity of Adam and Eve - the divine command not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - and plans their eventual downfall. Uriel, who directed Satan (disguised as a lesser angel) to earth, becomes aware of the deception, and alerts Gabriel, the seraph who protects Paradise, to the presence of the intruder. But Satan squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve (800), while she and Adam are asleep, affects the organs of her fancy (802), thereby inducing her to dream. Book 5. In the dream, which she recounts to Adam, Eve is awakened by a voice, which resembles Adams, though it is spoken by an angelic being. Led in her dream to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Eve is urged to take and eat of the forbidden fruit. She experiences high exaltation (90), which results in part from being addressed as a goddess (78) and from accompanying the angelic being up to the clouds (86) from which she viewed \"the earth outstretched immense (88). To forewarn Adam and Eve of Satan and his wiles, God the Father instructs Raphael, a seraph, to travel to earth. Raphael narrates how Satan, then Lucifer, seduced one third of the angels to revolt against the godhead, thus suggesting how formidable an adversary Adam may encounter on earth. Book 6. Raphael continues his account of the revolt, which results in the War in Heaven between the good and evil angels. After three days, the war becomes a stalemate, though Satan, both resourceful and ingenious, invents gunpowder that ignites cannons. These implements of mischief (488) overwhelm the good angels, whose recourse is to uproot the mountains of heaven and to topple them onto the weapons devised by Satan. To bring the three-day war to an end, the

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Father urges the Son to mount the chariot of Paternal Deity (750), from which he will assault the evil angels. Accelerating the chariot toward the evil angels, the Son, who in his right hand grasps ten thousand thunders (835-836), discharges his weaponry in a volley, so intense that the evil angels leap from the precipice of heaven, falling for a period of nine days into hell. Book 7. At Adam\s request Raphael narrates the story of the Creation, a six-day process enacted by the Son at the behest of the Father. Sped by a chariot through the gates of heaven, the Son, accompanied by angels, oversees the vast immeasurable abyss, which is outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild (211-212). By a series of utterances, the Son begets one stage of the Creation after another, in the course of which the beneficence of the godhead is emphasized. Plenitude, continuity, and gradation characterize Nature in its manifold diversity, including innumerable creatures, whether fowl, fish, or other beasts. The account focuses, finally, on the creation of humankind and the enjoinder that Adam and Eve, endowed with sanctity of reason (508), should travel erect and be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth (531). Book 8. In the aftermath of Raphaels account of the Creation, Adam inquires about the planets and other celestial bodies, their placement in the heavens, and their motions. But Raphael discourages such inquiry, even on the topic of the centric body of the universe whether the earth or the sun. Instructing Adam to \"be lowly wise (173), Raphael encourages discussion more directly relevant to the human condition. Adam, complying with his teachers guidance, affirms that it is more important to know what before us lies in daily life (192-193). Recollecting the first moments of consciousness after he was created, Adam indicates to Raphael that he felt the need for collateral love, and dearest amity (426). The creation of Eve, Adams conjugal union with her under the direction of God the Father, and Raphaels instruction concerning the relationship of Adam and Eve are the concluding topics of Book 8. Book 9. Having infiltrated the Garden of Eden, Satan inhabits a serpent and waits for an opportune moment to seduce humankind. Eve proposes that she and Adam divide (214) their labors, for when they are together, they converse and become diverted from their custodial duties to tend plant, herb and flower (206). Adam resists the prospect of separation, but relents under ongoing pressure from Eve. Spying Eve at work alone, the serpent-tempter begins his blandishments and seduction, leading her, in turn, to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpent-tempter accuses God of preventing humankind from becoming divine; for if, he contends, Eve were to partake of the forbidden fruit, she would become godlike. Emboldened by the serpent-tempter, Eve eats the forbidden fruit and offers it to Adam, who also partakes of it. Soon, however, Adam and Eve engage in mutual recrimination, each blaming the other for their transgressions. Book 10. The Son exits heaven and travels to the Garden of Eden to judge Adam and Eve. Because of their transgressions, they are to be punished by various means: Adam in the sweat of his face will eat bread (205); Eve will experience the pangs of childbirth. In the meantime, the figures of Sin and Death, who had been in hell, have followed Satan in his journey to the earth. Their appetites are aroused to prey on Adam and Eve, as well as on all their progeny. Satan,

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exulting in his successful temptation of humankind, returns to hell, mounts his throne, and reports his triumph to the evil angels. He is transformed, however, into a monstrous serpent on his belly prone (514), and the evil angels become serpents experiencing hunger and thirst, which they strive to alleviate by eating fruit, but, instead, they chewed bitter ashes (566). By the end of the book, Adam and Eve experience remorse and become contrite. Book 11. The Son presents Adam\s and Eve\s prayers to God, who accepts them. Nonetheless, he ordains the banishment of Adam and Eve from Paradise. The archangel Michael informs Adam and Eve of God\s verdict; but to prevent them from becoming disconsolate (113), God has instructed his angelic emissary to foretell to Adam what shall come in future days (114). That revelation will include how the godhead will intermix his covenant in the womans seed renewed (115-116), a reference to the Virgin Mary, the so-called second Eve, through whom the Son will acquire the form and nature of humankind. While Eve is asleep, Michael escorts Adam to a mountaintop, from which they view future events, which the angel narrates and interprets. Included in the vision are Cains slaying of Abel, various scenes of peace and war, the Deluge and Noahs ark. Book 12. The vision of the future continues, with Adam seeing instances of tyrants who will subjugate others. Events in the unfolding vision are the sojourn of the Chosen People in Egypt, their liberation under the leadership of Moses, and the role of David as an ancestor of Jesus. Michael emphasizes, however, the coming of the Redeemer, particularly his temporal ministry, and the foundation and growth of Christianity under the Apostles. And the final victory of the Son is highlighted, when he, triumphing through the air (452) over Satan, then ascends heavenward. At the worlds dissolution (459), the Final Judgment will occur. The Son will adjudicate the ultimate disposition of the souls of humankind to Heaven or hell. After Eve awakens, she and Adam are escorted by Michael from the Garden of Eden.

Epic Conventions
Though a biblical epic, Paradise Lost adapts the literary conventions of classical antiquity reflected in Homers The Iliad and The Odyssey and Vergils The Aeneid, works that Milton knew and admired. Among the epic conventions in Paradise Lost are the narrators invocation of the muse, the intervention of supernatural beings, beginning the action in medias res (in the midst of things), the descent into the underworld, the interaction of love and war, a grand style distinguished by extended similes, and the idea of heroism. Concerning the first epic convention, Milton at the outset of Paradise Lost invokes his source of inspiration: Sing Heavnly 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 heavns and earth

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Rose out of chaos; or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloas brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God; I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. (I, 6-16) In Miltons case, the source of inspiration or the muse is the God of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, not the deities of Greco-Roman antiquity. Integrated into this invocation are several biblical allusions. The phrase secret top indicates that the general populace did not frequent the summits of Oreb and Sinai. Atop Mt. Oreb, the Lord, who was manifested in the burning bush, summoned Moses to become a prophet (Exodus 3. 1). On Mt. Sinai, Moses received the Commandments from the Lord (Exodus 20. 1-17), afterwards descending to rejoin the Israelites. Sion or Zion designates the mountain on which Jerusalem was built; at this same place, the Lord inspired his prophets, such as Isaiah (Isaiah 2. 1-3). Near Siloas brook, which flows west of Mt. Sinai, Jesus moistened clay with spittle, which he then spread on the eyes of a blind man. Having followed Christs instruction to wash his eyes in Siloas brook, the blind man miraculously acquired sight (John 9. 1-12). By this series of biblical allusions, Milton acknowledges his dependency on the Lord of the Judaeo-Christian tradition for inspiration and imaginative vision. Much as the Lord chose Moses to be not only his spokesperson or prophet but also the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), so too Milton petitions the Lord for enlightenment to compose his religious poem, the first biblical epic in English. Milton also likens himself to the blind man whom the Lord healed, for he wishes to be illuminated intellectually to create the architectonics of an epic poem in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), the same prosody as that of Shakespeares plays. In addition, by referring to the Aonian mount, a classical allusion that supplements the previous biblical allusions, Milton identifies the summit better known as Mt. Helicon, the haunt of classical muses. By this means, Milton uses classical antiquity and its acknowledged sources of creative inspiration, notably the muses, as prefigurations or pagan analogues of inspiration in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Milton, moreover, deliberately invites comparison of his epic with classical antecedents. He perceives pagan epics as wellsprings of mythology and fables, whereas he presents Paradise Lost as a biblical epic informed by Judaeo-Christian theology. The second epic convention observed in Paradise Lost involves the actions of supernatural beings. Transcending humankind, these beings, chiefly the Father and the Son, as well as the good and evil angels, intervene in the human condition both before and after the Fall of Adam and Eve. To be sure, the Father creates Adam and later Eve from a rib taken from Adams side. Before the Fall, Raphael, who is sent by the Father to educate Adam and Eve concerning obedience, discourses with them across four books of the epic, V through VIII. After the Fall, Michael in Books XI and XII educates Adam by expounding biblical history from the Old

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Testament, through the New Testament, and to the Second Coming and the afterlife. For Adam, such a preview informs him of the course of human history and the role of the redeemer whose Crucifixion and Resurrection will counteract the tragic effects of the Fall. At one point in Michaels exposition, Adam becomes joyful that his sinfulness occasioned the advent of the redeemer. His reaction reflects the theological view of the felix culpa or fortunate fault, which holds that after the misdeeds of Adam and Eve, the Lord enacts greater goodness when the Son as the redeemer enters into the human condition. Without the sinfulness of Adam and Eve, the Lord presumably would not have become incarnate. This consummate expression of love for humankind results in the voluntary humiliation of the Son and his self-sacrifice. In that way, divine intervention in human history offers regeneration after the Fall, as Adam learns under Michaels tutelage. The third epic convention that Milton observes is to begin the action of his epic in medias res or in the midst of things. The opening two books of Paradise Lost take place in hell, the lowermost regions of Chaos into which the evil angels plummeted from the precipice of Heaven and from which enormous gates of adamantine rock and metal bar their egress and imprison them. If Milton recounts the aftermath of the War in Heaven at the outset of the epic, in later books the reader paradoxically enters into earlier action, learning thereby how and why the evil angels disobeyed the godhead, experienced divine wrath, and suffered the loss of Heaven. By delaying these accounts of angelic disobedience, Milton proceeds directly and more meaningfully into the central books of Paradise Lost that dramatize how and why Adam and Eve disobeyed the divine command concerning the Tree of Knowledge, after which they were expelled from Eden. By juxtaposing two acts of disobedience, the first involving angels, the second humankind, Milton may explore more fully their commonalities: the lure of evil temptation, the role of pride in disobedience, rebelliousness against the godhead as a sign of inordinate aspiration to attain to loftier status, an affirmation of independence from the godhead, a declaration of self-sufficiency, and the horrific loss of proximity to the Lord. The fourth epic convention to which Milton adheres includes action in the underworld, notably hell. In Books I, II, and X, hell combines topographic features of classical Hades, sheol, and the place of everlasting damnation envisioned by Christians. All three views of the afterlife stress darkness, affliction, and incarceration. Accordingly, Milton derives the imagery with which he describes hell from classical, Judaic, and Christian concepts of the afterlife. At the beginning of Paradise Lost, for instance, Milton recounts that the Lord deployed thunderbolts to expel Satan and the fallen angels from Heaven: . . . Him the almighty power Hurled headlong flaming from th ethereal sky With hideous ruin and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire (I, 44-48)

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Continuing, Milton describes Satans perception of hell: A dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all (I, 61-67) Because Satan and the fallen angels dwell in a fiery location on all sides round, the site resembles a volcano. This resemblance thus recalls the punishment of Briareos and Typhon, two of the Titans who rebelled against Jove and who suffered incarceration inside Mt. Aetna, an active volcano. As they fulminated against Jove, their exhalations fanned the flames tormenting them. Traditionally, the fires of everlasting torment inflict pain but do not illuminate, a phenomenon that Milton cites (from those flames / No light) in his account of hell. Coupled with this classical allusion is a reference to sheol, a Judaic concept. In some renditions of sheol, it is merely the grave or death; in others, it suggests a place of punishment. In Lukes Gospel, for instance, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus focuses on the damnation of the former, who remains in sheol, the netherworld, where he was in torment (16. 23). He describes his suffering . . . in flames (16. 24). Incorporated into the New Testament, the conception of the rich mans punishment is clearly Judaic. Similarly, Scripture warns of the fiery pool burning with sulphur (Revelation 19. 20) into which one of the beasts of the Apocalypse and the false prophet were cast. Described also as the burning pool of fire and sulfur (Revelation 21. 8), this site of punishment will torment all evildoers. Enriching these classical, Judaic, and Christian conceptions are Miltons allusions to literature of the underworld, such as Dantes Divine Comedy. In fact, Miltons reference to the hopelessness of the fallen angelshope never comes / That comes to allparaphrases the inscription over the portal to hell in Dantes Inferno (III. 9): Abandon all hope ye who enter here. Both Dante and Milton exclude the damned from hope of salvation, whereas all others may yet be saved. Interrelating love and war becomes the fifth epic convention in Paradise Lost. The War in Heaven in Book VI pits the good angels against their evil counterparts in a contest that features two kinds of battles: hand-to-hand combat between principal characters and encounters involving large groups of angels. Early in the War in Heaven, Satan engages Michael. In this struggle, the protocol derives from classical epic combat, where each antagonist identifies his opponent, speaks derisively and threateningly to him, then proceeds to deliver martial blows. The epithets that each uses to the other have theological overtones in a biblical epic. Accordingly, Michaels first words to Satan, Author of evil, unknown till thy revolt (VI. 262), lead inevitably to a statement of the pernicious influence of the archfiend on vast numbers of angels: how hast thou instilled / Thy malice into thousands (VI. 269-270), a foreshadowing of satanic malevolence that will taint Adam and Eve and then their countless progeny through history. Satan debunks the accusations of Michael and belittles the retribution that the archangel promises, which he calls

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the wind / Of airy threats (VI. 282-283). A three-day War in Heaven ensues, though it ends in a stalemate until the Son, who is empowered by the Father, mounts his chariot and by deploying thunderbolts against the rebellious angels drives them over the brink of Heaven into the underworld. While the martial action of Book VI dramatizes the triumph of the Son, his greater victory derives from the consummate expression of love for humankind. Throughout Paradise Lost, the Son though heroically militant elicits even greater admiration and praise for his willingness to become incarnate and to suffer and die on behalf of fallen humankind. Anticipating this temporal ministry of the Son, the narrator of the epic, during the Celestial Dialogue in Book III, notes that in the face of the Second Divine Person Divine compassion visibly appeared, / Love without end (III. 141-142). The Son, In whom the fullness dwells of divine love (III. 225), mediates and intercedes on behalf of Adam and Eve and their descendants, so that humankind, unlike the obdurate fallen angels who confirm their damnation by continuous evildoing, may be granted the offer of redemption. Against such a wholly pure and profound expression of love, the epic presents the relationship of Adam and Eve. While their conjugal love for one another manifests, albeit imperfectly, the love that the Son will express toward them and their descendants, the fallibility of human nature to evil temptation results in the sinfulness of inordinate self-love, which results from pride, vainglory, and lustful appetites, not only concupiscence but also the acquisitive impulses of greed and avarice. In a post-lapsarian environment in which human nature is fallen and humankind is typically self-serving rather than self-sacrificing, the love that emerges even in a spousal relationship falls short of the ideal selfless love reflected in the incarnate Son. When, after their lapse into sinfulness, Adam and Eve seek to evade culpability, they become embroiled in mutual recrimination, so that each faults the other and neither acknowledges responsibility for evildoing. Eventually, to be sure, they become repentant, individually then collectively, but their emotional turmoil after they sin tests their love for one another and discloses imperfections in their spousal relationship. While spousal love in the human condition is beset by vagaries and vicissitudes, the constant and ever-present loving relationship of the Son for humankind serves as the ideal to be emulated. A grand style characterized by the frequent use of epic similes or extended comparisons is the sixth epic convention in Paradise Lost. Typically introduced by like or as, these extended comparisons that unfold over several lines of verse contribute to the majesty of Miltons epic and enhance the treatment of the lofty theme. When Satan is revived after his expulsion into Hell, he welters on the lake of liquid fire, then moves to the shore: . . . his ponderous shield Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of Fesole, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,

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Rivers of mountains in her spotty globe. (I. 284-291) Likening Satans shield to the moon as seen through the telescope of Galileo, Milton recalls his visit to Italy in 1638-1639, when he traveled to Florence and visited Galileo through whose optical instrument he viewed the heavens. Whether situated atop the hills of Tuscany or in the valley of the Arno River, the newly invented telescope enabled Galileo to chart the topography of the moon and document its distinguishing features. Though the moon when viewed by the unaided eye appears as a small disk, it may occupy the entire field of vision when seen through a telescope. The contrast between the smaller and larger appearances of the moon permits Milton to stress the gargantuan size of Satans instruments of war and the apparent formidability of his opposition to the godhead. Another epic simile describes the vast numbers of fallen angels whom Satan strives to rally after they plummeted into Hell: Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where th Etrurian shades High overarched embowr; or scattered sedge Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves oerthrew Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcasses And broken chariot wheels. (I. 302-311) Milton here recalls his travel through Vallombrosa or the Shady Valley outside Florence in the region of Tuscany, formerly called Etruria. The red-and-yellow leaves afloat on the brooks suggest the flames that afflict the angels on the burning lake. Moving to another point of reference in his extended comparison, Milton cites Orion, the constellation whose appearance is associated with turbulence in the climate, storms that churn the flotsam or sedge on rivers, lakes, brooks, and sea. By alluding, as well, to the Chosen People or sojourners of Goshen, the region in Egypt that they occupied before their deliverance, Milton recalls the parting of the waters at the Red Sea. Recounted in Exodus 14. 10-31, the passage through the Red Sea and onto the opposite shore enabled the Chosen People to view the collapse of the waters that inundated the Egyptians pursuing them. The Egyptian charioteers and their armaments were strewn on the Red Sea after the failed attempt of their pharaoh, whom Milton cites as Bursiris, to prevent the Exodus. The proliferating details of this epic simile presage the ultimate, cataclysmic defeat of Satan and his fallen angels, the defeat figured in the apocalyptic imagery of the Book of Revelation. The seventh and final epic convention in Paradise Lost is the idea of heroism. Greek and Roman epics celebrated the heroism of military valor and the passions that impelled warriors to clash with one another: pride, implacable hate, wrath, envy, lust, and the like. Epic heroes like Agamemnon, Achilles and Menelaus in The Iliad, Odysseus in The Odyssey; and Aeneas and

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Turnus in The Aeneid manifest such emotions and are incited to action by them. At times, an epic hero was celebrated for his guile, the ability to deceive an adversary or to pursue treachery to achieve a goal, whether conquest, revenge, or the acquisition of political power. In Paradise Lost, Milton characterizes Satan with all of the foregoing traits in order to contrast him with the Son, whose heroism includes humility, pity, compassion, mercy, and the love that informs his voluntary self-sacrifice. The contrast between Satan and the Son enables Milton to highlight the differences between classical and Christian heroism. By juxtaposing these two ideas of heroism in Paradise Lost, Milton identifies the one as spurious and the other as genuine. Miltons biblical epic recasts the traits of classical heroism until they become vices to be shunned, whereas the traits of the incarnate Son, the ideal Christian hero, are virtues to be emulated. In sum, Miltons Paradise Lost subsumes two epics in one. If, in other words, Paradise Lost is perceived after the manner of a classical epic, then Satan may be construed as heroic, for he embodies the traits of Greek and Roman heroes. When, however, the Sons virtues are identified as heroic, then the second epic embedded in Paradise Lost comes to the fore, serving thereby to expose the spurious nature of Satans heroism and of its Greek and Roman antecedents. Indeed, the so-called Satanistsauthors like William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelleywho extol the archfiend of Paradise Lost admire his resemblances to classical epic heroes. Readers who discern that Paradise Lost infuses the traditional epic form and conventions with a new Christian idea of heroism will possess a richer perspective from which to reject Satan wholesale, admire and emulate the Son wholly, and to assess Miltons unique literary achievement. Albert Labriola (Duquesne University) First published 15 November 2004 Citation: Labriola, Albert. "Paradise Lost". The Literary Encyclopedia. 15 November 2004. [http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2924, accessed 3 December 2010.] This article is copyright to The Literary Encyclopedia. For information on making internet links to this page and electronic or print reproduction, please read Linking and Reproducing. All entries, data and software copyright The Literary Dictionary Company Limited ISSN 1747-678X

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