Paradise Lost – John Milton, Term Paper Example

Paradise lost is a poetic rewriting of the book of Genesis. It tells the story of the fall of Satan and his compatriots, creation of man, and, most significantly, the act of man’s disobedience and its fatal consequence: paradise was lost for us. Written by John Milton during the period 1660-65, this biblical epic is a literary marvel. It surpasses the traditional limitations of storytelling because of its close acronym to biblical facts. The Christian reader sees it more than a depiction of hypothetical synonyms, as it manifests the predominant ethos of the Western ideologies and culture; the exploration of everything that man would subsequently be and do (Bradford 94). It is a fiction with a vast and ambitious scope, moving and powerful in its language, vivid in its portrayal of characters and situations; its plot preceding a journey of sins, lust, contemplation and punishment.

Adam and Eve had to leave paradise because of their sins. There was no other way of repentence, but to go ahead and create a new paradise. Milton knew what he intended in his last two books, and that he accomplished his intent. From the beginning of the poem we see Milton had relentlessly tried to rising and falling of mankind, God’s omnipresence, his providence as well as sin and death. Granted the personal and dramatic roles of Adam and Eve, it could not end with the two in despair, exiled from God, all paradise seemingly lost.  God being the master of all could never have entailed permanent misery to his own creation- he was the eternal hero and Milton could in no way disapprove of it. So in spite of bearing the trouble of disobedience – he gifted man with universe. However, God had to teach Adam a lesson so that he could actually distinguish between good and evil from his own experience (Martz 185).

God had sent Michael (the chief of Archangels) to console Adam in his emotional upsurge due to his eviction. In Book XII, Adam and Eve are led out of Paradise. They are both devastated to think that God could not give them a change for penance. Adam, from the beginning of his existence had seen the mercy and benevolence of God. He conversed freely with God with occasional interactions, debates and even arguments at certain times. He also saw how God had traversed his wishes of a companion and fulfilled his contemplation of loneliness. To him God was unlimited, profound and above all the father of a son. But when Michael announced that God had ordered their eviction from paradise they were dumbfounded. Adam could never imagine in his dreams that God could take such a drastic and harsh decision on his and loved patriot.

Eve also begs to be forgiven and appeals for the permission to continue staying in paradise, “O unexpected stroke, worse than of Death! Must I thus leave thee Paradise? Thus leave…Thee Native Soil, these Happy Walks and Shades… Fit haunt of Gods? Where I had hope to spend …Quiet though sad, the respite of that day” (Milton 263).

Adam argues that he would construe every means to seek forgiveness from the almighty. He would never again fall prey to any temptation or sins; or be revoked to temptations. However, he was ignorant that Milton had painted the God whose hands were tied to the ethics of nature. This God was not forgiving, and bowed to the laws of the providence. Somehow, the appeal of Adam seemed to be astray in the prevalence of the strong decision of God- the readers are invoked with a sense of how God can be so rigid in his attempts of punishment.

The reaction of God and the passage with his son showed that God had planned everything in advance. Adam, Eve and Satan are mere playful characters in his chessboard for achieving higher interests of humankind. Milton and his God may have other reservations which was limited and constrained. In his commission to Michael, God provides an outline and rationale, “Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God…Without remorse drive out the sinful Pair…From hallow’d ground th’ unholy, and denounce…To them and to thir Progeny from thence Perpetual banishment” (Milton 104).

Nevertheless, he was kind enough to send his angel Michael to come and console them to a peaceful exit from paradise. “Yet lest they faint…At the sad Sentence…If patiently thy bidding they obey…Dismiss them not disconsolate.” (Milton 104). Just as instructed, Michael tries to explain to Adam the relevance of their next home, which resonate the enigma of paradise. It is beautiful, nice world, much like Paradise. He consoled the couple by saying that this new world would also be marvelous as it was a creation of God. Truly enough, any creation of God is marvelous enough – surrounded by the mighty nature and the wonderful diversities of his vision. So there was no scope of being deprived. In fact God had woven the new paradise for the fruitful survival of mankind. He retorts that even though Adam and Eve have been disgraced and must leave Paradise, they can still lead a peaceful and pious life in a place that resembles paradise.

Michael tells Adam that God had already imbibed within him the vision to live according to his wisdom and needs; any further knowledge or guidance was unnecessary. To assure that they create a marvelous new paradise filled with happiness, they should abide their lives by seven tenets: faith, obedience, virtue, temperance, patience, love, and charity. Living by these guidelines will help them to carve out a beautiful inner Paradise, “To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess / A paradise within thee, happier far”

Eve was aware that God had sent Michael to make their transcendence easier- she acknowledged the wisdom of God, but in vain tried to plead for staying back, “With what to sight or smell was sweet; from thee…How shall I part, and wither wander down…Into a lower world” (Milton 263). Eve realized that the earth was not as pious and wonderful as paradise. If it was as remarkable as paradise, then they would not have been shunned down to go there as a punishment. It is common logic that the fruits of punishment cannot be wonderful and pleasant. She knew that they were being downgraded into a lower world, which was not necessarily bad as hell, but certainly lacked to match paradise, “And wild, how shall we breathe in other Air…Less pure, accustom’d to immortal fruits” (Milton 263). This also shows that Eve is grief stricken for she will miss her motherly affection towards the flowers and plants. In a nutshell, her naïve sentiments showed that their home might lack those intrinsic feelings that she is so associated with the paradise – meaning she will miss the love and affection towards her children.

Adam was grieved thinking that their new home would not be a home of God. He felt that the garden was the only of perfection and solitude. What “afflicts” him most is his belief that to leave it will also be to leave God, “that departing hence, / As from his face I shall be hid, depriv’d/ His blessed count’nance” (Milton 315). He imagined a future in which he would tell his sons about the places of God’s appearances, visit them and celebrate them with altars of turf and stone, “in memory,/ Or monument to Ages and thereon/ Offer sweet smelling Gums and Fruits and Flow’rs” (Milton 292). Michael consoles Adam and reminds him that the kingdom of God had never been confined to the garden, “All th’ Earth he gave thee to possess and rule,/ No despicable gift” (Milton 339).

Milton envisages the providence of God: like the granting of death after innocence was lost was providential as he would not have to live through all history. God emancipated his intention and lured Adam to see the greatness of the paradise that he created. It seems that he wanted his marvelous creation to be enjoyed and appreciated by the race he created called mankind. In an effort to understand why paradise was sufficient and made to meet the comforts of mankind needs the illustration of Raphael on the efforts of God in creating the universe.

Adam requested Raphael to reveal how God created the world; not that he disbelieved in the wisdom of God – it was his sheer benevolence to understand the pain and effort of God,

“Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know/  how this World of  Heav’n and Earth conspicuous first began/ When, and whereof created, for what cause, What within Eden or without was done” (Milton 65).  Raphael said that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, wished to create another world, and considered it as a pleasure to beautify his creation with Creatures to dwell therein; he also sends his Son with Glory and attendance of Angels to perform the work of Creation in six days. God wished to forge a new race, so that he could erase the catastrophe of the rebellion and compensate the absence of rebel’s absence in important loyal positions in God’s kingdom. In this way Satan would not be able to claim that he diminished the creation of God.   Moreover, by creating mankind and the earth in an empty section of the universe, is a challenge to Satan that God can expand his kingdom indefinitely. For these reasons God created earth and heaven, so that both of them can be eventually joined to one kingdom through obedience to the divine will of God.

Adam realizes that God had given him an opportunity to nurture and relish his creation. Of course, comparisons of making the earth as excellent as paradise, implied that there is a coherent scope of improvement in the hands of human beings. It is to be noted that Milton had written Paradise lost in the last stages of his life, which was purged with pessimism and contempt. Thus, he annotated his descriptions of comparison with a lurking and obvious arithmetic ideology. It is an attempt to reveal the facets of sin and death that had entered into the domain of earth.

Adam was clearly aware that that the cause of his Fall was his inclination to ‘aspire’ to an over-ambitious, extended state of ‘knowledge’. One significant difference between Raphael and Michael’s methods of instruction is that while the former operated almost exclusively within the medium of language, the principal element of speculation and inquiry, the latter relies more upon empirical and tangible evidence. This is appropriate, given that Michael’s intention is to present Adam with indisputable, ineluctable facts, matters not open to debate, and in doing so to reinforce the lesson that ‘wisdom’ has its limits; we should not expect more from it (Bradford 120)

Immortality was the biggest aspect of difference between heaven and earth. Though God with his efficacy and compassion created a new world, there were certain aspects that need to be improvised on. Humans had to toil and work for the attainment of their goals. There was the temptation of good and evil that need to be worked on continuously. And more so was the profound effect of death lurking over the space of this so called world. The arithmetic computation actually points out a clear finger, that though it was a creation of God – it had its share of limitations.

The term sufficient means that there were enough resources and riches in this world to match the paradise- but it needs to be maintained and ascertained. Human beings needs to garnish and nurture their world to enjoy the fruits of the divine gift endowed to them. So there is always relevance of impoverishment within the universe that God created. The universe was plagued with emotional motifs and limitations.

The stress on the capability to improvement suggests neither insufficiency nor deficiency. It is more of an attribute to accentuate the individual effort and make them aware of the fallacies of going against the guidelines of the almighty. So God has made the universe vulnerable; committed to the actions and interest of human beings; giving them the free will to do and suffer or reap the consequences of their deeds.

Sufficient means that God had given enough to the world for a comfortable and peaceful human life. He had given the world- River and trees, fruits and flowers, day and night, good and evil, food and shelter; everything required for the sustenance of mankind. Just as a father takes care of their children, God had tried all his means to relinquish his children. His only ardent order had been to respect and oblige the laws of spirituality and divinity. Finally, Adam goes with the angel to witness a vision, the errors of mankind, sins, Noah, The Flood, the Tower of Babel, the journey to the Promised Land and the coming of Christ.

Reference

Bradford, R. “The Complete Critical Guide to John Milton”, 2001

Martz, L. Twentieth Century Views: Milton – A Collection of Critical Essays, 1966

Milton, J. “Paradise Lost”, 1864, Last Retrieved on 4^th May, 2010 from http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/paradiselost/quotes.html>.