“Paradise Lost” is a world-famous epic. It was written by the famous poet John Milton. Through this epic poem, he sheds light on Satan’s conflict with God. This epic was first published in 10 books in 1667 and then in 12 books in 1674.
Key Notes
- Poet: John Milton (1608-1674)
- Published: 1667
- Genre: Epic
- Verse: Blank
Characters
The epic Paradise Lost has several important characters. We need to know about the characters to get a complete idea of the main story of this poem. So let us now know about the characters of the epic Paradise Lost.
Major Characters
- God the Father: (Good)
In this epic, God the Father means the creator of the universe.
- Satan:
Satan is one of the central characters of this epic. Satan’s real name is Lucifer. He is highly respected and respected among the angels in the early stages. But at some point, he becomes very arrogant by boasting of his power, skill, and merit and he thinks himself equal to God and becomes vengeful. As a result of which the Great Creator banished Satan and his companions from heaven. When God became displeased with Satan’s behavior and cast him out of heaven, he did not repent to God but challenged God (the Father) that he must lead astray the mankind for whom he was cast out of heaven.
- Son of God:
Jesus Christ is the Son of God according to the Christian Bible. John Milton mentions Jesus Christ as a symbol of peace in this epic poem.
- Adam:
Adam is the first man on earth whom God the Father created with His own hands and gave him a higher status. From Adam God created his wife Eve.
- Eve:
According to the scriptures, Eve is the first woman on earth and the wife of Adam. She was created from Adam’s left rib.
- Beelzebub:
Beelzebub is Satan’s most loyal ally. He always sided with Satan and fueled Satan’s rebellion against God which resulted in him being cast out of heaven along with Satan.
Secondary Characters
- Sin:
Sin is one of the epic characters. She is basically the devil’s daughter. She helps Satan in many ways in feeding Adam and Eve the Fruit of Knowledge.
- Death:
Daath is the son of Satan. This death was born as a result of Satan having sexual intercourse with his own daughter’s son. Death and Satan greatly aided and abetted Satan, as did Sin, when Satan approached them to deceive Adam and Eve.
- Gabriel:
Gabriel is a loyal angel engaged in God’s work. He is the guardian of the stairway leading from heaven to Eden.
- Raphael:
Raphael is engaged in providing information from God. When Satan was tempting Adam and Eve in Eden, he warned Adam not to listen to Satan’s words by God’s order.
- Uriel:
Ariel is an angel. He is the keeper of the Garden of Eden. He always guards the Garden of Heaven and is always ready to prevent any unwanted entry into the Garden of Heaven.
- Michael:
Michael is God’s commander. He cast Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden into the world at God’s command.
English Summary
- [We have discussed the complete summary in some points, so it will be very easy to remember]
- Declaring rebellion against God
The main story of the epic begins with the ego of Lucifer or Satan in Paradise Lost. Satan in his early life was a high authority among the angels. He began to consider himself equal to God at one point in his power. Although Satan himself knew that he could never be equal to God, he was determined to bring himself to God’s level. He declares rebellion against God in order to fulfill his desires. Satan thought that if he rebelled against God, God would banish him from Eden so that he would be able to establish a kingdom of his own. And Satan will be the owner of all power in that kingdom. Because Satan believes it is better to be free or king in hell than to be subject to someone else in heaven. So Satan and some of his companions rebelled against God and God banished them from Eden and cast them into hell. In Hell, Satan declares himself among his companions as the King of Hell and continues his struggle against God.
2. The plot to deceive Adam and Eve
As part of Satan’s continuing struggle against God, he went to Hell and held a meeting with his companions in a place called Pandemonium. The purpose of their meeting was how they would continue their struggle against God. At one point in their discussion, Satan tells the other companions of hell that God has recently created a new race called human beings and allowed them to live in the garden of heaven. They are living there happily and peacefully eating and drinking as they please. So as part of the struggle against God, our main task will be to arrange for the expulsion of this mankind from heaven. If we can manage to deceive this nation and drive it out of heaven, that will be the victory of our struggle against God. However, in this case, humanity must be made to act against God’s order. And when they disobey God’s order, God will cast them out of heaven as punishment and that will be our great victory. By listening attentively to all the words of the devil, all his fellow companions are bound to work together with the devil.
3. Satan’s journey for mischief
Satan then leaves for heaven to give Adam and Eve a bad omen as per their deliberations, but he approaches the Garden of Eden and sees a watchman named Ariel guarding the garden gate. Despite his repeated pleas, Ariel does not allow Satan to enter the Garden of Eden. With the help of the child Death and his daughter Sin, Ariel is tricked into entering the Garden of Eden. Entering the Garden of Eden, he was greatly enchanted by the beauty of the garden. He sees Adam and Eve living in eternal bliss in the Garden of Eden and becomes vengeful towards them and thinks that he must expel Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden at any cost.
4. The search for a way to deceive Adam and Eve
Satan then wandered around the Garden of Eden looking for ways to deceive Adam and Eve. At one point he sees Adam and Eve talking to each other and he tries to overhear them. At that time Adam and Eve were saying that the creator has given us full freedom to enjoy everything in the garden of paradise but only the fruit of knowledge has forbidden us to eat the fruit of this tree, to go near it. We will never do anything outside of God’s command. Satan, after hearing this, finds a way to seduce Adam and Eve, and vows in his heart that he will feed Adam and Eve the fruit of the Fruit of Knowledge no matter what and expel them from the Garden of Eden.
5. A warning to Adam
When Satan is busy planning his plans in the Garden of Eden, Gabriel (the angel guarding the stairway from Heaven to the Garden of Eden) appears. Seeing Gabriel, Satan immediately left the place. Meanwhile, Gabriel saw Satan in the Garden of Eden and informed the Father (God) about the matter, after which God sent Raphael (God’s messenger) to Adam to warn him. Raphael comes and says to Adam, ” Adam, you will not eat the Fruit of Knowledge. And do not listen to the words of everyone around you. Because everyone here is not good for you, some are always trying to harm you and your wife”.
6. Adopting Satan’s strategy
After reviewing the whole matter, Satan decides that it is not possible for him to deceive Adam and Eve in his natural form. Because he had to argue with the gatekeeper to enter the Garden of Eden for the first time, he resorted to a trick. The trick is that he himself takes the form of a snake and approaches Eve and persuades her that I am an inhabitant of this paradise but I am very sad because God has allowed you to enjoy everything in the garden of this paradise but he forbade you not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Do you know the reason? This is because if you eat the fruit of this tree once, God will never be able to take you out of it. You will gain immortality, both will become eternally young, you will become more beautiful and your knowledge will increase. And God does not want you to live forever. Therefore God has forbidden you to eat the fruit of this tree. I am your well-wisher, so I have come to tell you these things. I want you to eat the fruit of this tree and make yourselves eternally alive, eternally young, and live happily in the garden of heaven. Eve is seduced by Satan’s words and at one point eats the Fruit of Knowledge, followed by Adam and the Forbidden Tree because of Eve.
7. The curse of God
At this stage of the event, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, God sent his Son or Jesus Christ to Adam and Eve. Jesus Christ approaches them and curses them. He tells Eve that ‘’ since you have disobeyed God’s command, you will have to endure the excruciating pain of childbirth and tells Adam that you will have to work hard all your life to collect food for your family. Also, Jesus Christ turned all the other devils including Satan into snakes. After the departure of Jesus Christ, Michael (God’s Commander-in-Chief) came and announced that from now on all the sufferings, pains, and sufferings of the world will be suffered by Adam, Eve and their descendants. He also says that there will come a time in this world when the whole world will face a great flood in which all the earth will be destroyed, only a person named Noah and some of his followers will be alive. And the Son of God or Jesus Christ will come to the followers or descendants of that person named Noah and will take all their faults on his shoulders. After this announcement, Michael casts Adam and Eve from the heavenly life of heaven to the world burdened with the sorrows of the world according to God’s instructions.
8. The earthly life of Adam and Eve
However, Adam and Eve were cursed by God and came to earth from the Garden of Heaven and began to spend their lives in a lot of pain and suffering. At some point in life, they realized their own mistakes and consoled themselves by saying that if they had prayed properly If they can please God then surely God will give them their heavenly life again.
- Moral lesson
From the story of the epic, we can learn that creation should never stand against the decision of the Creator. One should always be happy with one’s position. If ever a mistake is made, one should immediately repent and admit the mistake. One should never be proud of power, wealth, and high status but one should always be humble because pride brings destruction and humility brings success.
