Context

Question 1

Satan and the Bible

Answer 1

• Contains very little information on Satan; in Milton’s Christian Doctrine Milton collects all the available biblical evidence of his character and found that it summed to only a few sentences – use this to point to how the presentation of Satan’s character is more about characterisation than simply developing the plot (i.e., all the soliloquies aren’t moving the plot forward, but giving his character depth and complexity)

Question 2

Evidence of Milton’s familiarity with/ admiration for Shakespeare

Answer 2

• Milton’s intense familiarity with classical drama and Shakespeare’s plays is evident in poems he wrote such as ‘On Shakespeare’

Question 3

The poem’s theatrical roots - what is the significance?

Answer 3

• We see in Milton’s outline of the play Adam Unparadised that the focus was much more on the human story and less on the celestial or demonic (in comparison to the epic poem), because it would’ve been harder to put such moments on the stage. This theatrical starting point for the epic highlights how it was always based upon dramatic characterisation. And because the essence of drama is conflict or contrast, for Milton this meant breaking away from the 2D archetypes of virtue, corruption, evil etc which the biblical characters were supposed to represent, and instead presenting rounded, Shakespearian characters who experience inner conflict and struggle to reach the decisions they ultimately do make.

Question 4

Book I - Milton’s moral standpoint

Answer 4

• The opening line, ‘Of man’s first disobedience’ establishes Milton/the epic’s moral standpoint on the characters of Adam and Eve. This revolt is described as having brought into the world ‘Death’ and ‘all our woe’, so there is no sense that Milton’s fallen nature (making him prone to corruption) causes him to completely invert the moral standpoint of the biblical characters and excuse Adam and Eve’s sins, for instance.
• Milton also states in the opening that the purpose of the epic is to ‘justify the ways of God to men’

Question 5

Book I - Satan as compassionate

Answer 5

• In Book I, Satan weeps at the sight of his fallen followers: ‘tears such as angels weep, burst forth’ – this points to Satan’s compassion (which is not an evil trait) – in Macbeth, a chief theme is that evil ensues from a drying up of compassion (the ‘milk of human kindness’)

Question 6

Book IV - Satan’s inclination to love

Answer 6

• In Book IV, when Satan first gazes upon Adam and Eve, he recognises their ‘divine resemblance’ and comments that he ‘could love’ the pair – backs up Satan’s natural inclination to love and compassion

Question 7

Book IV - Eve’s self-love

Answer 7

• Eve’s narcissism and pride is evident all the way back in Book IV, backing up the idea of The Fall being a long process and of Satan being very clever later on when he wins her over through flattery – upon waking for the first time, Eve catches a glance at her own reflection in a pool and ‘pin’d with vain desire’ – an angel then explains to her that she is looking at herself, and then introduces her to Adam, her now husband

Question 8

Book V - Eve’s dream

Answer 8

• In Book V, Satan infects Eve’s mind, making her dream that an angel plucks and eats the forbidden fruit, then tempts her to do the same – ‘he plucked, he tasted’ and then promises to Eve, whom he calls ‘angelic’ that she could ‘be henceforth among the gods’ – this language exactly parallels some of the phrases later used by Satan
• This links to John Leonard’s assertion that ‘a corrupting of innocence begins with a corrupting of language’, because Eve here is arguably subtly infected with the idea that godlike status is something attainable (as the plurality of the noun ‘gods’ undermines the divine hierarchy of God – angel – man – beast and suggests that one can be promoted from one to the next essentially)

Question 9

Book XII - Adam and Eve’s union

Answer 9

• Adam and Eve walk ‘hand in hand’, guided by Providence, yet they are described as taking their ‘solitary way’ through Eden – conflict between their union and separation – suggests that whilst their repenting and acceptance of their wrongs has brought them together, the result of their ‘disobedience’ means that they ultimately are much more spiritually alone and that their union is not as secure as it once was

Question 10

different readers over time

Answer 10

• Reference the fact that a contemporary, Jacobean reader would’ve most likely shared Milton’s more conservative ideas of patriarchy being the natural order and of God’s authority being completely unquestionable and definitively ‘just’
• By contrast, a 21st century audience may have more modern, progressive ideas of the status of women in society, and thus may naturally sympathise more with Eve’s desire to escape the rigid patriarchal control of Adam and seek self-determination

Question 11

The Civil War and Milton’s role in it (then problems with a political allegory)

Answer 11

• The English Civil War took place from 1642 to 1651 (Paradise Lost was published in 1667, and written somewhere in the 10 years before)
• Milton produced lots of political writing and literature, and identifies with the Republicans who wanted to remove the King from power because of his tyrannic behaviour
• This context can provide some political allegory for Paradise Lost, with Satan’s more attractive trait of rebelliousness against divine authority perhaps mirroring Milton’s own revolt against the tyranny of the English monarchy. However, this allegorical reading must be heavily qualified as Milton may have been politically rebellious, but he was not religiously rebellious – he criticised Charles I partly based on his abuse of ideas of divine rights and despotic actions