We all know the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall of man, and John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost is a fascinating retelling of it. In addition to this, it is the quintessential work on good versus evil in the western canon. I got done reading it quite recently and it was brilliant.
It is interesting to note that the poem is most fascinating not when it deals on the Fall, but when it deals with Satan. I would argue that Satan is the protagonist of the narrative; he is given the most backstory and motive, and he more than anyone else, has a goal that he is trying to achieve.
The initial books of Paradise Lost deal with Satan plotting revenge against God. His entire philosophy is summed up in a brilliant quotation: “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” I’ve read online that there’s a new school of interpretation that views Satan as the good guy and God as the villain, but I can’t say I buy into that at all. Satan, knowing he doesn’t have the power to directly confront God, decides to go to Earth and corrupt God’s favorite creation: Man.
We all know how the story goes, with the Devil taking the form of a snake and speaking to Eve and telling her to eat of the forbidden tree. However, the best part of the epic comes before this, in Book IV, when Satan is debating if what he should do is right. ‘Right’ may not be the right word, but he’s not sure if he should do it or not. This adds a great deal of depth to the character and reminds you that Lucifer was once God’s most prized angel. I find him to be one of the most fascinating characters in all of literature that I’ve ever come across, and certainly the greatest villain, mostly because he comes to the conclusion that what he is doing is evil but he still chooses to do it.
As expected, he corrupts the mind of Eve, and Adam follows, but out of love. That was something that I wasn’t expecting to read, and again it added a great deal of depth to the characters, making it that much more powerful of a work.
The strengths of Paradise Lost lie primarily in its themes and depth. While dealing primarily in the abstract worlds of Heaven and Hell (or Chaos) there is a fascinating human story of temptation, of love, and of sacrifice. While I found the parts of Adam and Eve less enjoyable than the Satan parts, there is still a lot going on and it’s all interesting.
What I find most fascinating is the human characteristics given to characters like Satan and arguably God. How would we be able to understand them if they were completely different than us? Satan’s thought process in Book IV is very much reminiscent of a “To be or not to be” speech, and God’s wrath and judgment is something we can all relate to.
While there are hints at Jesus’ coming and redemption, overwhelmingly Paradise Lost is a tragic work of literature. It introduces death to the human world and from a more literary standpoint, you can see this in the characters of Adam and Eve. When they are introduced, they are without sin and you can see this in everything they say and do, but after they give in to temptation, they have horrible nightmares and begin to sin. This is when guilt takes over. Even Satan comes out of this whole fiasco cursed, despite his accomplishing what he intended to do.
Another thing to look for in the epic is Milton’s use of language. Arguably the greatest poet of all time, the imagery he relays is truly astounding. However, I’d recommend reading an annotative version, as he has many geographic and Biblical allusions that would go unexplained without.
If I had to complain at all about this it’s that it’s a little repetitive in the way each character speaks. It’s a small thing but it’s like if a writer were to overuse the word “said” when each character speaks. It would get a little annoying. Here, however, since it’s a poem, goes more like “Thus Adam spoke to Eve” and these kinds of phrases are repeated far too much.
Overall, though, it’s a mesmerizing work of literature and I’d recommend it to just about anyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment