Paradise Lost by John Milton - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction Milton's Paradise Lost is an eloquent elaboration of the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The poem begins with the fall of Satan to hell together with the other devils. Once there, they build their own kingdom and name their palace Pandemonium. Unable to accept defeat, Satan resolves to seek revenge on God by conquering the newly created Earth. Seeing Satan's journey to Earth and knowing that He gave man his own freewill, God the Father predicts the fall of man. Knowing that men should be punished, the Son offers himself as a sacrifice to save Adam and Eve while at the same time conquering hell. Upon Satan's arrival on Earth, he enters the paradise Eden. He was banished a couple of times but manages to successfully find and converse with Adam and Eve by taking the form of various animals. He encounters Eve first and convinces her to partake of the forbidden fruit by claiming that with a bite from it, she will gain all the knowledge of the gods. After Eve takes a bite of the fruit from the forbidden tree, she suddenly fears death and that Adam may have to replace her. Therefore she convinces Adam to take a bite as well. The fear of losing or being separated from Eve sways him to partake of the forbidden fruit believing that if they will be punished, they'd be punished together. After taking a bite on the forbidden fruit, they are overwhelmed by the feelings of lust towards each other. And upon realizing they are naked, they felt shame. They then attempt to cover themselves with leaves of the fig tree as they begin to blame one other for their fall. The tree they choose is not the fragrant and magnificent tree described by Rafael whose fruit offers eternal life, but one that is ethereal in its appearance and affords bountiful shade and covering to one and all. It is this fig tree that Adam and Eve run to and use its leaves to cover their nakedness. This ironic twist portrays the differences in their subconscious thoughts before and after eating the forbidden fruit. Prior, Adam and Eve sought knowledge and sustenance from the more beautiful fig tree. However, after their enlightenment, they seek refuge from the lesser but more maternal tree as it offers comfort and security. Once complete in accomplishing man's fall from Eden, Satan returns to hell feeling very successful. Sin and Death build a bridge to earth with the goal of capturing all life on earth. Meanwhile, Adam and Eve pray to God for forgiveness and God the Son intercedes for them. The angel Michael descends to earth to give Adam and Eve their punishment. But before doing it, he narrates to Adam prophecies of the future: war, the great flood and man's eventual destruction. He also tells him of Jesus' sacrifice for man's salvation and Adam validates his obedience and submission to God. Upon that, Adam and Eve are banished from Eden. By looking at the epic more closely, we can see that far beyond being a religious tale, it depicts the character of man ever so subtly. This paper seeks to dissect the character of Adam in an attempt to show the nature and folly of man. Adam's Superiority In exploring Eden, Adam realized that he was the only one who has intelligence. He realized he was superior of all creations. Adam even concluded that God made him and put him in Eden as God's substitute. To take care of all creations was his responsibility. In the words of Adam, he told God: "Hast thou not made me here thy substitute, And these inferiour far beneath me set Among unequals" Adam's realization of its superiority among all creations, symbolizes man's discriminatory nature. Ever since early civilizations started, men have put themselves in a superior position amongst all of nature. We do not see ourselves the same with any other animals. It's our nature as men to recognize our superiority. We even ascertain our superiority among fellow men. It is easy for us to recognize inequality. And it is even easier for us to spot differences rather than similarities. We as humans are discriminatory by nature. Like Adam, if something does not look like us, if someone does not speak like us or think like us, we consider them inferior. God gave Adam all of paradise to till and to consume. He said: 'This Paradise I give thee, count it thine 'To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat: As such, Adam owns the earth. Men own the earth. As such, we exploit all of creations. Even to the point that we take advantage our kind. God ordered Adam to: 'Possess it, and all things that therein live" And indeed we did. We possessed everything that we can get a hold of, even another human being. In my opinion, this superior thinking made slavery and discrimination possible. Slavery was propagated because early men concluded that they had a right to exploit another race or culture, that they had a right to make use of them. On the other brighter side of things, along with superiority, came in the self-imposed responsibility over all of creation. Adam was tasked in naming all creatures. God said: 'Or live in sea, or air; beast, fish, and fowl. 'In sign whereof, each bird and beast behold 'After their kinds; I bring them to receive 'From thee their names, and pay thee fealty 'With low subjection; understand the same 'Of fish within their watery residence, And this is what we did over the years as well. We believe that it is our duty to discover and understand all the earth and even beyond it. As such we devote time and resources on research and development. We venture into different branches of sciences. Those who discovered a new thing had the benefit of naming it. The act of God giving Adam the task of naming the creatures, I believe symbolizes Science. In a way, the epic tells us that Science is not contrary to the belief in God. In fact, it is God that imposed on mankind the duty to endeavor in Science. And to undertake into Science is part of our responsibility over all creation. Adam's Discontent God created paradise: the skies, the fields, the water, the animals and the plants. He created it in majesty. And he gave all of it to Adam. As mentioned earlier, God gave the Earth to Adam. He could get everything in paradise. Adam even said: "I found not what me thought I wanted still" Adam could not think of anything that he still wants. He could not ask for more. And yet Adam was not satisfied. Adam's discontent to me, may symbolize two things. The first is that it may symbolize man's incapacity to be contented. Man may be given everything it needs and yet he still finds different ways to improve it. We spend our days trying to make what we have faster, prettier, tastier, greater and better. The second is that Adam's discontent may symbolize man's need for company and its need to relate and socialize. In the words of Adam: "Thou hast provided all things: But with me I see not who partakes. In solitude What happiness, who can enjoy alone, Or, all enjoying, what contentment find" Adam knows that he has everything and yet he feels sad. This is because he feels alone and he does not have anyone to share it with. To this, God replied: "What callest thou solitude Is not the Earth With various living creatures, and the air Replenished, and all these at thy command To come and play before thee Knowest thou not Their language and their ways They also know, And reason not contemptibly: With these Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large." God pointed out that there are other living creatures with him. He can control them and play with them. They are subject to his command. The entire world is his playground. How can he be sad How can he feel alone As mentioned earlier, Adam feels superior compared to all these creatures. As such, he cannot fully relate to them. So he said: "Among unequals what society Can sort, what harmony, or true delight Which must be mutual, in proportion due Given and received; but, in disparity The one intense, the other still remiss, Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove Tedious alike: Of fellowship I speak Such as I seek, fit to participate All rational delight" It can be seen in that passages that Adam did not just want physical company. He wants someone he can really relate to. He wants fellowship with someone more or less like him. This is true to all men. As the saying goes, no man is an island. We cannot live alone. Solitude is even a punishment. Like Adam, men do not want to live alone. And most of them even spend our lives looking for that one person we can spend the rest of our lives with. And we tend to be attracted to people like us, to people whom we have more things in common with. Adam did not find companionship with a fish, nor with any other animal. In his words: " They rejoice Each with their kind, lion with lioness; So fitly them in pairs thou hast combined: Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl So well converse, nor with the ox the ape; Worse then can man with beast, and least of all." We cannot expect to find true companionship with something or someone we cannot talk or relate to. And we find it difficult to relate to a person whom we have nothing in common with. Adam's yearning for a partner just shows that it is but natural for us humans to want relationships in our lives. Adam's Weakness After Adam asked for a partner, God created Eve. However, it seems that Adam was not satisfied. He complains: "All higher knowledge in her presence falls Degraded; Wisdom in discourse with her Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shows; Authority and Reason on her wait" Adam complains that he loses reason and wisdom in Eve's presence. It would seem that it is because of her beauty and sweetness. But definitely it is not because of his lust as at that point he still knows nothing of lust. Adam's weakness towards Eve for me shows more of women's nature rather than men. This is so because today, it is very hard to determine the reason of man's weakness towards women. Is it sheer lust or pure love One cannot tell for sure. However, the passages mentioned above shows Milton's perspective of a woman's nature. Her being emotional and less rational compared to men. In the early days, women were believed to be inferior compared to men. And for centuries, they have been treated as second class individuals. In a way, Milton's depiction of Eve reflects that impression. Women and the Fall of Man Also, the last passage mentioned also creates the groundwork for the fall of man. The line "Authority and reason on her wait" may mean that Eve was less obedient to authority. And this is the reason why she was weak against temptation despite express prohibition by God against biting into the forbidden fruit. It would seem that Milton ultimately blames the fall of man to the woman. If Eve was not so easily tempted and if Adam was not so weak with respect to women, man would not have fallen. But it was not only Milton who believed this. The story of Adam and Eve in the bible also says the same thing. Milton only elaborated the tale in the bible. As such, I believe that this portrayal of women justified the treatment of women as inferior. In the earlier time, acts of women are restricted. They are limited to house work. Education was forbidden from them. Is it punishment for causing the fall of man Is it restraint to keep them from doing harm Obviously over time, the status of women has been improved. And it is continuously improving still. Conclusion Paradise Lost by Milton is not just an epic tale, an elaboration of the story of Adam and Eve. With this piece of literature, Milton was able to subtly showcase man's nature. Men, by their nature, think themselves as superior. They impose upon themselves the responsibility to discover and take care of the Earth. They are also discriminatory and it is easier for them to see differences rather than the similarities. But despite being discriminatory, men cannot live alone. They need someone to relate to, someone to share their lives with. Men longs for companionship. In way, I believe the discriminatory nature of man is a mode for it to find that perfect companion. By eliminating those creatures and people that he does not have things in common with, it makes it easier to find that partner. Men are also discontented by nature. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our already comfortable lives. While Paradise Lost successfully showcases the nature of men in general, it portrayed a somewhat an inaccurate image of women. What can be seen in the epic poem is not what women really are. What is seen is the image of a woman as seen by a man. Women are portrayed irrational and uncontrolled. Although she is most beautiful, she is unwise and easily tempted. All in all, I do not consider this story as fact. For me, the representations only express one man's opinion or perceptions of the nature of men. He may be right at some points and wrong at some. Work Cited: Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Penguin Classics, 2003 Read More