Paper Topic:

Paradise Lost - Humanity

Milton 's Paradise Lost and Human 's Nature The Epic of Heaven , Hell and Earthly Paradise

Paradise Lost , written between 1660-1665 , by John Milton whom has been often referred to as one of the greatest poet and writer England ever produced . Paradise Lost is often thought as synonymous in the intricacy and subtlety of language to that of Homer and Virgil , the two imortal Greek poets . The essence of the epic poem itself is so enchanting that the readers are often drawn into the intensity of the theme and characterization . The first

edition (1667 ) was comprised of 10 books and its restructuring to 12 book occurred in the 1674 edition

Paradise Lost was told based on the book of Genesis of the Old Testament . In its ' very essence , the poem told the fall of angels (lead by the once great angel , Satan or also known as Lucifer ) into a deplorable and lowly state of beings , cursed and banned into eternal darkness and Hell . Next , the account tells of the fall of human into sin , which was also the work of Satan . The poem then intertwined together by the Heaven and Hell conflict , the war beyond any human 's imagination , Armageddon , the battle of good versus evil , of God and Satan

Humanity and the state of imperfection

This essay focuses mainly on the account of the fall from the perspective of Adam and Eve , and how they perceive the situation in which they lost their perfection and the God 's grace . There is irony in the main point of discussion and Paradise Lost theme will be reinstated repeatedly throughout the work

What matter where , if I be still the same

and what I should be , all but less than he

whom thunder hath made greater ? Here at least

we shall be free the almighty hath not built

Here for his envy , will not drive us hence

Here we may reign secure , and in my choice

to reign is worth ambition though in hell

Better to reign in hell , than serve in heaven (Paradise Lost , book I : 257-63

This verse captures the central theme laying the foundation of the rebellion and thus the fall from the perfection . From a vice or attribute that is still pervasive today , it all began with one angel 's ambition , motivated by greed and jealousy , to challenge God 's might and absolute reign . This nature then drove the all-out war between the Heaven and Hell with Earth (once known as Paradise or Eden ) as the experiment ground and human beings as the objects of interest or say the `guinea pigs ' of romising loyalty

The subsequent fall of humanity into sin strengthens the thesis that although God created human with all that state of perfection according to His will and image , human were not fully subject to God 's divine laws , because from the first time God has bestowed human with one ability which can be treated as a `two-edge sword , that is , the free will . As can...

6 pages

39.5 KB

Free sing-up