Kellie Elhai

Mary Buffaloe
Period 2

1.

2.

3.

4.

Book Three
By making the narrator speak these lines, Milton provides some exposition of his
opinions. He takes a moment to pause the epic and praise God to appease the lord and
all that are reading his epic, so that in the following description of God and His inclusion
in the story, no one may accuse Milton of not loving and worshipping Him. He is also, by
discussing his blindness and ability to see more than the physical, establishing his
credibility as an author.
God has an objective point of view when he discusses the free will of man and the
angels. He states that because of free will, their fall even at the hands of the fallen
angels will still be their fault because they have the ability to choose. God predicts that
because the angels have fallen, man will too. God has almost no personality except for
when hes bitter and blaming the fallen angels for rebelling. This could mean that God is
all-knowing and, in his fairness, completely unbiased.
We are hearing this dialogue in order to glean an idea as to Gods plan to extinguish the
upcoming uprising, and how Christ is planning to carry out His word. The silence that
ensues after the conversation serves to juxtapose the endless noise of Hell. It shows the
peace and calm meditation that takes place in Heaven, further establishing the
goodness of Heaven as opposed to the chaos of Hell. God predicts that there will be a
time when man will need Christ.
Miltons narrator describes this location so carefully in order to bring about a sense of
wonder, awe, and appreciation into his readers. He artfully describes the
small-and-large-details of our world that tend to get overlooked, enacting new wonder
into his readers. By describing it this way, his readers will feel like they are seeing the
world for the first time and are able to better identify with Satan and feel as if they are
there next to him on his enterprise. The passage also further establishes his credibility.
By using such vivid imagery, he is convincing everyone of his knowledge of the world.
Book Four

5. Satans soliloquy (lines 32-113)

a. This soliloquy allows us a deeper look into the reasoning and feelings of Satan.
We hear this because it allows us to further empathize with him before he sets
out to complete his task. The monologue, through our preconceived notions,
gives us a slightly whiny yet justified wrongdoer that understands why he was
punished yet is determined to remain caught in his evil ways; hes convinced that
evil is the only course left to him.
b. Satan understands the nature of Gods rule quite well; in fact, he even agrees
with parts of it. In his soliloquy, he admits that it was, indeed, his own conscious
choice that brought about the uprising and caused he and his compatriots to fall.

However, he comes to the conclusion that Hell and all it stands for will follow him
wherever he goes, and that he is fated to be evil forever. He turns away the
prospect of repairing his relations with God and Heaven and instead focuses his
efforts henceforth on spreading as much chaos as possible.
6. Adam and Eve
a. Adam and Eve are, first and foremost, described as noble and standing tall,
standing out from all of the other creatures on Earth. While special focus is
placed upon describing Adams head (especially his large forehead and its
skyward direction), Eve is described more based upon her looks. Adams head
communicates intellect- Milton states that just by looks, Adam seemed to be the
smarter of the two- while Eves hair, waist, and skin communicates beauty and
vanity. The narrator also describes the allure of Eves submissiveness, yet never
mentions her intelligence or non-physical characteristics.
b. Adam was created for God, and Eve was created for the God in Adam. Although
they were supposedly equals, Adam was clearly intellectually superior to Eve,
and superior in all other ways, in this text. Eve was created to keep Adam
company, so they are married and love each other. They are both Gods new
creations, his experiment, per se, to fill the void left by the fallen angels.
7. Eves first act of seeing her reflection in a pool shows how naive and vain she is. It
highlights her ignorance as she doesn't recognize the reflection is of herself and shes so
enamoured with how she looks she cant peel herself away from the pool until God talks
to her. This parallel of Narcissus highlights what will be Eves downfall and eventually
Adams too, Eves vanity. A trait that according to Milton is in every woman and
inherently makes them the weaker sex.
8. Eve is portrayed as an idiot whereas Adam is portrayed as very intelligent. Eve talks in a
flighty manner without a clear purpose going on about the beautys of nature. She uses
small flowery words and adjectives without real thought. Adam talks with a purpose
about all that God has made and he uses larger words to describe things.
9. This passage suggests that humankind was primarily created to appreciate the beauty
God created. He made something so magnificent and needed a people to appreciate it,
and him for that matter. Their synchronized prayer is significant because it shows that
the pair are on earth for the same reason, to love God.
10. When the scales show up telling Satan he would lose in a fight with Gabriel, one feels
slightly disappointed because this would have been an interesting battle to see and it
would liven up the book.