English Study Guide Paradise Lost by John Milton Book 1- 1sthalf (prologue) Milton asserts that this original sin brought death to human beings for the first time, causing us to lose our home in paradise until Jesus comes to restore humankind to its former position of purity. Milton’s muse is the Holy Spirit, which inspired the Christian Bible, not one of the nine classical muses who reside on Mount Helicon Then he invokes the Holy Spirit, asking it to fill him with knowledge of the beginning of the world, because the Holy Spirit was the active force in creating the universe The fall of humankind into sin and death was part of God’s greater plan, and that God’s plan is justified. Homer and Virgil describe great wars between men, but Milton tells the story of the most epic battle possible: the battle between God and Satan, good and evil. Book 1- 2nd half Satan lies stunned beside his second-in-command, Beelzebub, in a lake of fire that gives off darkness instead of light He calls the rest of the fallen angels, his legions, to join him on land. He wishes to pervert God’s will and find a way to make evil out of good Satan’s pride has caused him to believe that his own free intellect is as great as God’s will. Satan remarks that the mind can make its own Hell out of Heaven, or in his case, its own Heaven out of Hell. It is called Pandemonium (which means “all the demons” in Greek), and the hundreds of thousands of demonic troops gather there to hold a summit He is courageous, undaunted, refusing to yield in the face of impossible odds, and able to stir his followers to follow him in brave and violent exploits Book 4 Satan lands atop Mount Niphates, just north of Paradise, the Garden of Eden He becomes gripped with doubt about the task in front of him; seeing the beauty and innocence of Earth has reminded him of what he once was Satan’s pain and envy intensifies as he sees this new beautiful race, created after he and his legions fell Meanwhile, Uriel comes before the Archangel Gabriel, at the gate of Eden, and tells him about the shape-changing spirit that he saw from the hilltop. Night falls, and Gabriel sends search parties into the Garden.
