Reaction to Paradise Lost Book 1

Paradise Lost by John Milton is a demanding read; it requires great attention, or you’ll easily get lost. The first edition of Paradise Lost was written in the 17^th century; a time when the topic of religion was largely dominant. Thus when I started reading it and saw that it began with the fall man, well, the topic seemed fitting for the time period. Milton discusses how Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil due to the deception of the serpent—Satan. This is basic biblical knowledge from the book of Genesis. The next part of the book is far more interesting in my opinion. The first part is directly from the Bible, but then Milton goes on to give a backstory of Satan after he and the angels had been cast out of heaven. I thought this was really fascinating, because the Bible never speaks of the time period after he was cast into hell.

In Paradise Lost, Satan is written to be viewed tragically. He is not the scary devil with horns and a pitchfork society has made him out to be, or even merely a beast. Rather, Milton creates him in a way that can be sympathized with. Satan and his host of other angels rebelled against God because they found His rules to be unfair and were damned to hell because of it. Satan appears to be rational in this and almost seems brave in his attempts to start a war against God. This perspective Milton uses is a perspective that has been ignored up until Paradise Lost. The first book overall makes Satan seem like a tragic hero, for is it not the hero or protagonist in a story that faces struggle? This poses new questions in the mind about right and wrong, which I think that is what any good piece literature should do; make you question your beliefs. In closing, I found book 1 of Paradise Lost to be a success and I’m actually excited to read the other books.