Introduction
John Milton’s Paradise Lost is a poem based on the Old and New Testament, about the oust of humanity from the garden of Eden and the fall of Satan from heaven. The 1667 edition of this poem was divided into ten books and was written using the blank verse technique (Milton 1). At the beginning of the poem, Milton reveals that he was inspired to write this book by the Holy Spirit and gives a brief synopsis of this poem. It narrates the creation of the world, the rebellion of Satan, the first humans’ disobedience, which resulted in their exile from paradise, and the sacrifice of the Son of God. Since this poem is considered the pinnacle of Milton’s oeuvre, many critics strived to analyze different characters of the poem from various perspectives. For example, Tzachi Zamir evaluated it in a philosophical and religious context (1). Milton’s Christian beliefs are traced in the poem because he does not seem to question the validity of the biblical perspective, but his idea was not to represent knowledge-seeking drive as sin in Paradise Lost.
The Summary of Paradise Lost
After Milton introduces his intentions in this poem, Paradise Lost continues with the story of Satan. He is described as a physically gigantic and monstrous creature who initially had a place in heaven among other angels. However, he chose the path of disobedience to God and planned to seduce humankind (Milton 6). In fact, Satan’s motivation is described as the desire “to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n” (Milton 7, line 263). Furthermore, the first book narrates the fallen angel’s war against the Almighty and his supporters’ desire to corrupt human beings. The narration in the poem then shifts to heaven, where God discusses Satan’s actions with other angels.
Paradise Lost presents the story of Adam and Eve who live in Eden, but since Eve was deceived by Satan, who transformed into a snake, to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Adam eats the forbidden fruit too because he decides that he would instead fall with Eve that remain alone in paradise. Since the poem follows the biblical representation, it shows how humans were punished to experience hunger and death, and women were chastised with the pain of childbirth for women (Milton 212). Before being evicted from Eden, Adam is shown the future of humanity until the period of the Great Flood. Still, his feelings and thoughts that are presented in the poem suggest that he regrets their disobedience but hopes to revenge on Satan by remaining faithful to God. Finally, Adam and Eve are described as leaving paradise in deep sorrow.
The Secondary Source’s Perspective on the Poem
Many scholars analyzed this poem from various perspectives, and Ascent: Philosophy and Paradise Lost by Zamir is one of them. The author of this book tried to evaluate the poem from three viewpoints: religious, philosophical, and literary (Zamir 2). One of the central ideas of this writing was that Milton’s Paradise Lost could be perceived as an allegory for the conflict between blind faith and a desire to know (Zamir 3). This source states that although Milton was considered one of the most well-educated and well-rounded poets of his time, he presented knowledge-seeking as a sin and an act against the Almighty (Zamir 3). Furthermore, the author claims that Milton wanted to show that the pursuit of knowledge is not personal growth but the corruption of the human soul (Zamir 7). Therefore, the poem was supposed to demonstrate philosophy, the discipline of finding truth by searching, reading, and evaluating, as evil (Zamir 7). The poem is described as religious, and since the author reveals his atheist worldview, bias is inevitable.
The author of this book seems to primarily focus on Milton’s religious beliefs that forced the poet to represent philosophy and knowledge as sinful concepts. Despite the criticism of Milton’s possible intentions, Zamir appreciated the beauty of Paradise Lost (Zamir 15). Still, he highlights that the poem did not move him to the point of reconsidering his understanding of the world and spiritual beliefs, or the lack of them, for that matter (Zamir 17). Nevertheless, the author admits that the way Paradise Lost was written made him appreciate “the complexity and richness of a perspective” he did not share (Zamir 17). The opposing viewpoint “recognized the same basic question from which” his own meaning-making began (Zamir 17). Overall, the author seems to present Milton’s understanding of knowledge as an activity that should lead to becoming closer to God and that everything that deviates from this path becomes corrupt.
Opposing Argument to the Secondary Source
Milton certainly retold the biblical story of the fall of the man and Adam’s and Eve’s exile from paradise, but it was not done for the purpose of showing knowledge-seeking as a sinful act. Paradise Lost does not state directly or even imply that people should not pursue knowledge and philosophy. Instead, I perceived Milton’s description of Eden’s beauty and the first humans’ disobedience as the illustration of their ungratefulness to the gifts given to them by God. The poem shows that Adam and Eve were not restricted from working in paradise, which is an allegory for learning, exploring, and skill acquisition. Ascent: Philosophy and Paradise Lost mainly utilized the argument that Milton’s work depicts a theological perspective of the original sin being the desire to know (Zamir 3). The root cause of this viewpoint was likely a strong opposition of this source’s author to religious beliefs. Zamir might unconsciously reveal his anger with the church’s brutal persecution of scientists and writers centuries ago.
Milton’s poem shows people’s sadness about performing the forbidden act, but their desire to know does not result in the annihilation of a human being. Adam and Eve are allowed to continue their path outside paradise that will undoubtedly be filled with hardship, but it is not hopeless. I understood this depiction of eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge as the fact that the cost of acquiring certain information is the need to learn more, which may be challenging.
Conclusion
Milton’s Paradise Lost, which is rightfully considered one of his masterpieces, illustrates the biblical story of Satan, Adam and Eve, and the eviction of a man from Eden in a poetic form. Some scholars, like Zamir, viewed this poem as the representation of philosophy and knowledge acquisition as evil. However, my argument against this viewpoint was that Milton strived to vilify the ungratefulness of human beings. In fact, the allegory for learning was the work that Eve and Adam did in paradise. The forbidden information, but not all knowledge, led to the first humans being ousted from Eden. Still, their future is filled with hope because neither God nor angels left them without their support and attention.
Works Cited
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. DjVu, 1667.
Zamir, Tzachi. Ascent: Philosophy and Paradise Lost. Oxford University Press, 2018.