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Paradise Lost Book II begins with the assembled devils holding their council in Hell. It begins with a general address by Satan, who says "I give not Heav'n for lost" (II.14). In other words, Satan considers war against God to still be a possibility, and he begins the discussion by asking whether the war should be an outright attempt to take Heaven, or whether it should be conducted, surreptitiously, as a guerilla-style or espionage campaign: "by what best way, / whether of open Warr or covert guile, / we now debate" (II.40-2). What follows are four arguments from four of the chief devils under Satan's rule in Hell -- Moloch, Belial, Mammon and Beelzebub. These are easily summarized.
Moloch speaks first, on behalf of an outright attack on God: "My sentence is for open Warr" (51). Moloch's argument concentrates on their present situation in Hell: "what can be worse / Then to dwell here… " (85-6). Moloch cannot imagine that God's punishment for open war could be worse than Hell: the only worse punishment God could devise is their death or nonexistence, which is nothing to fear. "More destroy'd then thus / We should be quite abolisht and expire. / What fear we then?" (92-4). Moloch is aware that God's omnipotence means the devils will...
Any "revenge" they could accomplish would hardly trouble or harm God Himself, and thus the devils are in the paradoxical position of having to provoke God sufficiently that he will destroy them completely: "that must be our cure / to be no more" (145-6). Then Belial states the case for preferring to exist, even in this fallen state: "who would loose, / though full of pain, this intellectual being / these thoughts that wander through eternity" (146-8). Belial's intellectual nature also means that he states the most obvious point: open war or guerilla war or espionage are all the same, when your opponent is omniscient. "What can force or guile / With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye / Views all things at one view?" (188-90). Belial thinks that in time God may ultimately relent in his punishment of the devils, "satisfi'd / with what is punish't" (212-3). Or else in time Hell will come to seem less unpleasant to the devils, "this horror will grow…
Paradise Lost, Book I Analysis Use of Imagery in Paradise Lost -- Book I Paradise Lost offers an introduction to the story of original sin. Milton uses powerful imagery and allegory to relay the Biblical account of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis and forfeiture of the Garden of Eden. The story of good and evil is presented in a unique and interesting narrative form. In Book
332-333, 336-337). The fallen angels' response to Satan's call is the final confirmation of his character, because it demonstrates how he is able to maintain the respect and interest of his followers even though it appears as if they have been stripped of everything. In this sense, Satan is a kind of idealized revolutionary leader, outmatched by the "Almighty" but unwilling to give up, all the while maintaining the respect
Tests will follow. Continue to cultivate by day, and sleep by night, for even the Nightingale sings of golden slumbers. No want or will of evil haunts this Heavenly hour or dare awakens conscience. Do not act in haste for the fate of humankind has not yet been marbled in stone. According to Milton, Satan's persuasive speech advices Eve that her eyes will be open and that "Millions of spiritual
And so, Kenton goes on, given this schism between East and West, it is his theory that the schism was perhaps symbolized through the interactions between God and the Devil. The freedom of the individual to find his way to God "through Scripture...coincided with Milton's commitment to symbolically unify East and West as proof of the regeneration," Kenton wrote (p. 17). Indeed, Milton's Christian background "necessitates" the need for
Journal Two: God's Will? The issue of God's omniscience vs. The supposed free will of man has plagued theologians for millennia, and it is doubtful that I will solve it in this half page response. Milton's version of the tale does not really seem to support this reading, however. Though God was ultimately responsible for Satan's being in the right (or wrong) place at the wrong (or right) time, he clearly
459). Such an encounter is the mainstay of Book 9 since both Eve and Adam are chastened by God and are forced to reason with Him in order to confess to their sin and accept the punishment required in order to 'multiply and replenish' the earth as they had been commanded. They knew the reason behind such a commandment, and they also knew that in the long run, what