Paradise Lost

The last selected reading for English 3113W was three books from Milton’s Paradise Lost. I thought this was an important reading to have in a Renaissance Literature class, especially at the end of ours, because it reiterated a lot of what we learned throughout the semester, and served as a kind of semester summary for the class. Many Renaissance texts, especially the ones we have focused on, explore history and past works of literature, where the writers add their own original twists to the concepts and happenings. Paradise Lost does exactly this, calling on stories from the Bible and religious stories, adding in a plot, characters, conversations and more that are all original due to his personal touch.

Milton’s twist on Adam & Eve is very interesting, and makes for an entertaining read. The fact that Satan becomes an actual character interfering with the plot of Eve’s downfall is even comical when really thought about. The fact that he becomes a snake that tempts and convinces Eve into wrongdoing may even be a commentary on Milton’s part regarding religion and beliefs in terms of tales. Adam and Eve feel ashamed at the end of their temptation spell and continue to fight at the end of Book 9, when really Satan is the one at fault and responsible for their downfall.