In this case, the assault is on religion, Christianity specifically. It is in the style of the Greek and Roman epics like Homer's Iliad, with free verse poetry in a 12-book arc. But instead of detailing the story of a quest or a war, it tells the story of the fall of mankind. The story is this: Satan was God's right-hand man, feels betrayed when God creates his Son and declares him higher than all others, goes rogue and gathers one third of the angels to try and usurp God (never a wise plan), and is then kicked out "This is HEAVEN!" style into Chaos, where they fall for nine days through nothing until they land in Hell. Then Satan and his fallen angels-cum-devils get up, dust themselves off, and decide what to do. One says that they should get right back to fighting, one says that Hell isn't so bad and they could make it nice, and finally Beelzebub steps in and says that he has heard tell of God creating a new realm and a new race to replace the fallen angels, mankind. Satan then puts forward the idea that he can go in and trick mankind into turning to evil, thus sabotaging God's creation and getting petty revenge. They agree, and Satan runs up to Paradise, sneaks in, and on his second attempt gets first Eve, then Adam to bite the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, making all Hell break loose in the most literal fashion imaginable, leading to the fall of mankind from God's good graces. Adam and Eve repent, and the Son lays down himself as a sacrifice, allowing for the deal that if Adam and Eve's children (re: all of us) behave PERFECTLY, they can rejoin Heaven upon their death.
Creation stories are some of the most controversial parts of religions, because the neverending question remains "Why?". Milton was a very religious person, holding very firm beliefs in the time of Galileo, the Reformation, and one of the Church's most corrupt periods. However, the remarkable part of Paradise Lost is his attempt to make it as ambivalent as possible. Every point of view and question is brought up, and for the most part, none of them are fully answered. The idea was to create the discussion and bring forth the questions that he felt needed to be asked. Even Satan is portrayed as a sort of anti-hero (some argue the first anti-hero found in literature), with the heroic references in the first three chapters mirroring those of Paris and Achilles in the Iliad. Paradise Lost was also intriguing in its use of dynamic characters - Satan descends into greater and greater agony, Adam and Eve fall and regain their belief - in a story that was originally only a one-dimensional warning. This leads them to be matching the questions of the reader at each step - Adam says "who asked you to create me?" just as I thought of that same argument. The reason that Paradise Lost continues to stand as a readable, critically reviewable text is because it stands as a work that can be argued from all sides equally well. With few exceptions, Milton steps back and allows for his own views to be portrayed equal to those fighting against it (one of those exceptions being chauvinism, with Eve being the unintelligent, selfish, less-pure in comparison to Adam).
Paradise Lost is a necessary text whether religious or atheist. If not to read it, to at least understand it and understand its arguments. The quality of the debate it creates is second to none, and for essay writing and complexity it is both too easy and a fantastic challenge. It was a slog, and a brutal one at that. Those first few lines began to feel like a death sentence every time I opened the book. Just like the Iliad, the free verse format allows for authors to get distracted by their own pretty writing. But once I dug in and really felt the text, this was an experience that gave me lots of food for thought.
7/10
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