PARADISE LOST VS GENESIS
Unlike the Biblical account of the fall in the Book of Genesis, with his epic poem, Paradise
Lost, John Milton adds a lot of detail about the complete story of Man, the beginning of
Satan, his rise and Man's Fall. Although the ideas for Paradise Lost came from a few pages
in the Book of Genesis, Milton's account kept readers wondering what was going to happen
next. Because he was going against the church already with Paradise Lost, it was more
intriguing for him to take the same ideas in the Bible and extend them into more detail,
making Satan look like the Hero and succeeding at what he wanted to do. Satan the perfect
angel banished from nothing to the pits of Hell, with no chance of return, conjures up a plan
to get revenge, building a legacy and an army to overthrow those who put him there. God
created the Son, the angels, Man, Heaven, Earth and everything else. Milton faced a
difficult task with creating tension about would happen since God already knew. In Paradise
Lost, God is almost emotionless or aloof; he embodies pure reason and pure justice, and
every response he gives seems to be cold. In Genesis God is wise and known as the
creator and is more the narrator of what is happening than in Milton's epic. Also He is
referred to as Lord God, instead of God, like Milton refers to Him. So, in close the start and
fall Man to summarize the creation and reason for human nature is "God gave Man free
will, from Man's free will, sin and death came into the world."
Paradise Lost was about Adam and Eve, how they came to be created, the fall of Satan
and his journey to get back at God by corrupting Adam and Eve. The main plot of this took
place in God's creation called the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost is similar to the book of
Genesis because its story comes from the main pages of Genesis, chapters one through
four. My thesis is: While the Book of Genesis portrays Satan as an evil antagonist, Milton's
Paradise Lost presents him as a more sympathetic character. Perhaps not a hero, but an
anti-hero. An anti-hero is someone who lacks the attributes of a hero, such as courage or
being morally good. In some ways, Milton presents Satan as a modern Prometheus.
Prometheus was a Greek God, who at any cost gave fire to humans; just as it can be
argued that, at an even greater cost, Satan gave knowledge to humans. An example of an
anti-hero in popular culture would be Samuel L. Jackson's character in the film "Pulp
Fiction". His character quotes the Bible to justify his occupation as a hit man, "The path of
the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil
men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through
the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And
I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to
poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my
vengeance upon thee." [Jeremiah]. In summary, I am comparing Milton's' story of Paradise
with the Bible's story of the Garden of Eden.
Paradise Lost begins with a prologue by Milton which states his purpose and an epic
description of Satan who is depicted on his back with the other rebellious angels chained to
the lake of fire. Genesis starts out saying "In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth, And God said, Let there be light and there was light and God separated the light
from the dark" (Genesis). Milton depicts God as a being who you can converse with, as if
He was an angel, and no higher than anyone else--- not even Satan. Before the rebellion,
Satan was formerly known as Lucifer; he had been the greatest angel and second only to
God. The other angels who revolted against God were defeated and cast down from
Heaven into the fires of Hell with Satan. "Hell is the place Justice made for those who rebel
against God" (www.clifnotes.com). For nine days, Satan and his followers were lying
helpless in the fires of Hell, until Satan grew angry, thinking about all the pleasures he had
missed and his unending pain. Looking around, Satan saw a lot of suffering. But he only felt
stubborn pride and hopelessness. "He knew the fires would never go out and the torture
would never end. As Satan looked to the left and the right, and saw all his defeated
followers wallowing in flames and his right hand assistant that Satan later names
Beelzebub"(www.paradiselost.org). Surprisingly Satan finally speaks. Milton explains the
reason why Satan was cast down into the depths of Hell because Satan became jealous of
God's son.
