In complete honesty, I’m still struggling to understand the timeline of events in Paradise Lost. Regardless, there were several passages that specifically grabbed my attention in this week’s reading, particularly at the end of Book Six. Milton narrates a warning to his readers from lines 899-909 on page 157. Milton suggests that Satan desires to steal away people so they may be “Bereaved of happiness” (903) and likewise endure “His punishment eternal misery,” (904). Since humanity was created to worship God and bring Him glory, Milton’s Satan is wanting to keep people from worshipping God in their lives on earth and from enjoying His presence throughout eternity.
The very best experience anyone can enjoy is worshipping God and experiencing His presence personally. Thus, the very worst experience is the opposite of this and leaves one without hope in this life or the next. Milton implores his readers to flee disobedience and encourages them to obey and follow God wholeheartedly, so they may experience God’s best for them. How often have we resented the thought of obeying God’s commands as a result of our sinful nature and own spite. We must fight against this temptation for, as Milton so clearly imagines in his Heavenly warfare scenes, we cannot stand against the wrath of God. However, we have the given opportunity to choose Christ by faith and to follow Him in joyful hope and obedience.
I appreciate how Milton shows the glorification of Christ over the Enemy for not only has Jesus overcome the grave and Satan’s power, but our own sins are not great or strong enough to be beyond His redemptive power. I think this is an interesting placement in a literary sense as well because Milton is already presenting the idea of redemption to his audience before he fully writes of the Fall in the Garden of Eden. He gives hope before tragedy which is backwards from most literature but seems to work here. I’m excited to hear this week in class what everyone thought of these books.
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Comments
I think it’s so great that Milton balances his allegiance to Christ and honoring Him by standing by the importance of living our lives for Him. While, also challenging the faith of his readers by victimizing Satan and persuading us to show compassion for him. Which is a challenge suggesting how Milton’s writing is fabulous at pulling our heart strings. But Milton doesn’t leave out how miserable Satan is without God as a reminder that a life without God is truly miserable. I appreciate your beautiful analyzation!