Reading through the final six chapters of Paradise Lost, as well as considering Dr. Schuler's proposition regarding politics in the book, I couldn't help but start to wrap my blog post around a few different questions or hypotheticals. Simply going off of Milton's preferred political themes (liberty of thought, free press, rational self-government, etc), I started to see Adam and Eve as a representation of the Puritans. Through the last two chapters of the book, Adam does seem crushed by the results of his and Eve's sin, but he also seems incredibly hopeful for the future. He looks forward to the work he will put in as a result of his sin because he prefers it to laziness or sitting idly. I feel like there's a huge underlying theme in this last chunk of the book that mirrors what came of the Puritan government: Things were good before sin, and sin made the world bad. But, great things came out of those trials and evils. It's like Adam and Eve (and all mankind) had to struggle and toil after ruining paradise, but it was all worth it in the end (in theory). I'm not quite sold on this myself because it then begs the question of whether perfection is actually perfect and enjoyable, but, like I said, I couldn't ignore this theory.
Edit: I commented on Osten and Stephen's posts.
Edit: I commented on Osten and Stephen's posts.
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