"With loss of Eden, till one greater Man/ Restore us, and regain the blissful seat." Paradise Lost, Book I
In John Milton's Paradise Lost, many Biblical characters are introduced as the main characters of the poem. Their experience is the narrative of the early creation of Man by God, as well as Satan leading up to his urging of the Fall of Man. Milton's focus is on the inevitable banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Despite the flaws of the first man and woman in creation, Milton makes Adam, ultimately, the hero of Paradise Lost because Adam experiences growth, recognizes his and Eve's sin against God, and solidly maintains his love and revere of God.
Milton's Paradise Lost is played out within 12 books, and the casting out of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is the final resolution of the epic heroic verse.
English: The story of the Eden Garden. The temptat...
Sistine Chapel, fresco Michelangelo,
Depiction of Adam and Eve being cast out from the ...In Book IX, the fates of Adam, Eve and Satan disguised as a serpent finally clash. First, Eve is seduced by Satan, and she is ultimately to blame of the downfall of herself and Adam. Book IX opens when Eve decides to work in the Garden separately from Adam, and goes off alone. Satan as a serpent finds her alone, and watches her. "That space the Evil One abstracted stood/ From his own evil, and for the time remained/ Stupidly good, of enmity disarmed" (464). The serpent then flatters Eve, and she is impressed with the snake's ability to speak. "What may this mean? Language of man pronounced/ By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed?" Eve asks, then continues, "How cam'st thou speakable of mute?"(553, 563). The serpent then tells Eve about the Tree of Knowledge from which he ate a fruit that allowed him to speak, and he...