Symbolic Overtones in Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost can be analyzed based upon the four literary elements of theme, style, setting, and characterization. The theme of Paradise Lost involves the fall of humanity, Adam and Eve, and the fall of Satan and his angels. The setting in book one begins with a lake of flames, a place that is not heaven, possibly hell. The characters in Paradise lost are Satan, Beelzebub, Adam, Eve, and other minor characters. There are many symbolisms in Paradise Lost, symbolisms of good and evil, which will be discussed more in depth.

There are three themes in Paradise Lost, that of the fundamental of good and evil, the fall of humanity, and the fall of Lucifer and his angels from heaven. "Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived the Mother of mankind, what time his pride had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his host of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring to set himself in glory above his peers..." (Milton, 1674, p. 1833). This indicates that the Serpent, Satan, deceived the Mother of mankind, and when cast from heaven; Satan sought to obtain more glory than God. The fall of humanity can be interpreted from "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n" (Milton, 1674, p. 1838). This sets the theme of humanity having the abilities to choose between Heaven and Hell - good and evil. Each mind is its own place, and each individual chooses to act with goodness or with contempt. This also implies that Satan, while cast from Heaven, is going to make his hell his heaven; and therefore make heaven a hell.

"...the world including the earth is created by God out of a region of chaos (or abyss "bottomless") using a pair of golden compasses--the shell of the universe is suspended from heaven by a golden chain. A flight of retractable stairs goes down to it from heaven. Hell was a separate enclosure within chaos" (McGoodwin, 2000). The concept of the theme of Paradise Lost is described well by Michael McGoodwin, in his description of how the universe was perceived in Milton's work. The universe is chaos and God created the world from the chaos. Hell is apart and separate from the world, its own place in the universe. For one to comprehend the theme of heaven and hell, one must understand how the universe was perceived during this time. While Heaven is the divinity, for the universe is suspended from Heaven, Hell is a separate place, apart from all other places within the universe.

The time of the setting is the beginning of time, when God created Adam and Eve. The Paradise that is now lost was heaven. The place where Lucifer was cast is Hell, "...a dungeon horrible, on all sides 'round as one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames no light, but rather darkness visible..." (Milton, 1764, p. 1833). Hell is described as a place with "...regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace and rest can never dwell, hope never comes that comes to all; but torture without end still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed with ever burning sulphur unconsumed..." (Milton, 1764, p. 1834). Hell is chaos, no peace, no hope, continuous torture and fire, the fire fed by sulphur. Heaven had been a place of glory; hell is a place as far away from God and heaven as possible. The Garden of Eden is the earth where God's humans dwelled. Satan reached the gates of Hell and is told to leave by his daughter, Sin, who is guarding the gates. Satan promises Sin a happy place to live on earth, once it is conquered, and Sin agrees to open the gates. On his flight to earth, Satan meets chaos and night, the rulers of the territory, and he asks them to show him the way to earth.

When thinking of the setting in terms of the physical locations, it works best as it is. We know of no hell that is lakes of flames and eternal furnaces. From a view of morals, beliefs, and the amount of sorrow as it is in today's society, one can relate the story to parts of the world. In places of disease and hunger, so poverty stricken that sustainable development is unlikely, is this not a hell for those who must dwell there and is there any hope for them to obtain a paradise? The concept of heaven and hell, or good verses evil can be seen every day in individual actions. The quote "The mind is it's own place, and in itself can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n" (Milton,1674, p. 1838), can be interpreted to mean that within each individual mind, one has the ability to determine if they are to be heavenly - good, or hellish - evil; therefore incorporating that mind frame into their environments. "To reign is worth ambition though in Hell; better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav'n" (Milton, 1764, p. 1838). When putting that in context in present time, one can relate it to the most horrible poverty stricken neighborhoods in our country, the corruption, murder, prostitution, drug dealers, and gangs. Some individuals may apply that statement to their daily lives; for while they may be in Hell, they are able to reign there and have some concept of power which can be interpreted by others within that environment as a form of respect. Only in this hell they reside, are they rulers of all, often motivated by greed.

Satan, the primary character in Paradise Lost is the fallen angel of God. Satan and his angel followers were cast out of heaven. Beelzebub, which means "Lord of the Flies," (Milton, 1764, p. 1834) believes that Satan and his angels should attack God's humans, "...to waste His whole creation, or possess all as our own" (Milton, 1764, p. 1857) . Belial is lazy and thinks they should stay in hell and make the best of it (Brender, 2007). God, the creator of man and woman, the universe, heaven, and hell, God bestows free will upon his man to determine their own actions. Adam and Eve are the creations of God who are tricked by Satan of eating fruit from the forbidden tree, and as punishment, they are to become mortal beings (Milton, 2006).

Moloch is a fallen angel and he believes that an open war should be waged against heaven. Mammon does not find reason in worshipping one whom you hate; he thinks the angels should make the best out of the Hell they have been condemned to. Sin is Satan's daughter, said to have sprung out of Satan's head. Death is Sin's son. Sin was impregnated by Satan and Death rapes Sin, yet the two guard the gates of Hell. The abyss between Hell and Earth is ruled by Chaos. Chaos helps Satan get to Earth. Night rules the abyss with Satan and also assists in getting Satan to Earth (Milton, 2006).

The fire with flames yet exhibiting no light symbolizes eternity of darkness, light symbolizes purity and darkness generally symbolizes fear- hence children being afraid of the dark. When Pandemonium was being constructed, gold and riches were found, "...undoubted sign that in his womb was hid metallic ore, the work of sulphur," (Milton, 1764, p. 18470). This symbolizes that even within hell, the fires which sulphur fuels, beauty can be found. This may also imply that Satan still has some of his heavenly qualities, which are rapidly diminishing. When Satan is nearing the gates of hell, he encounters Sin, his daughter. Sin is asking Satan how he could have forgotten her, stating "...out of thy head I sprung," implying that she was created by Satan's thoughts. The characters Chaos and Night are encountered between Earth and Hell. "...without dimension, where length, breadth, and height, and time and place are lost," (Milton, 1764, p. 1868), implies that chaos and night combined are the equivalent of purgatory, where in Catholicism, lost souls go when they leave Earth and do not go to heaven or hell. Instead, they are at this point between.

Musings writes in his review of Paradise Lost, that the story was superb; however, he felt that the eternal punishments for non-eternal sins was absurd. Musings further argues that the concept of Satan being damned to eternal hell was a failure in God's plans.

"Instead, it caused enormous, incalculable amounts of innocent suffering and death, and will result in the large majority of all humankind ending up condemned to Hell forever along with him. Satan was already damned; what purpose does it accomplish for God to allow him to bring others down with him," (Musings, n.d.).

The reasoning in this statement shows contradiction in God, for God created humankind, so why would he allow Satan the opportunity to damn humanity? Musings questions why God did not mandate that Satan and his followers stay in Hell, arguing that God has more responsibility in the damnation of humanity, "it makes no sense for a jailer to give the keys to one of the prisoners," (Musings, n.d.). The quote from page 1871 indicates that perhaps Musings has some foundation for his argument, as Milton states that mortals may be punished by the evil of the spirits, unless they are a mortal who is protected by God or a good angel.

To further summarize, Paradise Lost depicts the battle between good and evil, how evil came to be. The title alone not only is indicative of the Paradise, heaven, lost by Satan, but the Paradise Eden lost by mankind. While God created mankind, he also potentially set mankind up for misery and suffering by allowing Satan the abilities to escape Hell and to make Hell his own form of a Heaven. Hell was to be misery for Satan and his followers, the other fallen angels, yet in Hell they found riches, and made this into their kingdom.

The characterization is unique in its relevance to Christianity. Satan's daughter Sin, whom he incestuously created her son, Death. The implication is that if one engages in sin, one creates death. Sin had beauty, yet she was horrific. In reality, sin has an appeal to humanity, yet it can be ugly. Chaos and Night, the characters between Hell and Earth are indicative of the unknown. Chaos can be defined as pandemonium. Pandemonium was the kingdom of Satan. The Latin term "pan" means all and "demonium" means demons (Yourdictionary.com, 2007). Chaos, therefore, can be the equivalent to being in the company of all demons. Night is dark and darkness can represent the unknown. Milton engages multi-faceted meanings to his characterizations, and puts a unique twist into the biblical tale of the beginning of time.

McGoodwin, M. (2000). John Milton: Paradise Lost. Retrieved on October 21,

2007 from: http://www.mcgoodwin.net/pages/otherbooks/jm_paradiselost.html

Milton, J. (1674). "Paradise Lost" extracted from The Norton Anthology of

English Literature (8th ed., volume 1). New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company.

Milton, J. (2006). Paradise Lost Book Notes summary. Retrieved on October

21, 2007 from: http://www.bookrags.com/notes/pl/CHR.htm#10

Musings, E. (n.d.). Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton.

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http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/books/paradiselost.html

Yourdictionary.com. (2007). Pandemonium. Retrieved on October 23, 2007 from:

http://www.yourdictionary.com/pandemonium