John milton s paradise lost12/20/2023 ![]() This same expression of might and power can be seen when Jesus enters the battle against Satan in the angel’s story: “At his command the uprooted Hills retir’d / Each to his place, they heard his voice and went Obsequious, Heav’n his wonted face renewd, / And with fresh Flourets Hill and Valley smil’d” (Book 6). ![]() Unknown to the evil hosts, the angel in the garden in Book 6 explains to Adam that it was the strength of belief in God that enabled the angels of heaven to defeat Satan and his minions: “Such high advantages thir innocence / Gave them above thir foes, not to have sinnd, / Not to have disobei’d in a fight they stood / Unwearied, unobnoxious to be pain’d / By wound, though from thir place by violence mov’d.” This is a hint to Adam of how he, too, can defeat the evil one, but it is also a declaration of the strength of God and how distance from God weakens the distanced individual. In this passage, Belial expresses the hope that if the demons condemned to hell only submit to their fate rather than fight against it or God further, perhaps God will relent or at the least not punish them further. When the hosts of hell gather to discuss what they will do to fight again against God, Belial stands to council patience, if not contrition, “which if we can sustain and bear, / Our Supreme Foe in time may much remit / His anger, and perhaps thus far remov’d / Not mind us not offending, satisfi’d / With what is punish’t whence these raging fires / Will slack’n, if his breath stir not thir flames” (Book 2), demonstrating even in this speech the benevolent nature of God. “From what height fan, so much the stronger proved / He with his Thunder: and till then who knew / The force of those dire Arms?” (Book 1). Satan reveals that God has only ever used as much power as was absolutely necessary to get the job done, a significant attribute that does not escape the comprehension of the fallen ones. Milton begins painting his image of God as all-powerful and all reasonable with the first book, as Satan talks with his companion about the fall they have experienced together. In addition to presenting his readers with his image of a good yet contradictory God, Milton carefully outlines his concept of the importance of Free Will as opposed to the concept of predetermination. Therefore, it should not be surprising that while his concept of God as expressed in this epic demonstrates a god who is both reasonable and just, He is also seen as paradoxical, often expecting what should not reasonably be expected. ![]() However, Milton understood that the ways of God were manifold and not necessarily understandable to his creations. ![]() This ambiguity is somewhat surprising given that Milton himself set out his goal as being to “justify the ways of God to men” (Book I). Depending upon the way in which the reader approaches the story, God is presented as an anti-hero, a loving and forgiving deity, or an overly demanding spirit, among several other interpretations. In the twelve books of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the poet not only weaves an elegant story depicting the Biblical story of the fall from Eden and the nature of hell but presents his readers with a concept of God that remains somewhat ambiguous.
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