1. The Fall of Satan from Paradise Lost
By: John Milton
Page 440

2. John Milton
Early in life resolved to be a poet because he believed he would leave something great behind.
Epic Paradise Lost is one of the most brilliant achievements in English poetry.
Perhaps it is the richest and most intricately beautiful poem in the world.

3. John Milton Indulged by his parents.
They supported him throughout his education – continued his education for 8 years after college.
Traveled and met Galileo.
Wrote and published a collection of poems in 1645 known as Milton’s “Minor Poems”.

4. Famous for Lycidas and Comus.
Lycidas is an elegy for Edward King; a fellow student of Milton’s
In Comus Milton dramatizes the idea that “human beings have been given the ability and freedom to choose between good and evil, and so long as they choose the good they will remain strong and free.”

5. Political Activity
1640 – struggle between King Charles and Parliamentary Party.
Milton published prose (sometimes insulting) in favor of the Parliamentary Party.
Disliked kings and bishops.
Advocated for divorce for incompatible married couples.

6. Political Activity
Argued press should be free from government censorship and interference.
Served in government under Oliver Cromwell after the Parliamentary Party took over and executed King Charles.
Latin secretary to the Council of State – responsible for correspondence with foreign countries.

7. Political Activity
1660 – England recalled the king’s son from exile and crowned him King Charles II.
Milton was stripped of all his possessions and arrested as a traitor.
He lived in seclusion for the rest of his life with his third wife and three daughters. (Son and other wives died.)

8. Inspiration for Paradise Lost
Milton felt great poets imitated great writer’s of antiquity (Homer and Virgil)
He wanted to draw from King Arthur and the round table but felt there was too much fiction in those stories.
He decided to draw from the Bible for his subjects.

9. Inspiration for Paradise Lost
Milton rejected religion but was very religious. He believed religion involved God, the Bible, and each individual.
Published twice – once in 1667: ten book version / once in 1674: twelve book version.

10. Paradise Lost: Milton’s Epic

11. Background
Milton wanted his epic to sum up and surpass those epic poets that came before him.
Difference between his epic and others – his deals with Creation and others deal with earthly matters.
Milton asserts that God is not responsible for crime, poverty, war, etc – Adam and Eve are because of their disobedience of God.

12. Background
The poem is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter (copied from Shakespeare)
Most sentences are long and are not in the normal word order.
Milton believed “goodness was not goodness unless it resulted from a struggle to overcome evil.”

13. “The Fall of Satan” from Paradise Lost
By: John Milton

14. Getting Ready to Read
In your notes, respond to the following questions:
Why does evil exist?
What is the source of its power and fascination?
The struggle of good vs. evil is central in Paradise Lost.

15. Surveying the Text
What do you notice about the length and structure of the text?
What do you know about the piece based on the title?

16. Vocabulary: Eternal providence (25) Impious (43) Transcendent (86)
Find the vocabulary word in the epic and copy the sentence.
Decide what the word means based on its context in the sentence.
Eternal providence (25)
Impious (43)
Transcendent (86)
Subterranean (231)
Sovereign (246)

17. Vocabulary Eternal providence (25) Impious (43) Transcendent (86)
Subterranean (231)
Sovereign (246)
Everlasting protection of God.
Irreligious; disrespectful
To go beyond the ordinary limits
Hidden or secret
A supreme ruler

18. First Reading
Read the text pages

19. First Reading While you read, consider the following questions:
What is Milton’s purpose in writing this epic story?
Who does Milton call upon at the beginning?
What question does he ask about Adam and Eve?
Why is Satan cast out of Heaven?
What does Satan say are the advantages of Hell?

20. Reading Quiz Satan had been one of God’s favored angels. (T/F)
Satan was very ugly, with red skin and horns. (T/F)
When Satan says, “Farthest from him is best” he means that the rebels can do as they please when away from God. (T/F)
Satan rebels because God made him a slave. (T/F)

21. Reading Quiz - Answers
Switch papers with someone close to you. Write “corrected by” at the bottom of the paper and correct the quiz. Make sure your corrections are accurate. T F

22. Rereading the Text Lines 1-26: What is Milton’s purpose?
How would you paraphrase his purpose?
Lines 28-44: What questions does Milton ask and how does he answer them?
- To state the reasons behind God’s actions.
- Why Adam and Eve disobeyed and who lured them into doing so.
Satan tricked them out of envy, revenge, and thwarted pride.

23. Rereading the Text
Lines 44-47: How does alliteration make this statement vivid to the reader?
Lines 54-56: What torments Satan in Hell?
Lines 61-74: Which aspects of Hell would be most difficult to bear?
- Repeated “h” sound emphasizes the sudden explosive quality of the event.
- The thought of lost happiness and eternal pain.

24. Rereading the Text
Lines 84-91: How has Beelzebub, Satan’s former comrade, changed?
Lines : What details in Satan’s speech show that he feels that he and God are opposing generals of two armies? Does Satan admit defeat?
- He was bright and glorious; now ruined and miserable.

25. Rereading the Text
Lines 90-96: Satan starts his speech expressing sympathy and then shifts to say he will not repent or change. What does this rapid change in subject suggest about Satan’s personality?
- He cares only for himself and is obsessed with anger.

26. Rereading the Text
Lines : Satan introduces “the unconquerable will,” a theme that colors his speeches throughout the poem. What does Satan suggest about God’s will compared to his own?
- God’s will is not as strong as Satan’s, for God was shaken
(Satan believes) and doubted the outcome of the battle
in heaven.

27. Rereading the Text
Line : What does Beelzebub think of their situation? How is Beelzebub different from Satan?
Line : What does Satan vow? Would you say this is the essence of evil? Explain.
Rebel angels maintain their spirit even after defeat. He wonders if God deliberately
left them their spirit so they might suffer more. He doesn’t have Satan’s pride and ego.
- To do only evil forever and always oppose God. Since God is the essence of
Goodness, Satan is the essence of evil.

28. Rereading the Text
Lines : What does Satan’s description indicate about the way in which his troops left heaven?
Now that the moment has passed, what does Satan seem to believe about the power that God displayed?
They were driven over the edge of Heaven and fell into Hell.
God has stopped showing His rage and power because He is worn out.

29. Rereading the Text
Lines : Satan thinks of himself merely as a defeated general. What does he now propose?
Lines : How does Milton seem to shift the reader’s visual vantage point as be begins this new section?
Satan now proposes that the rebels rest, reassemble, take council, repair
their losses, and take on new resolve.
Before – focused on Beelzebub’s head; now – reminded of Satan’s size
and to see the fallen angels around him.

30. Rereading the Text Lines 209-220: What are God’s plans for Satan?
Why do you think Milton intrudes into the story in such an omniscient fashion here?
Humanity is showered with grace; Satan continues to damn himself with his
evil plans, making him remain eternally crushed by God’s vengeance.
Some readers would be attracted to the image of Satan and he wanted to
put the character in perspective.

31. Rereading the Text
Lines : How would you paraphrase what the proud Satan says in these lines?
Line 263: What do you make of this declaration? What do you predict Satan will do next?
It doesn’t matter where you are physically; the mind can create a wonderful
or miserable place for you to dwell in mentally.
He reasserts his enormous pride, tries to convince himself that evil is good,
and plans to rule the empire of evil.

32. Rereading the Text
How does the proverb “misery loves company” apply here?
Satan is eager to rally his forces so that they may “share with us their part/In this happy mansion.” He needs support to seek revenge against God; He may also believe that sharing the torment with others will alleviate
his own pain.

33. Analyzing the Structure
What images in the story helped you to see and smell Hell?
How do lines 210 – 220 contribute a level of dramatic irony to Satan’s ringing assertion of freedom in his final speech lines ?
Reread lines How is Hell both a psychological state and a physical place?

34. Connecting to the Text
Perhaps the most famous verses of this passage are in Satan’s last speech (lines ):
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven
In your experience, is this an accurate description of what the mind can do?

35. Paraphrasing: Choose one of the following speeches.
Satan – lines
Beelzebub – lines
Satan – lines
Satan – lines
Write a prose paraphrase of the speech. You’ll have to supply words that Milton omits and use normal English syntax.