Paradise Lost - Themes

Hierarchy and Order

Disobedience and Revolt

Sin and Innocence

Free Will and Predestination

Love and Marriage

Key Quotes

In portraying the “Fall of Man”, Milton spends much of Paradise Lost describing the universal hierarchy and order that these events upset.

17th century view of the cosmos: Heaven exists above, Earth below and Hell and Chaos below that

Key Quotes

most important hierarchy of Heaven: God as supreme monarch, the creator and ruler of the universe, and his “only begotten” Son as equal in rank

God sets Adam and Eve in rank above the animals and in terms of authority and wisdom

The devils of Hell are the lowest ranked of all, as they have been totally cast away from God.

Milton was an advocate for individual freedom and the overthrow of monarchies

Paradise Lost is ironic: the radical Milton made his masterpiece a poem that defends the ultimate system of monarchy and order

Explained as Milton felt as though God was the rightful ruler

the moral lesson is that the hierarchy of Heaven and Earth must be respected and upheld and that the evil in the world is the result of an upset of the divine order.


Naivety

Key Quotes

Adam knows better but still lets Eve go

'desiring more her stay'

'with thy permission then' - Eve

'go for if thy stay absents thee more'

'somehow high at hand watches us no doubt'

Adam was seen as above Eve - natural hierarchy

Adam fails to live up to his role as the male protector

Milton 'lost control' of his wife - is this reflected

Adam

Eve

thinking she is strong enough to be independent despite being a woman

compared to Goddess of the hunt, Delia, but she is without 'bow and quiver'

'though not as she with bow and quiver armed'

the naivety is emphasised by the reader's knowledge of the source material. We know Adam and Eve will fall

reinforces the societal view of the need for male protection

shift towards Puritan values which would see flattery as a sin

"Inherent and fatal narcissism" - Kilgour on EVE

"Fell through uxoriousness" - Lewis on ADAM

Satan

malcontent, thinks he can better himself in a strict society

doesn't realise God is omnipotent

'hid from sharpest sight'

'Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.' - Satan (Book 1)