The Biblical figure of Eve has been a source of much scrutiny, contention, and conflicting portrayals in literature. Two works, Salve Deus Rex Judæorum, written by Emilia Lanier in 1611, and Paradise Lost, by John Milton in 1667, both depict her...

Both William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist,” and John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” were written with the intention of demonstrating the importance of religion; Milton wrote Paradise Lost with the intention of “justifying the ways of God to Man,” while...

Milton’s Paradise Lost was written in the 17th century as a result of political unrest and Milton’s disdain for the interpretations of the bible in that period, believing that God’s ways were in need of justification. Paradise Lost has remained a...

Milton portrays Satan as a composed character who has sexual undertones. His composure is demonstrated through his description as “sleek,” while “enameled” demonstrates his self protection. The sexual subtext to his character is shown through the...

Throughout book 9 of Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Satan is generally presented as the personification of evil, largely fuelled by Milton’s own religious grounding. This pure evil is conveyed by Milton though Satan’s innate drive to destroy mankind...

Ruth Mazo Karras argued that “the acquisition of masculinity in the European later Middle Ages was primarily a matter of proving oneself against others.” Strong male characters in texts such as Beowulf and Paradise Lost demonstrate that this...

Throughout both John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost and Sinclair Ross’ novel As For Me and My House, characteristics and implications of sex are comparable. To elaborate, only sex within wedlock is regarded as righteous as both works support...

Humanism had a profound impact on European society during the Renaissance. This movement transformed the thinking processes of many Europeans, altering the way these people viewed themselves, their lives, and their place in the world. Literature...

There is a minor ambiguity in this title, which must be clarified for the purposes of this essay. The emphasis on an impression of the characters changing as you read more of the poem, may indicate the effect on a reader's initial interpretation...

John Milton uses epic similes in Paradise Lost to accomplish many objectives. The most basic of these is to connect the past and the present, as the epic similes are often in present tense and involve a human figure that will not exist until after...

In Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, God's only two commandments to his newest creations, the humans Adam and Eve, contradict each other. This is because God incorporates the contradictory notions of both faith and reason into the law by which he...

"...[F]rom what state

I fell, how glorious once above [the Sun's] sphere;

Till pride and worse ambition threw me down

Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless King:

Ah wherefore! He deserved no such return

From me, whom he created what I was

In that...

Perhaps the most seductive method of interpreting existence is through the bifocal lenses of morality. Whether in a religious or non-religious sense, almost every civilization, institution, and human has had its own demarcation of Good and Evil....

In Paradise Lost, Milton plays with the preconceived notions of his readers by presenting perspectives perhaps never before imagined. God is not strictly the protagonist and Satan is not strictly the antagonist, on the contrary Satan is presented...

In Milton's Paradise Lost, angels and men are arranged in a divinely established hierarchy based on their relative proximity to God. Through the course of the epic, characters develop different and often conflicting conceptions of the spiritual...

The world of Milton's Paradise Lost is a world of discourse, full of divine as well as human speech. When God creates Christ, he calls him "thou my Word, begotten son, by thee/ This I perform" (VII. 165-6). Indeed, the concept of the "Word" (Greek...

John Milton's Paradise Lost is an epic that has influenced the Christian perception of God, Satan, sin, and the origin of mankind for centuries. His poetic account of the creation story, though, clearly expands on several aspects within the most...

Part of Milton's genius lies in his ability to stack motif on top of motif, theme on top of theme and image on top of image with high density, without losing any of the effectiveness of his words; in fact, that density increases the effectiveness....

Satan's account

I

169: But see the angry victor hath recalled

170: His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

171: Back to the gates of heaven: the sulphurous hail

172: Shot after us in storm, o'erblown hath laid

173: The fiery surge, that from the...

In Metaphysics, Aristotle creates a series of dualities which are intrinsically "male" or "female." Included in this original set of oppositions are light and darkness and good and evil - the former of each duo being inherently associated with the...

Paradise Lost explores the natural aspiration to stand alone and to be distinguished from the multitudes. Adam, Eve, Satan, even God himself strain to assert their superiority and godliness by attempting to wield the most visible proof of godly...

"Paradise has been lost." Frank Henenlotter's 1990 film, a campy retooling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by the name of Frankenhooker (Wolf 344), tells the tale of a mad scientist who, in order to bring his wife back to life, decapitates,...

Milton dedicated his life to the war of good and evil; this is apparent in his epic poem "Paradise Lost," but also in his political battles against the Royalists who abused the power of the monarchy and the Presbyterians who wanted to mandate...

Although God asserts otherwise in Milton's work "Paradise Lost", it seems certain that it was God's will, and not the cunning endeavors of Satan, that provided for the inevitable fall of man. Aware that Satan was the physical manifestation of...