332-333, 336-337). The fallen angels' response to Satan's call is the final confirmation of his character, because it demonstrates how he is able to maintain the respect and interest of his followers even though it appears as if they have been stripped of everything. In this sense, Satan is a kind of idealized revolutionary leader, outmatched by the "Almighty" but unwilling to give up, all the while maintaining the respect

Knowledge makes one godlike, and so does the power of reproduction, according to Satan in Eve's dream. The reference to gods once again parallels the images and language Homeric epic, and the persistence of pagan spirits like Zephyr and Flora in Eden, and Lucifer makes an even cruder, tempting ploy about how reproduction creates new 'godlike' beings (i.e. children): For Gods, yet able to make Gods of Men: And why not Gods

This is obviously an escape in her dream from the societal norms and from the strict rules that are imposed in the garden and that govern her existence, as well as her role in this environment. Being able to escape them, even with help from Satan, is possible in Eve's dream. Eve's road towards independence grows with each book in "Paradise Lost," some pointing out to the way her autonomy becomes

Paradise Lost The poem by John Milton is written in the style of literary epics; it starts not the beginning but in the middle of the story. Still, right away the reader knows that there is a war between good and evil, between Satan and Heaven (or God Himself), and that Satan was an Angel before he fell into disfavor with God. Since Satan had been an angel, in the reader's

Fall Though in Paradise Lost it may appear that "the Fall" is synonymous with the act of disobeying God, a closer reading shows a certain paradoxical duality to the act of falling -- namely, that what is called the Fall is a forced physical and psychic humiliation and prostration which God enacts on those who refuse to willingly prostrate themselves in worship to him. Two opposing categories of fallenness exist,

However, before citing parallels between Milton's ideas and the liberal divorce legislation of the later twentieth century one should note that in all instances Milton presents the man as the suffering party. He does not deny that the woman also might suffer, but consistently she is portrayed as the potential cause of the state in which 'instead of being one flesh, they will be rather two carcasses chained unnaturally