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Unit 22: Paradise Lost-I (Non-detailed Study): Discussion and Analysis-III

are increasingly contradictory and confusing, becoming hard for us, and perhaps for himself, to Notes
follow. Satan comes to believe his own faulty logic and his own lies. In Books I and II, his ability to
reason is strong, but now in Book IX he can hardly form a coherent argument. Ironically, Satan has
proved the truth of his own earlier statement that the mind can make a heaven of hell or a hell of
heaven. Satan intended to make a heaven out of Hell, where he would be an evil version of God.
Instead, he has brought his torture with him, and made a hell out of the earth that, but for him,
would be heavenly.

22.2 Book – IX, Lines 404—1189

22.2.1 Summary: Prologue and Invocation
Satan, in the form of the serpent, searches for the couple. He is delighted to find Eve alone. Coiling
up, he gets her attention, and begins flattering her beauty, grace, and godliness. Eve is amazed to
see a creature of the Garden speak. He tells her in enticing language that he gained the gifts of
speech and intellect by eating the savory fruit of one of the trees in the garden. He flatters Eve by
saying that eating the apple also made him seek her out in order to worship her beauty.
Eve is amazed by the power that this fruit supposedly gives the snake. Curious to know which tree
holds this fruit, Eve follows Satan until he brings her to the Tree of Knowledge. She recoils, telling
him that God has forbidden them to eat from this tree, but Satan persists, arguing that God actually
wants them to eat from the tree. Satan says that God forbids it only because he wants them to show
their independence. Eve is now seriously tempted. The flattery has made her desire to know more.
She reasons that God claimed that eating from this tree meant death, but the serpent ate (or so he
claims) and not only does he still live, but can speak and think. God would have no reason to forbid
the fruit unless it were powerful, Eve thinks, and seeing it right before her eyes makes all of the
warnings seem exaggerated. It looks so perfect to Eve. She reaches for an apple, plucks it from the
tree, and takes a bite.

The Earth then feels wounded and nature sighs in woe, for with this act,
humankind has fallen.

Eve’s first fallen thought is to find Adam and to have him eat of the forbidden fruit too so that they
might be equal. She finds him nearby, and in hurried words tells him that she has eaten the fruit,
and that her eyes have been opened. Adam drops the wreath of flowers he made for her. He is
horrified because he knows that they are now doomed, but immediately decides that he cannot
possibly live without Eve. Eve does not want Adam to remain and have another woman; she wants
him to suffer the same fate as she. Adam realizes that if she is to be doomed, then he must follow.
He eats the fruit. He too feels invigorated at first. He turns a lustful eye on Eve, and they run off into
the woods for sexual play.
Adam and Eve fall asleep briefly, but upon awakening they see the world in a new way. They
recognize their sin, and realize that they have lost Paradise. At first, Adam and Eve both believe
that they will gain glorious amounts of knowledge, but the knowledge that they gained by eating
the apple was only of the good that they had lost and the evil that they had brought upon themselves.
They now see each other’s nakedness and are filled with shame. They cover themselves with leaves.
Milton explains that their appetite for knowledge has been fulfilled, and their hunger for God has
been quenched. Angry and confused, they continue to blame each other for committing the sin,
while neither will admit any fault. Their shameful and tearful argument continues for hours.

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