Page 205 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes Analysis

If Book IX presents the climax of Paradise Lost, then Book X presents its resolution, as the punishments
that the Son hands out restore some sort of order to the world. Satan and the other supporting
characters disappear from the rest of the poem, eliminating the source of human temptation and
thus focusing the poem on Adam and Eve’s regret. But Adam and Eve begin to redeem humankind
with their repentance at the end of Book X. As a result, these characters will disappear from the
story, and humankind’s predicted redemption will take precedence as the story continues, with
Adam and Eve learning about their fallen future.
The devils’ punishment to live as snakes forever tempted by fruit on a glorious tree echoes Satan’s
temptation of Eve. Now they must forever suffer the pains of desire without ever having hope of
attaining their wishes, a punishment befitting their crime. To have the devils frozen in a state of
perpetual desire and unattainable satisfaction is fit for a group of evildoers who continue to battle
God through their disobedience.
Milton uses the concept of typology—the Christian belief that Old Testament characters symbolize
and predict New Testament characters—to demonstrate the intimate relationship between the fall
of humankind and the redemption of humankind. This relationship between the fall and the
resurrection forms the base of the Christian interpretation of the Bible. Milton considers Mary, the
mother of the Son (Jesus), to be the “second Eve.” As Sin and Death came into the world through
Eve, the Son would conquer Sin and Death through Mary. Likewise, Milton considers Jesus to be a
“second Adam” who corrects Adam and Eve’s disobedience through his resurrection. Through
these comparisons between Eve and Mary, and Adam and Jesus, the fall and the resurrection become
intertwined. The fall is the cause of human history; the resurrection is the result of human history.

What is Adam and Eve’s punishment for their disobedience to God?

Although Adam and Eve are ailing at the end of Book IX, they take action in Book X and separate
their fate from Satan’s fate. Satan, as Milton shows, cannot allow himself to repent. His damnation
is permanent since his disobedience comes from within and without repentance. On the other hand,
humankind’s disobedience comes from the temptation of another. This idea helps to explain Adam
and Eve’s actions and subsequent punishment at the end of Book X. Realizing the terrible
consequences of their actions, they come dangerously close to rationalizing suicide, but Adam decides
to beg God for forgiveness—the only right answer, in Milton’s opinion. Though the coming of the
Son and the salvation of humankind had already been foretold, the couple’s decision to repent is
crucial in God’s willingness to forgive them. God will show mercy when asked, but as we see with
Satan, there can be no mercy without repentance. In one of the most important quotations in Paradise
Lost, Milton poetically demonstrates the importance of Adam and Eve’s decision in the last several
lines of Book X. Adam explains how their repentance and prayer will occur, and then as they pray,
Milton duplicates Adam’s explanation as the actual action of their prayer. As Adam explains to
Eve:
What better can we do, than to the place
Repairing where he judg’d us, prostrate fall
Before him reverent, and there confess
Humbly our faults, and pardon beg, with tears
Watering the ground. . .
(X.1087–1090)

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