CQ - Paradise Lost Book 9

Degradation in Paradise Lost – Book 9

One of the points that calls attention in Books 1 and 2 of Paradise Lost is the fact that Satan is represented like a hero, so much so that it is difficult for the reader not to sympathize with him and feel the injustices he has been victim of. In Book 9 this image of Satan as a hero is deconstructed.

In Book 9 of Paradise Lost Satan “involved in rising mist” (75) infiltrates in Paradise one more. He observes God’s newest creations and realizes that he could have been happy if he could have walked around and enjoyed “hill and valley, rivers, woods and plains” (116) and he suffers from this realization and turns all this good into poison. Here Satan is no longer represented as the strong character that we sympathized with previously. He is set on seeking his revenge, but his arguments are not organized, he is confusing and seems to be deceiving himself with lies, contrary to what happens in the begging of the Paradise Lost, when he uses his cunning to deceive his fellow Fallen Angels.

This contrast between the first impression that the reader gets of Satan as a heroic figure and the degraded single-minded bitter being that he turns into in Book 9, seems to emphasize Milton’s ideas that sin is destructive and nothing good can come from disobeying God and distancing yourself from Him. Satan is lost in his own lies and desire of revenge, he cannot think properly anymore and this is a direct result of his fall.

Similarly, Adam and Eve show their different behavior from when they are yet innocent and pure in the beginning of Book 9 and when they have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge. Their first discussion about whether or not to work separately is more sensible, their discussion after disobeying God is bitter and irrational. Their change in behavior is also clear in the different from the pure lovemaking of before to the lust they surrender to after eating from the Tree of Knowledge.

The falls of Satan and Adam and Eve are similar in the sense that their behaviors are changed the moment they disregard God to follow their own ideas, passions and desires. All of them suffer changes that cannot be undone as a direct consequence of the sin they committed.

  

Milton, John. The Annotated Milton. Ed. Burton Raffel. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008. E-book.