“Put that down… NOW!” As many of us have grown older, familiar phrases return to us that were instilled during our childhood. These ideas taught us how to grow and learn within the world. Just As our Parents taught us these words, God taught Satan and everyone under him ideas for their further growth and enrichment. “Paradise Lost” contains connections which are still used today. “Paradise Lost’s” initial connections begin with the awesome power of God. Another connection states Satan being theroot of all evil. The final connection refers to the forgiveness of God. Paradise Lost’s ideas and connections have been in use since this epic poem has been written.
The initial idea of “Paradise Lost” states that God is all powerful. God’s supreme power is shown throughout “Paradise Lost”: “Him [Satan] theAlmighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the etherneal[sp.] sky” by Godis only one example of God’s supreme power. Satan even admits to God’s almighty power – “I now of force believe almighty, since no less than suchcould have o’erpowered such force as ours.” – after losing an entire battle force of Angels to him. God being all powerful is evident within the Catholic and many other faiths as they pray for his power to extend unto themselves. The power of God helps to stir within all, Catholics especially, a feeling of strength. This strength comes from knowing God shares his power among each of us. His power is shared amongst us because we do not doubt him or tempt him, as Satan did. As Satan witnessed firsthand, many people dare not risk angering God to his fullest extent.
Another idea of “Paradise Lost” states that Satan is the root of all the evil in the world. John Milton shows this idea in several places within the story. For example, “The infernal Serpent; whose guile, stirredup with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind…” enlightens us on what started this war by Satan – greed. “While he sought evil to others” displays the evil rooted within Satan. Even today, we follow these ideas about Satan being the root of all evil. This evil force in most cases is Satan. Satan has been despised since the dawn of time and has always been looked down upon by the higher communities for his type of evil force he emits.
The final idea of “Paradise Lost” is that the God refers to himself as being forgiving. God did not simply kill Satan, his “mind and spirit remains invincible”. Where God’s awesome power is shown to have wiped Satan out, his forgiving nature helped Satan survive. This is the heart of many religions or faiths today, that God forgives us all. The fact that God forgives our sins and helps us to continue by not killing us as was his choice with Satan, proves this. Satan’s sins also reinforces our Christian ideas that God will forgive us, no matter what crime we commit against him (or others). God is truly a forgiving being.
“Paradise Lost” has provided insight and ideas that have been followed and continued for hundreds of years. The basic ideas of God have been placed as examples for this poem. We learn to be kind to God, yet not fall within Satan’s clutches … yet God will forgive us if the evil catches up with us. This can only done by one almighty power, God.
Connections in John Milton’s Paradise Lost Paradise Lost essays