Powerful and prideful angel who, with legions of supporters, leads an unsuccessful rebellion against God and suffers eternal damnation.
Hero
To be weak is to be miserable; Doing or suffering
Brief introduction
The poem concerns the Bible story of the fall of man. The Fallen Angel Satan was thrown to the hell because of his rebel to God's authority, but without repenting, he flew to the Garden of Eden for revenge.
The poem justifies the ways of God to men. He often converses with the Son of God concerning his plans and reveals his motives. God is the ultimate authority for his being the “author” of creation.
Satan is deeply arrogant, powerful and charismatic. Satan's persuasive powers are evident throughout the book. Satan's desire to rebel against his creator stems from his unwillingness to be subjugated by God ,claiming that angels are "self-begot, self-raised“.
Paradise Lost
组员：王少莹 林小珍 杜泳斯
——John Milton
Contents
ⅠBackground information 1.Writer : John Milton 2.Writing background 3.Brief introduction of the epic Ⅱcharacters 1.Adam and Eve 2.God the father 3.Dual characters of Satan 4.Other angels Ⅲ Focus on writing 1.Tone 2.Verse format 3.Writing devices ⅣCriticism&Theme&Writing purpose
Part12: Adam and Eve leave the paradise and then lost the par adise;
Ⅱcharacters
1. God the father
2. Dual character of Satan 3.Adam and Eve
4.Other angels
God the father
God the Father is the creator of Heaven, Hell, the world, and of everyone and everything there is. Everything is a part of himself, not out of nothing. He desires glory and praise from all his creations. He is an all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely good being who cannot be overthrown(推翻).
Satan
Satan is the first major character introduced in the poem. Formerly called Lucifer(路西法), he was the most beautiful angel in Heaven, and is a tragic figure who describes himself with the now-famous quote “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”
Enticed by the snake which was possessed by Satan, Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the end, Satan and his fellows all become snakes, and Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
Plot Summary
Part7: Adam asks angles about world problems, and gets answ ers;
Part8: Adam asks angles about how celestial bodies run, but he is not satisfied with the answers;
He love his motherland so much that he can’t stop to express his lofty ideals which he has been always eager to achieve by his poem.Therefore, he wrote the great epic -"Paradise Lost".
Part 9: Satan pretends as a snake and ask Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; Part10: God is so angry and Adam also regret;
Part11: Adam and Eve are expelled from the Paradise;
Plot Summary
Part1: The reasons and results of the events; part2:Satan and angles discuss how to fight against God; part 3:God decides how to give human a gift;
After the establishment of the Republic of the England in 1649, John Milton was appointed to be a Latin Secretary to the Council of State. In 1652, he became blind as a result of overwork. In 1660, John Milton was imprisoned for some time in the period of the Restoration. Since then, he devoted all his time and energy to the writing, and with the assistance of relatives and friends he had wrote a total of 3 long poem: "Paradise Lost" (1665), "paradise Regained" (1671) and "Samson Agonistes" (1671). On November 8,1674, John Milton died in London.
Works
riting background
In 17th Century the British capitalist development has made significant progress. However, it was badly cramped by the feudal monarchy. Served as a revolutionist in such a turbulent period of social reform, John Milton was fiercely opposed the church government and feudal monarchy.
Brief introduction
Paradise Lost is a long epic divided into 12 books. The original story is taken from Genesis 3:1-24 of the Bible. The theme is the “Fall of Man”,i.e. Man‟s disobedience and the lost of Paradise, with its prime cause-Satan.
part 4: Satan meets with Adam and Eve and his temptation;
part 5: The angels warn Adam about Satan‟s temptation;
part 6: The angels and Satan fight against God;
Writing background
After the Restoration (1660), although John Milton was completely blind and was living in dire poverty, he redoubled his efforts to denounce the restored monarch.