PARADISE LOST AN ABYSMALLY SHORT SUMMARY For Paper IV seminar by Urna Via www.paradiselost.

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The story opens in hell, where Satan and his followers are recovering from defeat in a war they waged against God. They build a palace, called Pandemonium, where they hold council to determine whether or not to return to battle. Instead they decide to explore a new world prophesied to be created, where a safer course of revenge can be planned. Beelzebub suggests they corrupt Gods new creation on Earth. Satan agrees and decides to undertake the mission alone. At the gate of hell, he meets his offspring, Sin and Death, who unbar the gates for him. He journeys across night and chaos till he sees the new universe floating near the larger globe which is heaven. God sees Satan flying towards this world and foretells the fall of man. His Son, who sits at his right hand, offers to sacrifice himself for man's salvation. Meanwhile, Satan enters the new universe. He disguises himself as a cherub and tricks the angel Uriel into showing him the way to man's home. Satan gains entrance into the Garden of Eden and perches on a tree in the form of a cormorant, where he finds Adam and Eve and becomes jealous of the plentitude they enjoy. They tend the Garden of Eden and he overhears them speak of God's supreme commandment that they should not eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge. Uriel spots Satan and warns Gabriel and the other angels, who are guarding Paradise, of the presence of an intruder. Satan takes the form of a toad and while whispering into a sleeping Eves ear, he is apprehended by Gabriel and banished from Eden. Satan prepares to battle Gabriel but God makes the sign of the golden scales appear on the sky and Satan flees. Eve recounts to Adam of her dream of an angel trying to persuade her to eat the forbidden fruit. Worried, God sends Raphael to warn Adam and Eve about Satan. Raphael recounts over a meal with Adam and Eve how envy over the Son of God being appointed Gods second-in-command led the once favored angel, with the help of other angels who were as furious to hear the news, to wage war against God in heaven with Michael and Gabriel co-leading heavens army, and how the Son, Raphael calls him the Messiah King, after two days of battle cast Satan and his followers into hell. He warns of Satans evil motives to corrupt them. On being asked by Adam, he relates how the world was created so mankind could one day replace the fallen angels in heaven. Eve retires as they discourse further on the planets and the stars and Raphael warns Adam about his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and that he would learn all that he would to know and any other knowledge was not meant for human comprehension. Adam confesses his intense physical attraction for Eve and Raphael reminds him that he ought to love Eve more purely and spiritually. Then he leaves. Eight days after his banishment, Satan returns to earth, and having watched all animals in the Garden carefully, he enters as a serpent. Eve suggest that she and Adam work separately for a while so that more work gets done and Adam hesitantly assents. Satan searches for Eve and is delighted to find her alone. He compliments Eve on her beauty and godliness. She is astonished to find a snake that can talk and Satan tells her that it is because he had eaten of the forbidden fruit and assures her that God really wants them to eat the fruit and his forbidding commandment is only a test of their courage. She is hesitant, initially, but is finally seduced into eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Distraught, she goes to find Adam, who, even though he realizes that his wife has fallen feels resigned to join in her fate, instead of remaining pure and having to lose her and he eats also. Adam looks at Eve in a new way and together

they turn to lust God immediately knows of their disobedience and is resolved to punish them justly. The Son of God is sent to mete out justice. First, the serpent is punished; he is condemned never to walk upright again. Then he tells Adam and Eve that they must suffer from pain and death. Eve and all women must suffer the pain of childbirth and submit to their husband and Adam and all men must hunt and grow food on a depleted earth. . Sin and Death, sensing Satan's success, build a highway to earth, their new home. Upon his return to hell, instead of a celebration of victory, Satan and his crew are turned into serpents as punishment. God tells the angels to transform the earth for Adam and Eve to serve their sentence. Adam and Eve fear their approaching doom and in shame and despair, blame each other and become hostile to each other. In a fit of rage, Adam wonders why God created Eve and Eve implores Adam not to leave her. She tells him that they can survive by loving each other and accepts the blame of the fall for having disobeyed God and Adam and ponders suicide. Moved by her speech, Adam takes pity on her and forbids her from killing herself. Reconciled, he remembers their punishment and believes that the way to enact their revenge on Satan is by obeying God. Together, they pray to God and repent. God hears their prayers and sends Michael to take them away from Paradise. But before they leave, he puts Eve to sleep and reveals to Adam future events resulting from his sin, where he witnesses the sins of the generations to come after him and envisions death for the first time. Adam is saddened by these visions, but ultimately revived by revelations of the future coming of the Saviour of mankind. Eve wakes up to tell Adam that she had a very interesting and educative dream. In sadness, mitigated with hope, Adam and Eve are sent away from the Garden of Paradise.