A* English Literature Essay on Revolt and Disobedience in Paradise Lost
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Course
A2 Unit 3 - Poetry Pre-1900 and Unseen Poetry
Institution
WJEC
This A* essay is an answer to a previously used exam question from the Eduqas exam board, on Paradise Lost. It is great guide for how to set out an answer to the Paradise Lost Essay question in the exam.
“Timeless moral issues of revolt and disobedience are both dramatized and humanised in Milton’s
poem.”
In Milton’s Paradise Lost, it does seem that timeless moral issues of revolt and disobedience are not
only dramatized, but also humanised in the form of the character Satan. Milton describes the
immense torment Satan endured because of God through the lexical choices of “debased” and
“enfeebled” suggesting Satan’s degradation and feelings of weakness after God’s harsh treatment of
him. Milton therefore humanises Satan as this almost paints him as a character to sympathise with.
This is continued through Milton’s presentation of Satan’s plans to bring the fall of man, saying “this
new favourite” “provokes my envy”. This both dramatizes and humanises Satan’s character, as he
feels shunned and replaced by God’s new favourites, Adam and Eve. Satan’s revolt against God has
been described by Empson as brave, and that we should “champion Satan’s courage in daring to
question the restrictive obedience” demanded by God. Contextually, Milton may humanise Satan’s
revolt and disobedience because he was “of the devil’s party” as Blake suggested. Further context
reveals that Milton was a devout republican, and once the monarchy was abolished in 1649 with
Charles 1’s execution, he took up a role in Oliver Cromwell’s government as the secretary for foreign
tongues. In this sense, perhaps Milton both dramatizes and humanises Satan’s revolt and
disobedience as the character God may represent the tyrannical rule of Charles 1. Therefore, we
could describe Satan as a Byronic hero: a hero with misery in his heart, but one that is willing to fight
for justice. Perhaps Milton projects his own feelings of revolt and disobedience onto Satan, thus
humanising his character.
Milton further presents timeless moral issues of revolt and disobedience through the character Eve
eating the forbidden fruit. While Eve does not initially strive to disobey God – “God hath said, Ye shall
not eat” – Eve seemingly becomes aware of her “low” status because of Satan’s “persuasive words”.
Milton has Satan describe God as trying to keep Eve “low and ignorant”, suggesting Eve is humanised
as wanting to better herself through knowledge. Indeed, Milton both dramatizes and humanises
Eve’s disobedience through the lexical choice “The Threatener” to indicate God’s tyrannical and
oppressive nature. However, Milton does use Eve’s character as Adam’s temptation to disobey God
as well, describing him as “fondly overcome with female charm”, “not deceived” as Eve had been.
This suggests Eve is a kind of evil temptress, which supports Stein’s view that Paradise Lost is
“patriarchal poetry”. This is further supported as Adam is described as having a “higher intellect”
than Eve, implying Eve is inferior to Adam, which relates to the context that Milton prepared a much
more rigorous education for his nephews than his own daughters. Samuel Johnson also described
Milton as having a “contempt for women”, which suggests why he humanises Satan’s disobedience
and revolt, and then later presents Eve as somewhat humanised, but more “deceived” and as having
a lesser intellect than the men in the poem.
Overall, it does seem that Milton humanises and dramatizes timeless moral issues of revolt and
disobedience in Paradise Lost, particularly through the characters of Satan and Eve. It may also be
worth noting that Milton in his essay ‘Areopagitica’ suggested books shouldn’t be banned, but should
instead be discussed and expressed, not censored. With this context in mind, Milton clearly saw
freedom of thought as a right, and through his presentation of Satan and Eve he presents ideas of
revolt and disobedience as generally humanised and moral actions in Paradise Lost.
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