Portrayal of God: "Paradise Lost," by John Milton

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Within the epic poem of Paradise Lost, the main characters God, Satan, Eve and Adam are all portrayed differently than how they are seen in the bible. In addition, there is more dialogue and reasoning presented in this literary work to explain the fall of mankind and how it happened. John Milton, the author of this great epic, wrote the poem from Satan’s point of view. However, how John Milton portrays God is important as well. When reading this poem the reader the following questions: When Milton describes God is he being neutral, or is it impossible for Milton to be neutral if he is the author writing from the perspective of these two characters?; and does Milton contradict himself as he writes the epic from three different points of view? Moreover, the following are different perspectives of God and how he is portrayed within Paradise Lost: How John Milton portrays God, how Satan describes God, and how God sees himself.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem that portrays Satan as the hero and God as the enemy. The story is set in Heaven, Hell, primordial Chaos and planet earth. In addition, the plot involves Satan leading a revolutionary war against God (absolute monarch) along with his legion of fallen angels. Satan and his parliament hear of God’s new creature (humans) and plan to sabotage the creatures and their planet. Moreover, Satan is successful in his plan. When God’s new creation (Adam and Eve) eat the fruit of knowledge they doom all of mankind into a world of good and evil.

When reading Paradise Lost the reader should think about the following questions: When Milton describes God is he being neutral? Or is it impossible for Milton to be neutral if he is the author writing from the perspective of these two characters? To begin, John Milton uses imagery, tone and other literary devices to introduce God as well as characterize his presence within the story. Milton’s use of these literary devices helps justify the idea that he is neutral when it comes to the portrayal of Satan and God. Moreover, to focus more on God the following example shows how Milton see’s God himself. Milton was blind when he finished writing Paradise Lost, but this handicap did not affect his ability to describe God in a vivid way. In book 3 he stated, “HAIL, holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born!/Or of the Eternal coeternal beam /May I express thee unblamed? since God is light.” (1.65.842) this quote is not detrimental to God’s character; and in actuality it supports the idea that God is positive by using the word “light”. This word has a celestial quality that shows God as a perfect deity worthy of praise; this is how Milton feels about Gods holy light. In addition, Milton when writing this part of the poem asked for the heavenly Muse to help guide him etc. Moreover, based off of historical and biographical information the reader can infer or conclude that Paradise lost is a reflection of Milton’s life, the Revolutionary era 1640-1660 and his ideology of how a leader should act.

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