Paradise Lost Literary Analysis

Feudal and Futile: How the Angels vs. Devils Battle is a Parody of Epic Warfare In John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, the Biblical account of the fall of man into sin is taken to a new height by Milton’s use of metaphorical storytelling. Using the story of Genesis 3 as a basis, Milton further expounds on the fall of mankind out of God’s graces and into Sin by providing much imagined elaboration and backstory into which he infuses his own moral and spiritual lessons. The battle between God’s Army and Satan’s Army, as told in Book VI, is certainly no exception to Milton’s editorializing. By portraying Satan as a heroic figure comparable to the Greek and Roman epic heroes, juxtaposing him with the figure of Jesus Christ, and indicating that …show more content…
Abdiel, an angel who was tempted to join Satan but soon realized the error of his ways and returned to God, expresses his belief that it is only “just” that God shall indubitably “win in arms” using the power of “truth” and “reason,” while the ostensible “strength and might” of Satan shall be defeated due to the weakness brought on by his failing “virtue” (6.117-123). The mercy of God is then once more invoked with Abdiel’s statement that, if God so chose, the battle could be immediately decided by the “incessant armies” he could summon or simply with “one blow” dealt by his “solitary hand” (6.138-140). This declaration of certain victory for God’s Army on account of abstract principles of morality and upright conduct rather than on strength and might further underscores that this battle is one which revolves around allegiances to good and evil rather than superficial strength and …show more content…
After Satan rides to battle in his “sun-bright chariot” (6.100-101), he emerges undaunted in “adamant and gold” armor and goes to meet Abdiel with “vast and haughty strides” (6.109-110). He replies to Abdiel’s reasoned declaration that the just cause of God will prevail over the unjust cause of the rebels by stating that it is actually he, and the full one-third of angels who joined his cause, who is advancing the principle of justice by opposing the “servility” (6.169) imposed by God upon the lesser angels, which he believes shall divide “liberty and Heav’n” (6.164) until “Omnipotence” is allowed “to none” (6.159). Satan exclaims that he will fight God with all his amassed strength — even if it means turning “Heav’n itself into the Hell” in which all can “dwell free” (6.291-2). Indeed, he appears emboldened by this cause throughout the first day of battle by displaying what Milton describes as fearless and “prodigious power” (6.247). Satan meets “no equal” until encountering the angel Michael, co-leader of God’s Army, who lands a blow so severe that it nearly shears Satan in half (6.248). Those “many and strong” angels he has won to his side begin to “interpose defense, while others [bear] him on