Paradise Lost caused me to consider things I had not thought of in a very long time. Questions continued to pop into my mind such as “Why did Satan and his followers decide to rebel against God?” and “If God is omnipotent, why did He not put an end to the rebellion or stop Eve from eating the apple before she did it?” However, Milton later reveals that God knew all along how everything was going to unfold and did not stop it because the betrayals were part of His plan creating an entire new level of fascination for me.
The title Paradise Lost also refers to Adam and Eve losing the their “paradise” on earth. In the “first act of disobedience against God”, Satan tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. His seduction led to everything bad found in the world now: death, sickness and disease, fear, and pain.
I think this is very interesting. Just the fact that an act so simple as eating an apple can cause so many problems. Just think about it, think about all the times you were tempted into doing something you knew you shouldn't have. Think about all the times you thought “It will be ok. It's nothing big. It won't matter.” That's exactly what Eve thought and look at what happened. It kind of puts things into perspective for me. It just shows that everything you do has some kind of effect on either you or those around you, even the things you think couldn't possibly make a difference in any way.
All in all, I think, just from reading the beginning of Book 1, Paradise Lost has the potential to be great and actually hold my attention. I must admit that I am excited to continue reading it.
While I am not entirely sure I shared your passion for "Paradise Lost" going into class today, I do enjoy a good discussion about religion. Despite not being Catholic, I went to a Catholic high school. I got to learn about a lot of different religions through my religion classes at that high school, and it was awesome. The story of Adam and Eve was one that was ingrained in our skulls my freshmen year. I knew about it before I went to high school, but learning about it fueled my indignation. Why should that acts of two people cause such dire consequences for the rest of humanity? It did not really seem fair to me. Okay, so maybe there were the only two people around at the time, but still! One thing that really stuck out to me today though was God lets these things happen so that better things can come out of them. If original sin had not occurred, then we would not have a lot of the religious history to look back upon. A lot of the stories are really neat to read and look into. Would it be better without it? I don't know, but I guess we won't ever find out.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this poem is a very interesting piece of work. especially knowing that this was produced by a blind man, remembered and dictated by his daughter. The questions about why God just allow these things to happen is a good reason to continue with the book. It feels weird to me that Milton took on the challenge of discussing this concept of heaven and hell. I also find it strange that he is speaking from Satans point of view. I agree that this poem is likeable and should be read.
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