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Paradise Lost
John Milton
Entire book Summary

Milton begins Paradise Lost by stating that his subject will be Adam and Eve’s
disobedience and fall from grace
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The action begins with
Satan and his fellow rebel angels who are found chained to a lake of fire in Hell
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Inside Pandemonium, the rebel
angels, who are now devils, debate whether they should begin another war with God
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Satan agrees, and volunteers to go himself
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In Heaven, God orders the angels together for a council of their own
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Meanwhile, Satan travels through Night and Chaos and finds Earth
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He tells Uriel that he wishes to see and praise God’s glorious creation, and Uriel
assents
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Seeing the
splendor of Paradise brings him pain rather than pleasure
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Satan leaps over
Paradise’s wall, takes the form of a cormorant (a large bird), and perches himself
atop the Tree of Life
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The other angels agree to search the Garden for
intruders
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After a long day of work, they return to
their bower and rest
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Gabriel, the angel set to guard Paradise, finds Satan there and orders him to leave
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Eve awakes and tells Adam about a dream
she had, in which an angel tempted her to eat from the forbidden tree
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Raphael arrives on Earth and eats a meal with Adam and Eve
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Satan
gathered other angels together who were also angry to hear this news, and together
they plotted war against God
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The angels then begin to fight, with Michael and Gabriel serving as co-leaders
for Heaven’s army
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Raphael tells Adam about Satan’s evil
motives to corrupt them and warns Adam to watch out for Satan
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Raphael tells Adam that God sent the Son into Chaos
to create the universe
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Curious,
Adam asks Raphael about the movement of the stars and planets
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Raphael promptly warns Adam about his

seemingly unquenchable search for knowledge
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Adam tells Raphael about his first memories, of waking up and
wondering who he was, what he was, and where he was
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After the story, Adam
confesses to Raphael his intense physical attraction to Eve
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With this final bit of advice,
Raphael leaves Earth and returns to Heaven
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After closely studying the
animals of Paradise, he chooses to take the form of the serpent
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Adam is hesitant but then assents
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In the form of a serpent, he talks to Eve and compliments her on her
beauty and godliness
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She asks how
he learned to speak, and he tells her that it was by eating from the Tree of
Knowledge
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She is hesitant at first but then
reaches for a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and eats it
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Adam has been busy making a wreath of flowers for Eve
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Knowing that she has fallen, he decides that he would
rather be fallen with her than remain pure and lose her
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Adam looks at Eve in a new way, and together they turn to lust
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He tells the angels in Heaven that
Adam and Eve must be punished, but with a display of both justice and mercy
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The Son first punishes the serpent whose
body Satan took, and condemns it never to walk upright again
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Eve and all women must
suffer the pain of childbirth and must submit to their husbands, and Adam and all
men must hunt and grow their food on a depleted Earth
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He speaks to the devils in Pandemonium, and
everyone believes that he has beaten God
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Shortly thereafter, the devils unwillingly transform into snakes
and try to reach fruit from imaginary trees that shrivel and turn to dust as they reach
them
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After the fall, humankind must suffer hot
and cold seasons instead of the consistent temperatures before the fall
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They blame each other for their
disobedience and become increasingly angry at one another
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Eve begs Adam not to abandon her
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She accepts the blame because she has
disobeyed both God and Adam
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Adam, moved by her speech,
forbids her from taking her own life
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Together they
pray to God and repent
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Michael arrives on Earth
and tells them that they must leave Paradise
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Adam sees the sins of his children, his children’s children, and
his first vision of death
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Generations to follow continue to sin by lust, greed, envy, and pride
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Then Michael shows him the vision of

Enoch, who is saved by God as his warring peers attempt to kill him
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Adam feels remorse for death and happiness for
humankind’s redemption
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This
story explains the perversion of pure language into the many languages that are
spoken on Earth today
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After this vision, it is time for Adam and
Eve to leave Paradise
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Led by Michael, Adam and Eve slowly and woefully leave Paradise
hand in hand into a new world

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