Paradise Lost

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Theological Debate”

In this activity, students will use critical thinking and collaborative learning to debate whether the fall of Adam and Eve was good or bad.

Was the fall of Adam and Eve a good thing or a bad thing? Though Adam and Eve are forced to leave Paradise at the end of Milton’s epic, their fall is also what leads to the salvation of humanity. In this activity, students will be divided into two groups and participate in a mock-theological debate: One group will take the position that the fall of Adam and Eve was a good thing, while the other group will take the position that it was a bad thing. Each side should consider possible rebuttals to opposing arguments. As each group prepares, consider the following:

• Was the fall of Adam and Eve inevitable? Did humanity need to fall in order to be saved?
• How is the story of the fall represented in other sources and literature, like the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament?
• How does the fall relate to theological concepts discussed in class, such as Augustine’s influential ideas on original sin?

Once both groups have prepared their cases, there will be an in-class debate in which each group presents their arguments. After a winner is determined, the debate will be followed by a class-wide discussion on the complexity of this and other theological questions addressed in the epic.

Teaching Suggestion: Paradise Lost is a work full of rhetoric, debate, and argumentation, with characters such as Satan, Adam, and Eve often arguing among themselves or even with God. The epic thus represents multiple viewpoints on important theological issues. It may be beneficial to remind students to consider these different views carefully and respectfully during both the debate and the following discussion. During the debate, you may wish to evaluate arguments based on cogency and use of the source material in order to determine the “winner.” Alternatively, students might wish to reflect on the debate to determine the winner on their own through a journal entry or other appropriate medium.

Differentiation Suggestion: English learners, students with dyslexia, and those with attentional or executive function differences might find sorting through the entire text to find evidence daunting. You might help these students pinpoint the most relevant sections of text to limit the amount they need to review or allow students to additional time to gather evidence. More advanced students might be encouraged to explore further sources, including biblical scripture and the works of leading Christian theologians such as Augustine and Aquinas.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Though Paradise Lost is set in the time of creation, Milton incorporates various aspects of his own life into the text.

• What aspects of Milton’s life and society can be found in Paradise Lost? (topic sentence)
• Analyze the message, structure, and content of the epic through a biographical lens.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate how Milton’s life and beliefs shaped the epic and discuss the significance of these findings.

2. Satan is arguably the most memorable and complex character of Paradise Lost, with many of the most famous quotes of the epic coming from him.

• What are Satan’s motivations, goals, and values in Paradise Lost? (topic sentence)
• Analyze Satan’s character, citing at least three examples that depict his role within the epic.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on the extent to which Satan is truly evil.

3. Paradise Lost employs a complex structure that incorporates or embeds many episodes from all of scripture, spanning events from both before and after the fall of humanity.

• How does the scope and structure of Paradise Lost advance Milton’s message? (topic sentence)
• Analyze the structure of the epic, focusing especially on the pre-fall narratives embedded in Books 7-8 and the post-fall narratives embedded in Books 11-12.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate the function of the long narratives embedded in the epic and consider this significance alongside one of the texts themes: Individual Freedom and Self-Determination, The Paradox of the Pursuit of Knowledge, or Having the Humility to Ask for Forgiveness.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. The Tree of Knowledge plays a central role in Paradise Lost, symbolizing The Paradox of the Pursuit of Knowledge. God forbids Adam and Eve from eating from the tree so that they remain ignorant. However, why does God want Adam and Eve to remain ignorant? Why is knowledge so problematic? Is Milton himself in favor of ignorance or the pursuit of knowledge?

2. Reflect on the relationship between Milton and his Muse, whom he addresses at the beginning of several Books of Paradise Lost (including Book 1 and Book 7). Who is Milton’s Muse? How does Milton reconcile the Muse, a relic of the epic poetry of the “pagan” Greek and Romans, with the monotheism of Christianity? Why does Milton need his Muse to write the epic?

3. Milton describes Eve as a companion to Adam, but not an equal companion: As Eve explained, meeting Adam taught her “[h]ow beauty is excel’d by manly grace, / And wisdom, which alone is truly fair” (Book 4, Page 241). Discuss the role of women—specifically of Eve—in Paradise Lost. In what ways is “woman” characterized as inferior to “man”? How is the inferiority of woman related to the absence of female angels in Heaven? How is Eve’s female nature responsible for her thoughts and actions in the epic?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What meter does Milton use in Paradise Lost?

A) Unrhymed iambic pentameter (blank verse)

B) Rhymed iambic pentameter

C) Dactylic hexameter

D) Free verse

2. How does Satan present his rule in Hell as different from God’s rule in Heaven?

A) Satan’s rule is democratic, while God’s is tyrannical.

B) Satan’s rule is tyrannical, while God’s is democratic.

C) Satan prefers to serve in Hell, rather than rule in Heaven.

D) Satan’s rule of Hell stresses the military more than God’s rule of Heaven.

3. Who is the father of Sin and Death?

A) Adam

B) God

C) Satan

D) The Son of God

4. Why does Satan claim that humans are “favour'd more / Of him who rules above” (Book 2, Page 131) than the angels?

A) Man has a companion in woman, while angels are all male.

B) God forgives humanity for their transgressions, but not angels.

C) They are wiser than angels.

D) They are more beautiful than angels.

5. Why does God decide not to prevent the fall of humanity even though he knows that Satan will corrupt them?

A) He promised Satan that he could rule over the Earth.

B) He wants to destroy humanity for their sins.

C) The Son asks him not to.

D) He has given humanity free will.

6. Which quote best illustrates why God considers the fall of humanity to be more forgivable than the fall of the rebel angels?

A) “I made him just and right; / Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. / Such I created all th’ethereal powers, / And spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail’d.” (Book 3, Pages 177-78)

B) “Knowledge forbidden? / Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord / Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?” (Book 4, Page 242)

C) “Necessity and chance approach not me, / And what I will is fate.” (Book 7)

D) “The [angels] by their own suggestion fell, / Self-tempted, self deprav’d: man falls, deceiv’d, / By th’other first.” (Book 3, Pages 179-80)

7. Why does Satan wish he had been less powerful as an angel?

A) His taste of power made him think he could become more powerful than God.

B) Power is a heavy burden.

C) Less powerful angels have more free time to enjoy themselves.

D) Less powerful angels are more beautiful.

8. Whose entry into battle causes the rebel angels to retreat?

A) Michael

B) God

C) The Son of God

D) Eve

9. What is Raphael’s story about Satan’s rebellion supposed to illustrate to Adam and Eve?

A) That Satan does not need to be taken seriously

B) That Satan is a formidable foe and they should be careful

C) That God will protect them no matter what

D) That Satan cannot enter Paradise

10. Why does God create Earth so close to Heaven?

A) Because Earth cannot survive if it is far from Heaven

B) Because God wants to protect man from Satan

C) Because it was the first thing God created

D) Because God wanted angels to easily travel between Earth and Heaven

11. Why does Adam ultimately agree to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge?

A) Because he is angry with God

B) Because he is famished

C) Because he does not want to live without Eve

D) Because Satan convinces him to give in to temptation

12. Which of the following quotes best illustrates why Adam was mistaken to listen to Eve?

A) “Because thou hast done this, thou art accurs’d / Above all cattle, each beast of the field.” (Book 10, Page 537)

B) “Him who to worth in woman overtrusting / Lets her will rule; restraint she will not brook, / And left to herself, if evil thence ensue, / She first his weak indulgence will accuse.” (Book 9, Page 525)

C) “God made thee of choice his own, and of his own / To serve him; thy reward was of his grace, / Thy punishment that justly is at his will.” (Book 10, Page 570)

D) “The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” (Book 1, Page 79)

13. What happens to the fallen angels when Satan announces his success in Paradise?

A) They are transformed into serpents.

B) They cheer.

C) They attack Heaven again.

D) They all rush to Earth.

14. Which of the following quotes best illustrates Adam’s repentance?

A) “Full of doubt I stand, / Whether I should repent me now of sin / By me done and occasion’d.” (Book 12, Page 675)

B) “Be it so, for I submit; his doom is fair, / That dust I am, and shall to dust return.” (Book 10, Page 570)

C) “Peace is despair’d, / For who can think submission?” (Book 1, Page 102)

D) “O much deceiv’d, much failing, hapless Eve, / Of thy presum’d return! event perverse!” (Book 9, Page 480)

15. What does Adam learn about the fate of the sons who will be born to him and Eve?

A) That their descendants will be important

B) That they will survive a flood that kills the rest of humanity

C) That God will favor both of them

D) That one of them will murder the other

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does Satan, disguised as a serpent, convince Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge?

2. In what way does Paradise Lost end on a positive and hopeful note?