Paradise Lost opens with a statement of its purpose.  Milton says that he wants to “justify the ways of God to men” (1.26).  That is Milton’s purpose in writing the poem.  So, as we discuss the poem in class, we will ask ourselves again and again how what Milton is writing fulfills his goal.  If Milton is trying to “justify the ways of God to men,” why does he start with Satan and hell?  What kind of God does Milton create in the poem (and why does he represent God that way)?  How does the story of Adam and Eve “justify the ways of God to men”?  Why do God’s ways need justifying?

Books 1 and 2 focus on Satan and the fallen angels after they’ve been forced out of heaven.  Pay close attention every time Satan speaks.  What does he have to say?  Is what he says persuasive?  Who or what does he sound like?  Does he sound evil?  Do you sympathize with him?  Why does Milton protray him this way?  How is this portrayal of Satan a justification of God's ways?

One word from the teacher:  Milton can sometimes be very difficult.  He likes to use a lot of biblical and classical allusions (references to the Bible and/or ancient mythology), especially as a means of periphrasis (of referring to something without using its name -- like saying “th’ arch-enemy” instead of “Satan”).  He also loves complex syntax; he often writes “periodic sentences” (long strings of “periods” made up of more or less independent units linked together in a long, complicated sentence).  His allusions and his syntax lend his poem an aura of dignity and epic grandeur that generations of readers have found very powerful.  Don’t get bogged down in details, and don’t give up.  As long as you get the basic plot (where the action is taking place and who’s doing it) and a sense of the major characters (what they’re like and how your gut reacts to them), you’re in very good shape.  If you don’t understand every allusion or every sentence, don’t worry.  Don’t focus on what you can’t figure out; focus on what you can.  Take notes on whatever sections make sense to you.  Keep track of where those sections are.  If you get a pretty good sense of what Satan’s first speech is all about (1.84-124), jot down a few quick notes about what you understood and thought as you read it, and then mark the spot in your book somehow (so that you can find that speech easily in class).  If you get to lines 713-717 of Book 1, and you suddenly realize that you’re in some kind of description of a building, but you don’t know how you got there, don’t worry.  Just note the existence of this building, your impressions of it, and anything else you can figure out about it (its name or where it’s at or whose building it is).  You don’t have to understand or memorize everything in the poem.  That’s what a Milton class is for.  In this class, we’re just trying for some very basic familiarity with Milton -- his style, his ideas, his significance.

Miltonic Reading and Interpretation (5 extra-credit points):  Choose one speech from Book 1 or 2 by Satan.  Pick a speech that you think is crucial for fulfilling (or thwarting) Milton’s purpose in writing the poem.  Come to class prepared to lead discussion on your chosen speech for about ten or fifteen minutes.  Think about what you would consider the greatest significance of the speech.  What makes it so crucial in achieving (or thwarting) the purpose of the poem?  How does (or doesn’t) it “justify the ways of God to men”?  Be ready to read the speech out loud and give a brief summary of the action of the poem leading up to it (e.g., “This is Satan’s speech when he reaches the gates and hell and finds Sin and Death there”), but don’t summarize the speech line by line.  Hit the high points and your impressions of those high points, and invite your fellow students to share their impressions as well.  Explore with the class what makes the speech so interesting and crucial.  How does the speech you’ve chosen develop the character of its speaker?  Does it help to justify or undermine our sympathy for God? for Satan? for Milton?  Why?  How?  Tell the class how you felt about these issues when you were first reading the speech and try to get your fellow students to talk about their thoughts and impressions as well.

Book 3 switches the scene from hell to heaven and earth, as God watches Satan go on a reconnaissance mission to find out more about Adam and Eve.  Beginning with Book 4, the poem begins to focus more on Adam and Eve and their relationship.  Your anthology begins to skip a lot at this point and generally only includes those passages that have a bearing on the relationship between “our first parents.”

E-mail opportunity (2 extra-credit points): As you read Books 3-8 of Paradise Lost, focus on what the Father says about himself and his relationship to his creatures and on whether the Father's claims seem to be born out by the rest of Milton's poem.  Does what the Father says adequately justify God's ways for you?  E-mail the discussion list created for this class with your response (or comment significantly on what someone else has already said in the discussion).  I recommend that you focus on one (or more) of the following areas:

1. How does the Father justify his actions with respect to his creatures?  What does he say near the beginning of Book 3 about why humanity will fall?  What does he say about his part in humanity's fall?  Does what he says seem to be born out in the rest of the poem?

 
2. How do Satan's speeches and actions in Book 4 develop his character or change our estimation of him?  Do you lose sympathy for him, or does your sympathy increase?  Do you have any residual sympathy for Satan after hearing the Father's justification of himself back in Book 3?

 
3. Every time Adam and Eve talk about themselves or one another or their relationship or their history together, pay close attention to what they say.  What is their relationship like?  Is it a good relationship?  Is Eve flawed?  Is Adam flawed?  Is their relationship flawed?  Does their relationship contribute to their fall?  Do you sympathize with them?  Do Adam and Eve as characters seem to bear out the Father's claims about his creatures in Book 3?  Focus on one speech by either Adam or Eve that seems to you to epitomize their character(s) or their relationship.

In Book 9, Satan seduces Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit; it’s the crucial, climactic book.  The rest of the poem deals with the consequences of the Fall (and your anthology again skips a lot).

E-mail opportunity (2 extra-credit points): As you read Books 9-12 of Paradise Lost, focus on the fall and how it occurs.  Does Milton successfully justify God's ways for you?  Why did Adam and Eve fall?  Whose fault is it that Adam and Eve sin?  Does Satan trick Eve?  Does Eve trick Adam?  Were Adam and Eve doomed to fall?  Did they have a choice?  Did they make bad choices?  What bad choices did they make?  When did they make the bad choice(s) -- before, during, or after their fall?  Earlier in Book 3, the Father already knows that Adam is going to fall and asks, “Whose fault?”  In answer, the Father himself says, “Whose but his own?  Ingrate, he had of me / All he could have; I made him just and right, / Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall” (3.96-99).  Do you agree with the Father?  Has Milton succeeded in justifying God’s ways to you?  Were Adam and Eve “[s]ufficient to have stood, though free to fall” before they fell?  Does Book 9 bear out what the Father says in Book 3?  E-mail the discussion list created for this class with your response (or comment significantly on what someone else has already said in the discussion).