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Sites about Paradise Regained

by John Milton

Four books which continue the story of Milton's "Paradise Lost". The epic poem's subject is the regaining of the Paradise lost by Adam and Eve by Jesus through his resistance to Satan's temptations.

Characters: Jesus, Satan
Keywords: epic

Critical sites about Paradise Regained

"To stand upright will ask thee skill": The Pinnacle and the Paradigm

ttp://purl.oclc.org/emls/06-2/2bartpara.htm

"Paradise Regain'd was considered inferior to the diffuse epic even in Milton's time(though Phillips says the poet 'could not hear with patience any such thing').Criticized for its dramatic austerity, its Spartan furniture, and its placidly statichero, the poem has remained largely unsung for centuries, its true merit and itsfunction (with Samson Agonistes) as a gloss on Paradise Lost almost completelyignored. This article sees Jesus's imperturbability during the temptations of theWorld, the Flesh, and the Devil as a necessary demonstration of his rejection ofSatan's power over him, resulting from his recognition that obedience to the Devilin any form is by definition disobedience to God (a truth which, if Adam and Evehad apprehended it, would have obviated the need for the Incarnation). It positsthat the moment of Redemption occurred, not at Golgotha as the crucified Messiahbreathed his last on the Cross, but in Gethsemane, when the obedience implicit inJesus's acceptance of the cup (Matthew 26:42) atoned for the disobedience implicit,first in Eve's, and then in Adam's, acceptance of the forbidden fruit. And itemphasizes the fact that is Jesus (and not Christ) on whom Milton focuses hisattention in because it is emulation of Jesus's acts of obedience and faith that willlead us to rediscover that 'paradise within us, happier farre.'"

Contains: Character Analysis,

Author: Carol Barton

From: Early Modern Literary Studies 6.2 (September, 2000):2. 1-20

Keywords:

 

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