Paradise Lost Book 9 Summary

Book 9 of Paradise Lost by John Milton explores the story of temptation by Satan, following the account in the Genesis. The book begins with the narrator’s acknowledgement of impending tragedy of the fall. This acknowledgement leads to the change in style of speech in the poem. After Raphael’s departure from the garden, the narrator laments about the altered style and the inevitable impact on Adam and Eve after the fall.

With the departure of Raphael, man will never be again permitted to enjoy “venial discourse unblamed”. (5) It suggests that the fall will bring certain restrictions, specifically of language. For instance, Adam’s speech, in later books, will be continually criticized and corrected by angel Michael and due to this, later books

Milton is lending certain authority to Eve’s critique by structuring her argument as a retrospective of his career as a radical polemicist. Adam is representing nervous voice of poem’s orthodoxy and Eve is questioning and critiquing that very orthodoxy. Their argument is cast in the language of economy and work, and Milton allows Eve to voice from the position that values human labour. For instance, Line 201 of book 9 opening subject is work and that the garden requires extraordinary amount of work. Eve is seen embracing Protestant work ethic of earning one’s supper and represent modern day work efficiency. However, Adam counters this by placing more value to work rather than result by emphasising that there is more work to do than simple productivity. He is propagating the idea of willingness to serve. This is in stark contrast to Eve’s argument that places importance to continual labour. Thus, Milton gives insight into the ideological differences of first man and woman but at the same time, exposing the inherent complications in his

This growth seems to hint at the restraining culture i.e. constant pruning, propping and binding of nature. This understanding can be further extended to the understanding of fall. The fall can be seen not as a result of theological problem but a cultural problem that has the habit of restraining natural order. Thus, god’s command to restrain the garden is, on some level, a consequential commandment to refrain from eating from the Tree of Knowledge. This prohibition necessitates disobedience like the wild growth of vegetation and suggests Eve’s necessity to fall. The arguments employed by Satan to tempt Eve have its roots in desires and aspirations that Eden’s hierarchical culture has long suppressed. The denied appreciative gaze at the pool, a denial of self-love that later turned into self- narcissism. In line 816, it becomes clear that the primary reason for her to fall involves structural problem in Milton’s paradise- the official insistence of a social hierarchy. The denial of equality pushes towards desire of superiority in