Adam As A Tragic Hero In Paradise Lost

Milton 's Paradise Lost is a novel that revitalizes the epic poem genre in the mid 15th century. Milton takes characteristic of old epic poems from Greece like the Odyssey and Iliad and transforms them into a new work of art creating Paradise Lost. Milton structures his poem like these epics, where he evokes the muses for inspiration and there is a tragic hero present through the novel. The widely debated question throughout many centuries when reviewing this literary work is, “who is the hero of the story,” or more specifically who is the tragic hero of Paradise Lost. The definition of a tragic hero is the first step in uncovering who the main protagonist of the poem is, and from the plethora of characters, there are two that are accepted to represent the

He feels as if he is entitled to the forbidden fruit, instead of obeying God, as well as going against the natural order of things, where he ate the fruit disrupting God’s creation. Nemesis was represent after he had eaten the fruit where his punishment would be greater than the actual crime. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden; now Adam must work in order to get his food instead of picking from the land, and his children must do the same. These characteristics help to describe Adam as the perfect hero of the story.
The difference between Adam and Satan in becoming the tragic hero is that Adam seeks redemption for the wrong that he has done. It is expressed in Book XII of the epic, where Adam learns of the future and seeks to correct his wrongs saying, "Beyond which was my folly to aspire. Henceforth I learn, that to obey the best, And love with fear the only God, to walk As in his presence, ever to observe His Providence, and on him sole depends" (Paradise Lost 12.560-4). Adam embraces the humiliation of his flaws and seeks for repentance, unlike Satan, and truly represent the tragic hero of this epic