Milton’s Paradise Lost portrays the Biblical story of Adam and Eve as well as the original sin through the interpretation of the author. The elaboration and alteration of many of the descriptions for a Biblical standpoint allow the reader to also determine the relevance of many of the details within both interpretations of the story which can result in numerous individualized interpretations of this well known story. Perhaps this is due to the variations of interpretations of the story from which Paradise Lost in founded on that makes it difficult for the readers to agree upon a specific interpretations. However, it seems as if Milton uses these varying interpretations as a theme within Paradise Lost and plays on this concept to show the potential for falcifications and elaborations when telling a story as important to society as the original sin.
For example, the interpretation of angels, in the founding story suggests that they are immortal and eternal beings and the condition of a fallen angel is a permanent scenario. However, Milton represents these angels as being immortal but not eternal. Time is a different aspect for angels than it is for humans as the fallen angels are able to fall in and out of time but often remained trapped within their own existence. This is Milton’s representation of separating fallen humans from fallen angels in that the concept of time is irrelevant to the angels whereas humans, while mortal, can suffer as an eternal concept of time by choosing to fall. The focus that Milton places on the condition of the fallen angels shows that he systematically uses this tool as a way to distort the readers’ interpretations of both his story and the typical Biblical portrayal of the original sin.
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Once Milton has distorted this interpretation of the angels to the reader, he is also able to show that many angles of the story could be interpreted or altered in various ways. For example, the hiearchy of hell shows a completely different visual to the hell than that of the Biblical text. Milton starts out with a recognizable view of hell with fiery pits and misery. However, he continues to describe hell with with a capital called Pandemonium and fun activities based on where the angels are within the hiearchy. The angels would debate similarly to Dante’s Limbo which was not considered to be a truly hellish place to spend eternity. This shows hell as a place similar to heaven but away from God. This distortion of hell as being not quite the hell in the Bible and not quite the hell portrayed in Dante’s Inferno, shows that these areas of the story of the original sin can also be interpreted differently based on the perspective of the reader and the content of the story.
Milton describes Satan, initially true to the concepts of the original story in which he is plotting to cause chaos and destruction to God’s creation. However, as Milton develops the character of Satan, his pursuit of finding God’s new creation and leading his followers to this new place appeals to the readers’ sense of empathy. This shows Satan in the light of a hero and the finds themselves almost cheering on this antagonist within Milton’s version of the story of the original sin. Considering this description, and that of the fallen angels as being stuck in a time cycle, my interpretation changed in recognizing that Milton intended to confuse the reader and through that confusion he allows these altering misinterpretations. Yet, it is important to recognize that this story is based on the presumption of misinterpretation.
