The Main Themes Of Man's First Disobedience In Paradise Lost

The first words of Paradise Lost states that the poem’s main theme would be of “Man’s first Disobedience.” Milton narrated the story of Adam and Eve’s defiance, explained how and why it happened, and placed the story within the larger context of Satan’s revolt and Jesus’ rebirth. Raphael informed Adam about Satan’s defiance in an effort to give him a secure understanding of the danger that Satan and humanity’s defiance poses. Paradise Lost presented two moral paths that one can take after defiance: the descending spiral of growing sin and dreadful conditions, exemplified by Satan, and the road to improvement, exemplified by Adam and Eve.

While Adam and Eve were the first individuals to defy God, Satan is the first of all God’s creation to disobey.

Before the fall, Adam and Eve treated the visiting angels with the appropriate respect and acknowledgement of their understanding with God, and Eve embraced the obedient role assigned to her in her marriage. God and Raphael both informed Adam that Eve is slightly farther detached from God’s grace than Adam because she had been made to serve both God and him. When Eve convinced Adam to let her work alone, she challenged him, her superior, and he yield to her, his inferior. Once again, as Adam ate from the fruit, he knowingly disobeyed God by following Eve and his internal instinct instead of God and his reason. Adam’s visions in Books XI and XII show more examples of this disobedience to God and the universe’s hierarchy, but also demonstrate that with the Son’s sacrifice, this hierarchy will be restored once

Adam and Eve’s disobedience allows God to show his mercy and temperance in their punishments and his eternal providence toward humankind. This display of love and compassion, given through the Son, is a gift to humankind. Humankind must now experience pain and death, but humans can also experience mercy, salvation, and grace in ways they would not have been able to had they not disobeyed. While humankind has fallen from grace, individuals can redeem and save themselves through continued devotion and obedience to God. The salvation of humankind, in the form of The Son’s sacrifice and resurrection, can begin to restore humankind to its former state. In other words, good will come of sin and death, and humankind will eventually be rewarded. This fortunate result justifies God’s reasoning and explains his ultimate plan for humankind.

Opposites abound in Paradise Lost, including Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, and good and evil. Milton’s uses imagery of light and darkness to express all of these opposites. Angels are physically described in terms of light, whereas devils are generally described by their shadowy darkness. Milton also uses light to symbolize God and God’s grace. In his invocation in Book III, Milton asks that