I refer to it as my Iliad:
Paradise Lost
By John Milton
Premise
Milton describes Paradise Lost in its first book as an attempt to “assert Eternal Providence, / And justify the ways of God to men.” It tells the story of “Man’s first disobedience,” referring to the story of Adam and Eve, which results in their being banished from Paradise.
Characters
God
In my opinion, the least likeable character of Milton’s epic. In Book III, God explicitly tells the Son that he knows what Satan is doing but refuses to stop is. He will let man fall, drive him from Paradise, and will require an atonement to satisfy justice, mercy, and disobedience.
His justification—Milton’s theodicy—is that human beings and Satan are free to make their own choices, and while he knows what will happen, he is not causing it to happen.
Satan
The Son
Themes
Freedom of the will
One of the lines that will forever stick with me is this:
the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven
Interpretations
Derek Murphy’s Murphy - Evil Be My Good gives a lengthy summary of the interpretations of Paradise Lost over the years, however I’ve collected a few of my favourites here for the purposes of further research.
William Blake
William Blake famously said that “he (Milton) was a true poet and of the Devils’ party without knowing it,” implying that Milton’s revolutionary politics gave Satan the stronger argument. In short, Milton found a way to make Satan sound more compelling than God, although more orthodox commentators would argue this was precisely