Solitude and its Problems in Milton's Paradise Lost

Introduction

Believed as the best epic poem in English literature, John Milton's monumental Paradise Lost, a twelve-book narrative poem written in iambic pentameter, tells the story 

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruitOf that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

 Brought death into the World, and all our woe,

 With loss of Eden. . . .

Like classical epics of Greco-Roman antiquity, Paradise Lost opens in the midst of things (in medias res), at a central point of the action. In Paradise Lost, creation is completed in God's making of the human self. It is no doubt important that Adam says " what me thought I wanted still" as if he were relating an instinctive feeling of loneliness to rational process, bringing up from deep within him the promptings of will where they may be viewed intellectually and given some direction. What he " wanted still" is relief from solitude, and he frankly confronts God with the question: " In solitude / What happiness? " There is a poignancy in the question and innocent mockery in his putting it so squarely to God that the " All " which He has given, while containing the relief of solitude for all of the mating creatures under Adam's dominion, holds nothing comparable for man. This bold address is Adam's first public act of free will. This paper discusses and analyzes solitude and themes of aloneness in Milton's “Paradise Lost”.

Discussion

In books 1 and 2, Satan and his peers have been defeated in the War in Heaven and, now in Hell, turn their vengeful thoughts toward another world, Earth, about to be created for some “new Race called Man.” As infernal deliverer of fallen angels, Satan, “author of evil,” promises to lead them out of Hell, thereby solidifying his hold on the throne of Hell. “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven,” Satan asserts, and he hopes to make God repent his act of creation. In escaping from Hell, Satan allies himself with his offspring, both Sin, the gatekeeper of Hell, and Death, in opposition to God. After voyaging through Chaos, the “unbottom's infinite Abyss,” he deceives the archangel Uriel in order to discover the location of Paradise and then practices deception in tempting Eve.

“ In solitude What happiness? who can enjoy alone, Or, all enjoying, what contentment find?” [Paradise Lost, Bk. VIII, 1667]

Meanwhile, in book 3, in Heaven, where all measures of time — past, present, and future — coexist, God the Father, knowing that Satan will deceive Man, announces that Man, despite continual ingratitude and faithlessness, will find salvation. The Father ordains the Son's incarnation and commands that he shall reign as universal king, “both God and Man.” (Bloom 12-15)

In book 4, Satan invades the “blissful solitude” of Adam and Eve in Eden, a paradoxical realm of “Eternal Spring” without decay. Satan learns from Adam and Eve that of all Eden offers, they are “not to taste that only Tree/ Of Knowledge,” and it is “death to taste that ...