PARADISE LOST by John Milton, Book 10, Part 3

Book 10 plays out the consequences of the Fall of Man. The Son of God appears in the Garden, charged by God to bring judgment, and calls:

Come forth. He came; and with him Eve, more loath, though first To offend; discountenanced both, and discomposed; Love was not in their looks, either to God, Or to each other; but apparent guilt, And shame, and perturbation, and despair, Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile. Whence Adam, faltering long, thus answered brief. I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice Afraid, being naked, hid myself.

ALL has changed. The greatest damage of all is the damage of relationship. Man now with God cannot have the free and easy discourse he was created to share with his Creator. Adam and Eve are at odds with one another, bickering and recriminating, no longer the models of loving husband and wife Milton has so carefully chiseled for us. Man, Woman and Serpent judged, the Son returns to heaven.

Adam laments:

Oh miserable of happy, Is this the end Of this new glorious world, and me so late The glory of that glory, who now become Accursed, of blessed? hide me from the face Of God, whom to behold was then my heighth Of happiness!

Echoing Satan's self-reflection in Book 3, Adam says:

Oh Conscience, into what abyss of fears And horrors hast thou driven me; out of which I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!

While like Satan in sin, unlike him in pride and hopelessness, Book ten ends with Adam and Eve falling in worship before God, confessing their faults and acknowledging their responsibility:

So spake our father penitent, nor Eve Felt less remorse: they forthwith to the place Repairing where he judged them, prostrate fell Before him reverent; and there confessed Humbly their faults, and pardon begged; with tears Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.

Paradise Lost Book 10 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts

This is an excellent summary and commentary on each of the books in PARADISE LOST. I strongly recommend reading these commentaries over as you listen to our readings of this great poem!

 

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