Paradise Lost

Summary

Book 1

Prologue; invocation of the muse; show justice of God's greatest plan and the role of Satan's fall in it; Satan lies stunned beside lake in Hell; Satan gathers all the demons beside the lake; specific demons listed, incl. Moloch, Beelzebub, Belial; demons feel shame at their fall; the demons construct a temple (Pandemonium, Greek for "all the demons")

Book 2

Satan begins debate in Pandemonium by saying Heaven is not lost, and that they could still defeat God; opens floor; Moloch (fierce fighter) advocates another open war; Belial contradicts him and advocates calm, saying things are not as bad as they could be, says demons should be industrious and make Hell "work"; Beelzebub advises third course of action, corrupting a new race, humans, God will create and love more than angels; Devils break into groups to discuss, Satan finds the gates of Hell and finds two creatures; he discovers they are his offspring, Sin and Death; Satan explains his plan, gains their support; then leaves and flies to Chaos, explains his plan, and gets support of Chaos, Confusion, Discord too

Book 3

Heaven; God sees Hell and Satan's plan, sees the future fall of man; God wants to be just, Son wants to be merciful; God says that to show mercy without destroying justice, a sacrifice must be made; Satan feels jealous while flying through the world, and sees the archangel Uriel; he transforms himself into image of angel and asks Uriel about Paradise; Uriel points the way to Paradise

Book 4

Beauty/innocence of Earth remind Satan of before his fall, considers repenting but knows he must continue on his course; enters Eden, is jealous of humans; Adam and Eve working in garden; Uriel and Gabriel suspect there is a demon in Eden, search for him; Satan is found, they prepare to battle, but Satan flees at a sign in heaven

Book 5

Eve relates a bad dream to Adam about Tree of Knowledge; God doesn't want Adam and Eve to claim ignorance, Raphael instructs them about the Tree of Knowledge, God, creation of humans, etc.

Book 6

Raphael relates story about war in Heaven to Adam and Eve; describes Satan's rebellion, and how he wants to cause others to rebel

Book 7

Adam asks Raphael questions, Raphael covers more of story of creation, reason for God to create humans, creation of Earth, and his one command to humans, not to eat from Tree of Knowledge

Book 8

Eve leaves Adam and Raphael, Adam asks questions about astronomy, Raphael warns against trying to know everything; Adam shares his experience w/ Raphael, his creation, loneliness, creation of Eve; Raphael and Adam discuss love, Raphael's perspective, Adam's perspective, need for love to transcend physical attraction

Book 9

Story turns to Adam and Eve's act of disobedience; Satan sneaks into Garden of Eden, is increasingly jealous of Adam; the next morning Adam and Eve have work to do in the garden, Eve suggests they work separately, Adam reluctant because he thinks Eve is weaker, Eve wants to prove herself; they split up

Satan wanders looking for Adam and Eve, finds Eve alone, flatters her with compliments; Satan tempts Eve by telling her about the fruit, brings her to the Tree of Knowledge; she sees the serpent eat fruit, and reasons she can too; she takes an apple from the tree and eats it; she immediately wants to find Adam and feed him the fruit so that they will be equals; he realizes he must eat the fruit if he wants to be with her; he eats the fruit, they go off into the bushes, and eventually fall asleep; they wake up later, realize that they have only gained knowledge of what they lost, and are filled with shame

Book 10

The scene returns to Heaven; God knows immediately when Adam and Eve eat the fruit, angels return to Heaven, he releases them of responsibility and sends the Son to judge them; in Hell, Satan meets Sin and Death, who create a pathway between the Earth and Hell; Death corrupts everything living; God sees this, tells angels he will allow them to remain on Earth until Judgement Day; Adam blames Eve's nature; Eve suggests suicide; they eventually become hopeful

Book 11

Adam and Eve pray for God's forgiveness; God commands Archangel Michael to send them out of Heaven; Michael tells them they must leave, but that all of Earth is theirs, that they can talk to God anytime; Archangel puts Eve asleep and shows Adam humanity's future; they spy Cain murdering Abel; Michael shows him Noah

Book 12

Micael continues to reveal humanity's history; explains God's chosen nation/people, Abraham, Moses, on through the Messiah