PARADISE LOST: Group 2

Paradise lost.

I’d like to start out by saying that this book is very difficult to read. You had mentioned in class it was dense, and yes it is indeed dense.

That aside, I would like to focus on a passage found on page 807. Here we have a monologue spoken by the “Lost Archangel,” which of course must refer to the devil. In this monologue, beginning on line 242, the devil rants about being far away from God: that is that it is better for him and his demons to-do so. For he says in line 256 “Here at least we shall we shall be free….better to reign in Hell then serve in Heaven.” This is interesting to me because here the devil seems to be admitting that hell is a horrible place that even he doesn’t like, but because of his lust for power he would rather rule over horror than serve in happiness. There is another line that came earlier, I thought interesting; on line 254. It reads, “The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n out of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.” This, to me, seems very analogous to the phrase, “life is what you make it,” which we here used quite frequently. It intrigued me though this was said by the devil, because it would that the devil represents falsehood and for him to say, “life is what you make it,” is Milton way of saying that this is a false belief, and that life is awful unless you serve God. I could be wrong it almost seems as if the devil is in a state of denial. He knows he is in a horrible place, but then decides that is and a good thing and better to be here in hell than serving God.

1. Does anyone agree with me about line 254, or do you think Milton was trying to say something else? Perhaps he held this philosophy that he mind is its own place.

2. In the gloss it said that Beelzebub translated to “Lord of Flies,” but where does the name “Beelzebub” originates from? Is there a specific myth, or ancient religion?