Paradise Lost by John Milton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“What does the word ‘Paradise’ signifies to a human being?” Is it the state of blissfulness which one acknowledges in life owing to the absence of all fears as can be experienced in this dwelling place of ours? Or is it an actual place somewhere in heaven which is the ultimate goal that humans wish to achieve?

As a child, I had a profound belief in the idea of God and heaven too. Yes, and perhaps the reason I wished to believe in him was the fact that world seemed a beautiful place, a place where everything was just as it should have been; Loving parents and siblings, affectionate neighbors, and an innocent belief, one which leads a child to trust even an unknown smiling stranger on the road. But that was a long time ago. Times have changed faster since then. Faster than I could get a chance to put everything together and analyze the reason why it changed. It changed almost everyday since I grew big enough to understand that not every stranger could be trusted. The affectionate neighbors or relatives were not that amiable so as to forgive an innocent childhood indulgence, that parents were not the super humans, perfect and devoid of all faults, and that, nobody was perfect, not even me. And then the whole world started to seem to be at disharmony. There were people belonging to different strata of society, people rich, and poor and in between, people belonging to different castes, creeds and countries, people fighting with each other over smaller issues like standing in a row to bigger issues like fighting for a territory in a country; Countries going at war, hatred and more hatred. Slowly the faith started to crumble and ultimately it shattered. My Paradise was lost forever.

At times it makes me shiver to consider that even my son, or for that matter any child, can go through the same experience.

I can personally relate to the title “Paradise Lost” as being the loss of faith in God, faith that affirms the presence of a caring and loving spirit, inaccessible but still closer to the souls of believers, something which they can hold onto. It is also a loss in the idea of necessity of human existence and of life itself. For me, the title also signifies the loss of the world as seen from the eyes of a child. This is the reason why the work fascinated me and I picked it up.

“Paradise lost” is undoubtedly a great work. There isn’t much I can write to appreciate its significance as the work of an art. The book is a beautiful exploration into the biblical characters of Satan, Adam and Eve, their thoughts and conversations and their FALL. The title here signifies the loss of “Paradise” or “heaven”, which is God’s abode, for them. It is shown as the loss for ‘Satan’ as well as for ‘Adam and eve’, the loss due to their fall. Satan falls when he tries to become equal to GOD and Adam and Eve fall when they eat the prohibited fruit.Though, it is intriguing to think that an omnipotent, omniscient and all loving God could have led to such circumstances as to let Satan allure in the desire to become equal to Him. Similarly, I couldn’t understand the need of planting a tree whose fruit should have been forbidden to Adam and Eve? Even if planted, was it necessary to warn them of the consequences of eating it? Wasn’t the warning enough of an allure? In the end, the angel says following words to Adam to let them redeem their paradise:

“This having learnt, thou hast attained the summe
Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the Starrs
Thou knewst by name, and all th’ ethereal Powers,
All secrets of the deep, all Natures works,
Or works of God in Heav’n, Air, Earth, or Sea,
And all the riches of this World enjoydst,
And all the rule, one Empire; onely add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add Faith,
Add Vertue, Patience, Temperance, add Love,
By name to come call’d Charitie, the soul
Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A Paradise within thee, happier farr.”

May we be able to find our own Paradises within ourselves!


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