Here is a different online edition of Paradise Lost with line numbers, if you are using an online version: http://triggs.djvu.org/djvu-editions.com/MILTON/LOST/Download.pdf
- All: Read Books 8-12
- All: Write a very brief summary of each book for 8-12
- Answer questions for books 8-12
- Kiara: Present your Book 8-12 summaries to the class
- Judah: Lead the class in answering the questions for Book 8
- Johnny: Lead the class in answering the questions for Book 9
- Shane: Lead the class in answering the questions for Book 10
- Antonio: Lead the class in answering the questions for Book 11-12
Paradise Lost Questions
Book 8
1. Examine lines 15-75, 167-78.
a) What does Adam want to know? What is Raphael’s response, and why does he so respond?
b) Why does Eve go off at this point to do some gardening? Think of her action in terms of Renaissance psychology and contrast her way of receiving knowledge with that of Adam.
2. From lines 250-559, Adam recounts his own story, telling Raphael of his “birth” and of his dialogue with God and subsequent reception of Eve.
a) Examine lines 250-318. Contrast Adam’s reaction to his own creation with the attitude that Satan bears towards his “Father.”
b) Examine lines 338-55. Why is it important that unfallen Adam has such capacity for aptly naming God’s creatures?
c) On to Adam’s dialogue with God, lines 370–451. What is God up to here? What is he “teasing” Adam into realizing about himself and his limitations, about his place in the created order?
d) Read lines 452-90. Register the intensity of Adam’s yearning for Eve. In what way is this both good, and yet worrisome?
e) Eve’s flattery of Adam (see 4.635-56) seemed appropriate, but why is Adam’s high praise of Eve from lines 546-59 in Book Eight inappropriate?
Book 9
1. From lines 205–384, Eve and Adam debate whether or not to separate.
a) What arguments does Eve make for parting?
b) What arguments does Adam make for remaining together?
c) What is the attitude of each to the other at parting.
2. From lines 532-732, Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempts Eve. Follow Satan’s rhetoric to its conclusion. What arguments does Satan use? What is his best argument or appeal? (You might want to refer to your handouts on classical rhetoric.)
3. Compare the rhetoric that Eve uses after her fall to Satan’s well-worn themes. Find the parallels, that is, between the motives and speech patterns of Eve and Satan.
Book 10
1. Lines 354-409 mark a dysfunctional-family reunion of sorts for Satan and his daughter and son/grandchild. (Sin and Death have been busy building a great bridge from hell to earth, and Satan pauses to admire their work.) What is different this time about Satan’s behavior towards these two?
2. From lines 410-577, Satan returns to Pandemonium. He is in for a big surprise. Try to work out the multiple ironies within this passage.
3. From lines 720-862, Adam laments his fallen condition; then, he catches sight of Eve and hurls misogynistic abuse at her. How does Eve respond to these angry words? (see lines 914-36) In what sense does Eve’s plea to Adam mark a turning point, an upward swing from the lowest point of the fall?
4. Follow out the rest of the conversation between Adam and Eve. Mark Adam’s correction from lines 1012-96 of Eve’s suicidal advice. Again, how does this conversation mark a positive turning point with respect to Adam and Eve’s relationship with God?
Book 11
1. The main event in this book is the prophetic vision that the archangel Michael gives to Adam. What does Adam see? Why should he need to see all this?
Book 12
1. Again, follow Michael’s instructive prophecy.
a) What shift takes place with regard to the story Michael is telling?
b) What is Michael’s ultimate command to Adam and Eve?
c) How does Michael’s advice speak to politically disillusioned John Milton, supporter of true commonwealth