Because it dramatizes the poem’s central catastrophe, the Fall, I
have spread our discussion of Book 9 over two classes, each consisting of three sets
of prompts. Rather than lecture at all, I provide specific passages followed by one
or several questions. You need not answer them all, nor should your answers be
merely factual. Rather, your initial contribution should conentrate on one or two
aspects of the readings you find especially interesting. That said, you are advised
informally to engage with all readings and prompts in
order to better comprehend the poem as a whole.
Identify Satan’s human qualities and connect them to those of other characters in literature, art, or film.
What do we find most attractive about his argument?
Where and in what sense (if at all) does he deceive himself?
Here we have a dialogue—an argument, really—about whether Eve and Adam might work the Garden apart from each other. This domestic dispute (the first ever!) evolves into a philosophical discussion about freedom, responsibility, reason, faith, and love—the poem’s central concerns. Here are the phases of that discussion, organized in order and according to speaker:
Summarize in a single sentence each of these phases.
Now analyze and discuss some particular aspect of the argument you find interesting.
Who’s right, and how do we know?
How would you characterize Milton’s description of Satan’s initial reaction upon seeing Eve (424-72)?
What is most striking about his brief soliloquy (473-93), and why?
Finally, is there anything odd about the Serpent’s physical appearance and motion?