29 pages • 58 minutes read
John MiltonParadise Regained
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1671A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Jesus Christ, the Son of God
Paradise Regained depicts only one stage of Jesus’s life as recorded in the Gospels. The Christ of Milton’s brief epic is a young man who, though clearly aware that he has a role to play in a divine plan of salvation, is not primarily depicted as a leader of men or an orchestrator of miracles, as he will become later in his life. Here, Jesus adheres to a philosophical or ethical code based on humility, patience, and self-denial. He may be bound for great achievements, but he (unlike his foil Satan) is not anxious to achieve glory or to impose his will upon the rest of the world.
As the poem opens, Jesus has just been acknowledged as the Son of God in the presence of John the Baptist, his cousin. John is but one of several figures from the four major gospel narratives who appears or is mentioned in Paradise Regained: Mary and the fishermen apostles are given brief yet important speaking roles in Book II. Yet what is most notable about these characters, as they relate to Jesus, is how little direct contact they have with him—a fact that stresses how early in his ministry Christ is and how much isolation and self-reflection he must undergo before taking on the responsibilities of preaching and healing.
The bulk of Milton’s narrative concerns Jesus’s 40-day fast in the desert, and is structured as a series of exchanges between Jesus and Satan. At every turn, Jesus opposes Satan’s preoccupation with luxury, prestige, and power with his own values; he is a meek man, but not by any means a weak one. His code of conduct is in fact fairly close to stoicism, a Greek and Roman philosophy that necessitates being unbothered by misfortune and exerting remarkable personal composure. But there are also biblical characters whose approaches to life parallel that of Jesus. Particularly notable here is the prophet Job, who underwent a series of losses and adversities but—like the constant, temptation-averse Jesus—refused to turn away from God.
Satan
The archenemy of humanity, Satan is also Jesus’s sole antagonist in Paradise Regained—a natural role for a being who thrives on leading virtuous individuals into temptation, vice, and tragedy. On the basis of Milton’s allusions to the figures Satan previously led astray—particularly Adam and Eve—Satan is meant to be seen as a real threat. But whether there really is much drama or uncertainty to Milton’s brief epic is debatable. After all, Satan is facing an embodiment of human excellence, a man whose triumph is predicted right in the pages of Book I. Even had Milton foreshadow Jesus’s victory more subtly, the readily-established pattern of the dialogues that Jesus and Satan have—Satan offering a temptation, Jesus successfully resisting—would likely convince reader Satan stands little chance against the Son of God.
Nonetheless, the debates between Satan and Jesus play an important role in establishing Satan’s own system of values. Unlike the humble, patient, and self-effacing Jesus, Satan values dramatic displays of luxury, influence, and prowess—and makes his overtures to Jesus under the assumption that the Son of God would do the same. Interestingly, Satan also offers Jesus a few real boons: nourishment, knowledge, and kingship among them. These of Satan’s propositions could be put to good use, but, in a sign of just how fallen Satan is, even these “good” offerings are tainted by their association with Jesus’s enemy.
Beyond emphasizing Satan’s ability to easily transport himself through the air and mentioning a few of Satan’s disguises, Milton does little to physically describe his brief epic’s arch villain. Instead, Paradise Regained deploys Satan mostly as the mouthpiece of a non-Christian values system.
God
God’s appearance in Book I of Paradise Regained is brief yet—from both theological and narrative standpoints—extremely important. In the course of God’s address to the angel Gabriel, we learn that Jesus is a man of unshakable virtue and that he is indeed part of a celestial plan to bring salvation to the human race. This speech is among the earliest and (considering the source) most authoritative explanations of Jesus’s role as the Son of God. But God also provides an unexpected foil to the most devout characters in Paradise Regained: while Jesus and Mary harbor anxieties about what God’s designs have in store, God is supremely confident and supremely pleased regarding the course that has been laid out for Jesus and for all of creation.
Mary
Mary is the only female character in Paradise Regained who is given considerable attention. There are allusions to other women from the Bible, and to some female figures from the Greek and Roman pantheon, but they do not act as characters. Mary, on the other hand, gives voice to her ruminations and anxieties early in Book II. Mary is well aware of her son’s purpose in a divine plan. Both Jesus’s prolonged absence and her own uncertainty about God’s intentions trouble her, but she has resolved to accept what God has in store—much as Jesus himself accepts God’s supreme will in the face of adversity. A model of Christian faith and patience, Mary is also a reminder of Jesus’s fundamentally human nature: he is indeed the Son of God, yet Paradise Regained ends with Jesus returning to Mary’s house and thus re-affirming his fellowship with humankind.
Belial
Although Milton refers to Satan’s many gathered subordinates in Book I and Book II, Belial is the only one of these demonic presences who is granted an important speaking role—even though Belial is notable, mostly, for providing advice that Satan rejects. Drawing on allusions to myth and legend, this lustful spirit encourages Satan to tempt Jesus using beautiful women. Though this strategy is never attempted, Belial’s emphasis on sensory pleasure is not entirely alien to Satan’s thinking. After all, Satan proceeds to tempt Jesus with luxurious food soon after hearing what Belial has to say.
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