Parallels And Oppositions In Design Of Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost, the longest poem of John Milton, involves many characters and plots. Though the major plots come from Bible, minor plots are still under the control of Milton. This thesis studies the parallels and oppositions in the design of Paradise Lost from the perspective of minor plots.This thesis is divided into two chapters, apart from the introduction and conclusion. It first introduces the literary status and the innovation of Paradise Lost as an epic and expounds the relationship between Milton's life and the creation of Paradise Lost. The first chapter studies the parallels in the design of Paradise Lost in three sections: the parallels between Satan's and Adam's matrimony, the free will of angel and human, and the deception of both angel and human by Satan. Chapter two studies the oppositions in the design of Paradise Lost from three perspectives: the oppositions between God's despotism and Satan's democracy, God's severe punishment on angel and His charity towards human, and Adam's activeness and passiveness in the retrospection and anticipation books respectively. The thesis finally concludes that Milton prefers symmetric structure and that in Milton's mind angels and human beings do not have fundamental difference.