Questions to ponder: Book IV

Why does Satan feel despair?

What do we learn from Satan's first soliloquy about Satan's understanding of God?

What do we learn about his sense of his own guilt?

Why doesn't Satan repent?

How is this soliloquy parallel to Claudius's soliloquy in Hamlet?

Why is there a wall around Eden? Is this a prison?

What are some of the similes used to describe Satan's approach to Eden?

Describe the geography of Eden.

Describe the garden design principles in Eden,

Does Eden strike you as excessively hedonistic?

What hierarchy exists in the relationship between Adam and Eve?

What is Satan's initial attitude toward Adam and Eve (in soliloquy #2)?

Who does Satan then blame for his decision to cause their fall? Why?

What animal shapes to Satan take on?

What does Satan learn about Adam in his first two spoken lines that serves as the key to how to get Adam to fall?

How does Adam describe God's sole prohibition? What information did God apparently leave out?

Does Eve seem at all resentful of her subordinate role?

What do we learn about Eve from her description of her little adventure with the pond?

How is Satan's attitude different in his third soliloquy?

What element of God's command to Adam and Eve seems unreasonable to Satan?

Meanwhile....

What tips off Uriel that something is amiss?

Why was Satan able to get past Uriel?

Back in Eden . . .

What work do Adam and Eve do in Eden?

Question for female students, especially: Which lines make you most desirous of shooting Mr. Milton?

What is the content of Adam and Eve's joint prayer?

Then, uh, what, uh, do they, uh, do?

How does Milton defend that?

Where do Gabriel's troops find Satan?

How does Satan defend himself to Gabriel?

What puzzles Gabriel about Satan's decision to come alone?

How does Satan insult Gabriel?

Why does God tell Gabriel to let Satan go?