Paradise Lost vs. The Faerie Queene

Milton’s Paradise Lost is an epic poem showing the battle between G-d and Satan, good and evil. He portrays the devil as the character who wants to ruin G-d’s creations, but at first, Milton presents him such that he seems as the hero of the story. This is because like a typical protagonist, he struggles to overcome his own flaws and doubts, changes over the course of the poem, and he accomplishes his goal. However, the goal he accomplishes is an evil one and at the end he is no longer admirable. Milton presents him from Book I to Book X where he changes substantially and fi

The differences on the traditional notions of heroism make these two epics unique from one another. Once again, we see how the hero, Redcrosse fights off a terrible dragon with his horse and sword and protected by his armor, who threatens the kingdom of Una’s parents who were the rulers and Una herself. Spenser makes a vivid description of his battle with the beast describing how “the weapon bright taking advantage of his open jaw, ran through his mouth with so importune might, that deepe emperst his darksome hollow maw, and back retyrd, life bloud forth with all did draw”(p.150). This depiction describes Redcrosse’s victory over the dragon when he plunges his sword to the beast’s throat, but most importantly, it shows the difference between Spenser and Milton, when the latter describes Adam, the hero, as he saves humanity in a totally different way. Spenser uses violence and chivalry to describe the actions of his hero and adds Una to the cast of characters to offer Redcrosse a reason to fight for, knowing that a knight would fight for honor and for love. On the other hand, Milton uses a less traditional form of heroism to describe how his hero performs his goal. He does not use any violence or battles, but instead depicts his character with strong moral power and thus making strength and martial expertise irrelevant.

Adam’s decision to beg G-d for forgiveness is the only right decision and what finally inspires Milton to portray Adam as the hero of the epic. Eve also repents when Adam tells her to and both of their actions is what motivates the Almighty to forgive them. This decision of praying is vital since Adam has ensured that humankind will not go in the direction of Satan. Milton’s hero saves the human race by generating true remorse and regret, something that Satan was not able to do. Both Adam’s decision to repent and Eve’s motivation for unity enable them to obey reason and to survive. Once again, we see that the actions of the hero represented by Milton undermine the traditional notions of heroism, which also make it different from the hero depicted by Spenser in the Faerie Queene. Repentance, tranquility, and constant obedience to G-d is what leads Adam to be the savior of humankind and consequently the hero, not violence and fierce battles which were traditional forms of heroism and the way in which a knight became a hero in the Middle Ages.

Another example showing Milton’s use of non-traditional heroism is when he presents the angel Michael with Adam where he shows Adam visions of humankind’s future. After he sees the vision of Christ’s rede

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