Paradise Lost Satan's Entrance into the Garden of Eden

The fourth book of Paradise Lost tells of Satan entering the Garden of Eden, seeing its beauty, seeing the beauty of man, and plotting the destruction of man as his revenge on God. Milton describes the garden in vivid detail, using both symbolism and metaphor to convey the sense of awe experienced by Satan to the reader. Satan, while in this lush, symbolic paradise, is also being described by Milton metaphorically. Milton uses this style and language to give the reader a detailed image of the story at hand, and also some insight into the political conflict that had encapsulated England at the time.

Line 174 of Book IV begins the description of the garden. Satan cannot find an easy route into the garden, since there is no nicely cleared path. This suggests that the road to paradise is a very troublesome one. The garden is encompassed by four walls, each facing the four main directions of north, south, east, and west. The garden is considered paradise, a place for only those with God’s blessing. Entrance into the garden is not easily attained, it is atop a steep wooded hill and is surrounded by a thicket and shrubs, suggesting that it is not easy for one to achieve the level

Milton uses many metaphors to develop Satan’s character. Satan is described as, or takes the form of many things. It this particular passage where he enters the garden (lines 172-204) he is described as a prowling wolf who is hunting his prey, and as a burglar, entering one’s home in the night. Satan also takes the form of a cormorant, or sea-bird. This bird typically is thought to symbolize gluttony. It could also be considered that the hunting wolf symbolizes greed, while the thief in the night symbolizes envy; three of the seven deadly sins. This develops an interesting parallel between the guises of Satan and the seven deadly sins.

After Satan leaps over the west wall of the garden, he perches himself in the Tree of Life and looks around at the creation of his enemy, God. The garden is lush, with every sort of vegetation and fruit growing around him, flowing rivers that water the garden, flowers of all kind, and a smell that Satan even recognizes as beautiful. The contrast between what lies outside the walls and what lies within the walls is very drastic. Milton is suggesting that a life without God is chaos, but a life following the path of God leads to bliss.

Milton, being the extreme Puritan that he was, incorporated some things into his epic that seem to reflect on the political conflict of the time. When Paradise Lost

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