Genre Flashcards
Introduction
John Milton’s Paradise Lost has often been classed as an epic, but is persistently resists generic boundaries, fusing classical epic with Christian tragedy, domestic drama, and theological prophecy. From the outset, Milton signals this genre-blending impulse through the invocation of “Urania”- a classical Muse recast through a Christian lens- and later explicitly announces in Book 9, ”i now must change these notes to tragic”, marking a tonal shift and structural shift from martial epic to spiritual downfall. While satan initially resembles the epic hero in both voice and action, Milton gradually dismantles this illusion, exposing him as a rhetorical deceiver rather than a true agent of heroic virtue. Adam and Eve, often dismissed as passive or flawed, become the site of a different kind of tragedy- one rooted in moral failure and internal conflict, not noble death. Milton’s complex genre structure reflects his central preoccupation: that true heroism lies not in glory but in disobedience, and that tragedy, in Christian terms, may offer not finality but the hope of redemption.
1: Satan as Epic and tragic figure- genre complicated
Points and analyses
-Milton introduces Satan with the grandeur and attributes of the epic hero- exiled leader, bold and eloquent, on a journey through Chaos to reclaim lost honour. His ambition, rhetorical force, and resilience echo Homer’s Odysseus and Virgil’s Aeneas.
-in Book 9, his self-persuasion and his tragic self-awareness deepen this image. His soliloquy- ”the more i see/ Pleasures about me, so much more i feel/ Torment within me”- exposes the disjunction between external Edenic beauty and internal spiritual ruin. The parallel syntax and emotional antithesis heighten the psychological torment of a character caught between remembrance and defiance.
-Milton through this passage moves Satan beyond epic confidence into tragic introspection, evoking Aristotelian hamartia- his pride distorts his reason, and his suffering lacks the possibility of reversal or catharsis.
-Moreover, Satan’s entrance into Eve ”Wished his hap might find/ Eve separate” ” his purposed prey”. Positions Satan as a calculating villain, resembling the revenger of Renaissance tragedy. His purpose is no longer a heroic conquest but moral sabotage, and his descent into bestial form, ”o foul descent […] into a beast, and mixed with bestial slime” marks his degeneration from tragic hero to anti-human figure, symbolising his loss of reason and the collapse of classical heroic integrity.
1: Satan as Epic and tragic figure- genre complicated
Critics
Stanley Fish argues that Satan seduces both reader and Eve with his rhetorical flair, and Milton’s early construction of Satan as heroic is intentional- to expose the false allure of grand speech severed from divine truth.
The longer Satan speaks, the more he collapses under the weight of his own contradictions. Milton does not simply deconstruct epic; he uses Satan to expose the inadequacy of epic when stripped of spiritual obedience.
Through Satan, Milton challenges epic conventions, revealing how heroic appearance, when unmoored from virtue, becomes the foundation for tragic collapse rather than true greatness
2: Adam and Eve- domestic tragedy in epic form
Points and analyses
-while satan dominates the poem’s epic foreground, Milton gradually shifts focus in book 9 to Adam and Eve, recasting them in the mould of tragic figures within a domestic, spiritual drama.
-the genre pivots as Milton declares ”i now must change these notes to tragic” marking not just a tonal transition but a profound formal shift- from heroic quests to the moral struggle of intimate human relationships.
-Eve’s seemingly innocuous suggestion ”Let us divide our labours” becomes a moment where the harmony of Edenic partnership gives way to the desire for autonomy. Her justification ”grows luxurious by restraint” is steeped in subtle rebellion, reframing obedience as restriction, and foreshadowing her internalisation of Satan’s logic.
-Eve’s self-persuasion after Satan’s flattery is a tragic monologue that echos Hamlet’s soliloquies- rhetorically elegant, morally ruinous- ”Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine/ fair to the eye, inviting to the taste/ of virtue to make wise”. The triplet of visual, sensual and intellectual appeal constructs a rational case for sin, masking disobedience as enlightenment. Her language mimics Satan’s, especially in the use of comparatives and abstract nouns, reflecting the tragic process of moral self-corruption.
Adam’s response, too, is tragic: How can i live without thee?” “With thee/ certain my resolution is to die”. These lines mirror the fatal flaw. , hamartia of classical tragic heroes- not choosing evil, but choosing wrongly from love. Adam elevates his bond with Eve above God’s command, and in doing so, seals their joint downfall.
2: Adam and Eve- domestic tragedy in epic form
Critics
C.S Lewis argues that Adam is not heroic, because he chooses death without resisting- he is no Achilles or Odysseus.
Milton reframes heroism: Adam’s tragedy lies in the misapplication of reason and the overwhelming pull of human love, marking paradise lost not as a quest narrative but as a spiritually tragic epic of human interiority.
In Adam and Eve, Milton transforms domestic error into a spiritual tragedy, elevating their fall as the central genre-defining moment that blurs epic scope with human vulnerability
3: Milton’s genre-shifting style- beyond epic, into theological tragedy.
Points and analyses
-by the conclusion of Book 9, Milton has moved beyond both classical epic and Aristotelian tragedy, forging what Barbara Lewalski describes as a “prophetic, anti-epic”- a genre that prioritises spiritual conflict over martial glory. The Fall itself is rendered not as a battle but as an internal, psychological collapse culminating in the moment.
-”she plucked; she ate;/ Earth felt the wound”. The monosyllabic bluntness here conveys not grandeur, but irrevocability, echoing tragic finality. Yet Milton’s genre transcends simple determinism. The genre does not end in death or exile alone, but in the possibility of grace through repentance.
-post internal conflict, portrayed with tragic poignancy- but unlike Greek tragedy, their fall opens the path to spiritual regeneration. Milton ultimately inverts tragic expectations: where classical heroes fall to death, Adam and Eve fall toward redemption.
-”this world was all before them, where to choose/ Their place of rest, and Providence their guide”. This line recalls Edenic freedom, now imbued with experience and agency, suggesting that tragedy, in christian terms, may lead to grace. The epic does not end in triumph, nor does the tragedy end in death- it ends in choice, aligning with Areopagitica’s principle that virtue must be chosen through trial.
3: Milton’s genre-shifting style- beyond epic, into theological tragedy.
Critics
Barbara Lewalski argues that the poem is about “knowing and choosing”- and Milton’s readers, like his characters must discern right from wrong, grandeur from deception. The genre itself becomes a moral trial, mirroring the poem’s theological focus.
Margaret Kean calls Paradise lost “the greatest love story ever told”, suggesting that Milton elevates the domestic, the emotional and the fallen- not to heroic status in the classical sense, but to moral significance beyond epic. That genre itself becomes a moral drama, where faith, love and grace outlast the fall.
By transcending epic and tragedy, Milton constructs a new poetic form- one where heroism is redefined through repentance, and genre becomes the vey structure through which spiritual truth is revealed.
Conclusion
By blending epic scope, tragic descent and prophetic resolution, Milton transforms genre into an instrument of theological engagement, creating a poem whose structure, like its message, resists closure. The Fall is tragic, but not terminal. The genre itself bends toward the moral and spiritual arc of humanity, elevating the poem beyond Homeric ambition into a uniquely Christian epic.
