While John Milton's Paradise Lost, as the poet states at the outset of the great epic, justifies God's eternal Providence, human being represented by Adam and Eve, the subject of the poet's "justification," is the real hero a ...

While John Milton's Paradise Lost, as the poet states at the outset of the great epic, justifies God's eternal Providence, human being represented by Adam and Eve, the subject of the poet's "justification," is the real hero and protagonist of the work. Considering the existence of Satan who is often manifested as a classical hero and of God and Christ who rule the eternal Providence, one may argue that human being plays only the role of puppet pulled by one of the two great value systems. Strictly speaking, however, these super human abstracts can hardly be regarded as characters unless we first presume Christian belief. Thus, Adam and Eve, particularly after their Fall, are the real protagonists with whom the readers, including the poet, may indeed identify themselves. In Paradise Lost the poet shows, paradoxically yet clearly, the greatness of human beings. They fall because of what is inside of them, their own weakness, but they rise again because of what is inside of them, their greatness. Understanding what consists of human greatness in the work will lead us to the essence of Milton's Christian humanism, and this will eventually enable us to approach the meaning of the work as a whole. Compared to Satan, human beings are presented rather small and weak. Eve's speech and behavior often reflect those of Satan, Adam, too, echoes Satan when he confronts the consequences of the Fall. In Book X, however, human greatness reveals itself when Adam and Eve fall into the deepest despair. Eve's normative gesture of reconciliation guides Adam out of despair, who, in turn, help Eve get over her desperation. The two confess their sin to each other and to God, so as to restore their collateral love and to attain the hope of ultimate redemption. Love, submission to Truth, and ability to overcome one's despair are the conditions of greatness that only human beings, and not Satan or his followers, possess. This what Milton as a Christian humanist means to proclaim in Paradise Lost.