Paradise Lost is essentially the story of two parallel falls; the fall of Lucifer and his rebel angels, and the fall of humankind. The poem thus relates the story of the revolt of the rebel angels in Heaven, and their subsequent banishment to Hell, and the story of the creation of the world, the temptation and disobedience of Adam and Eve, and their subsequent banishment from Eden.
Milton's stated purpose is "to justify the ways of God to man," and he does so by placing responsibility for the fall squarely on the shoulders of the first human pair. They are cast out of Eden because their banishment is necessary to fulfil the demands of divine justice. Their punishment is just, because God placed only one condition upon them and they failed to fulfil it,.....
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