Paradise Lost: Book 11 Summary & Analysis

God hears Adam and Eve’s prayers, which were themselves inspired by his grace. The Son intercedes on the pair’s behalf and asks God to have mercy on them. Again the Son volunteers to die for humanity’s sake. God agrees, but he says that Adam and Eve can no longer live in Paradise, as they are now impure and Eden is still perfect. God then summons his angels and tells them about the Fall of Man, but also that Adam and Eve have been repenting. He sends Michael to lead Adam and Eve out of Paradise, in case they should eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and live forever.

God commands Michael to be firm with Adam and Eve, but also kind, and to show Adam a vision of what will occur in humanity’s future so as to lessen his despair. God also says to set up a Cherubic guard at Eden’s gates so that no human or spirit can enter again. Michael immediately descends to Earth with some four-faced Cherubim.

Adam and Eve finish their prayers, and Adam anticipates that God will hear them and be merciful. Again he reminds Eve of the prophecy about bruising the serpent’s head, saying that she will have revenge on Satan by being the “Mother of all things living,” and so the ancestor of the one who will defeat Satan. Eve feels she doesn’t deserve this illustrious role, and she still feels ashamed for bringing Death into the world. But she resolves to never leave Adam’s side again, and to try and obey him and God from now on, that they might live peacefully in Paradise.

Adam sees an omen of a hawk chasing two brightly-colored birds, and then he sees Michael descending in the west. He warns Eve to expect new laws or decrees, but that she should “retire” as the approaching angel is a “great Potentate / Or of the Thrones above,” more powerful and majestic than Raphael was. Eve obeys and then Michael arrives, dressed in heavenly armor.

Michael tells Adam that he will be allowed to live many years before Death takes him, but that he and Eve must leave Paradise immediately. Adam is upset, and Eve overhears this and laments the loss of their beautiful home. Michael comforts them, but Adam knows he must obey God’s command.

Adam laments that he will never be able to speak with God again, and that if he had been allowed to remain in Paradise he would have erected altars at all the places he had heard God’s voice. Michael warns him about giving too much value to location in worship, as God is everywhere. He says that Adam will be able to speak to God wherever he is, not just in Eden.

Michael then puts Eve into an enchanted sleep and leads Adam up to a high hill to show him a vision of his descendants’ future. This is the highest hill in Paradise, and from it Adam can see almost a whole hemisphere of the Earth – Milton compares it to the hill where Satan will tempt Jesus by offering him all of Earth’s kingdoms. Michael drops water from the Well of Life into Adam’s eyes, and then shows him the vision of the future, and the results of his crime.

First Adam sees two men offering sacrifices to God, and when one is accepted by God and the other not, the second man kills the first with a stone. Adam is horrified by this, and Michael explains that the two men are brothers, Cain and Abel, the first sons Eve will give birth to. Adam is shocked by his first sight of death, and Michael explains all the other ways death will come to humans – disease, natural disaster, war, and old age. He then shows Adam a vision of a hospital filled with people dying of various horrible diseases.

Adam weeps at this sight and wonders why people do not immediately kill themselves so as to avoid such suffering. Michael reminds Adam that this is all punishment for his sin, and Adam asks if there is any alternative to death. Michael says that by living temperately and virtuously people might avoid disease and live a long time, so that they die peacefully of old age. Adam then resolves to live well until Heaven decrees that he should die.

Michael shows Adam a vision of men playing music and forging tools, and then some finely dressed women appear and tempt the men from their work. They begin to feast, dance, and have sex. Adam assumes this is a vision of happiness, but Michael warns him that these people are just as sinful as the murderers earlier. They have forgotten God and live only for pleasure, the women forgetting their domestic duties and the men allowing themselves to give in to the lustful women. They too will die, Michael warns, and Adam laments again.

Michael then shows Adam visions of towns and cities, and of great armies doing battle, killing thousands of men and destroying cities. There is one man who speaks out against all this violence, and a cloud lifts him up to Heaven before the other angry men can attack him. Adam weeps again and asks Michael why all this violence should happen, multiplying the original murder he saw.

Michael says that these armies are the product of the lustful unions Adam saw in the last vision, and that violent, terrible conquerors will arise who praise war and fame. The man who spoke out against them was Enoch, the only righteous man left in the world, and God took him up to Heaven as a reward. The next vision shows more scenes of dancing and sex, and one man preaching against this evil way of life. The man is ignored, and then he goes off alone and builds an enormous boat.

Adam watches as pairs of every animal on earth come to the man’s boat and enter it. The man and his family go inside and he shuts the boat, and then a great storm begins and floods the earth. All the other animals and the sinful humans are drowned, until only those in the boat remain. Adam grieves at this vision, seeing the destruction of all his offspring, and he tells Michael that he wished he had remained ignorant of the evil future.

Michael describes all the sins of the humans God destroyed in the flood, and tells how God instructed the one righteous man (Noah) to build the ark and preserve mankind. God then flooded the earth and wiped out all other humans. Continuing the vision, Adam sees the waters recede and Noah send out a dove to look for dry land. The ark then settles on a high mountain and a rainbow appears in the sky. Adam rejoices at this sight and the fact that humans will continue through Noah’s family. Michael explains that the rainbow is a sign of God’s promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood.