Too Far Gone // Justin Johnson

            Paradise Lost is, as the title implies, the tale of the most tragic loss in the history of mankind, the loss of our innocence. Its status as a tragedy, however, is “stained” by the hope of redemption. Its nature as a Christian work leads to an inherently optimistic twist of the tale of mankind. Humanity through their failure loses the paradise of Eden, yet from the beginning God has ordained that they will receive a chance at redemption through his son as we saw foreshadowed in book 3. 

Satan and his angels have lost a paradise of their own: the kingdom of Heaven. In this story humanity is soon to see their own paradise be lost to them, but unlike them Satan and his cohorts refuse to consider the possibility of repentance and redemption, to their own doom and the doom of the many humans they will deceive. In book 4 when Satan beholds the beauty of God’s creation, he ponders for a brief moment as to whether he’s made a mistake and if he should seek forgiveness from God. We also see some of his fellow outcasts make similar considerations in the devilish debate of book 2, yet in both of these cases the demons convince themselves that they are too far gone and that their only option is to embrace the path of darkness to their own destruction.

In many ways, Milton often sets out to convey a moral lesson to the audience through the behavior of the fallen angels in this story. We see many parallels highlighted between the demons of Paradise Lost and ourselves as people, but I think the most common (and most important) is this mindset we see among the demons that nothing can be done and that once they’ve set down their path there’s no going back. This is the most tragic part of the story so far because even though we have seen these thoughts in the fallen angels throughout the story, we learn here in chapter 5 that it isn’t true. When Raphael recounts the tale of Satan’s fall to Adam, he tells him of Abdiel the rebellious angel who saw the error of their ways and chose in the end to repent from his malicious mindset and seek the ways of God. As the “faithful found, among the faithless” Abdiel has highlighted how the other angels resigning themselves to their fate as traitors was the final nail in the coffin of eternal damnation.

“It’s too late for me” is an idea that is sadly heard pretty often among the lost, and the greatest lie Satan tells. As humans we have to remember that as long as we are on this Earth it is never too late for us, and that God’s forgiveness offered through his son is offered freely as long as we can find it in ourselves to accept it. No matter what lies Satan tells us or we tell ourselves, no living person is ever too far gone.