In 1-2 well-developed and well-detailed paragraphs, discuss one of the topics listed below. After you have posted your discussion, make sure you reply to or comment on at least TWO of your classmates’ posts. Each response should be detailed: a comment such as “good post” or “I don’t agree” is not developed; why is it good or why don’t you agree? Feel free to engage in dialogue with more students if you wish.

• What do you make of Milton’s characterization of Satan? Select a passage from the epic where Satan might appear heroic; then go on to argue why that appearance might be deceiving (or, in other words, why he is not acting truly heroic).
• What, according to Milton’s account, causes Adam and / or Eve to fall from Eden? Note: the correct answer is not “eating the fruit” but some action or train of thought that leads to their fall.
• Compare and contrast Eve with other heroines that we have encountered in our readings. AND / OR Discuss some problems with Milton’s depiction of gender.
• In the beginning of Book IX, Milton claims his subject is “Not less but more heroic” (14) than any of his epic predecessors. Discuss what Milton considers “heroic.” What would Milton make of some of the earlier epic heroes that we have encountered? A hint on this one: don’t fall into the trap of considering Satan as the hero; he tries to act and sound like one but really provides a false example of the “heroic” (and you could use those false definitions to help you identify, by contrast, true definitions of what Milton means by “heroic”). How are Adam and maybe even Eve examples of a new kind of hero?