Paper Summary:

This paper examines the impact of the poem "Paradise Lost" by John Milton, which is intensified by Milton's controlled portrayal of the impossible, the unnatural and the grotesque in dimensions known only in the hypothetical sphere. It looks at how Hell and Chaos, realms of the dark abyss of imagination, are endowed with inventive metaphors and symbols that make their impossible and unnatural suggestions seem almost possible and natural. It also discusses how the grotesque images of Satan, the fallen angels, Sin and Death adorn their dark and fiery abyssal landscape in a manner similar to the grotesque art featured in ancient chambers.

From the Paper:

"Unnatural, being "contrary to the way things usually happen in nature; contrary to the physical nature of human beings especially intensely evil or cruel" accurately describes the realms of Chaos and Hell. Milton demonstrates how Hell exists beyond the innate order of nature by depicting it through metaphors for sexual lust which can never be satisfied. If Paradise Lost is "spanned on frail arches" it is etymologically linked with the theme of fornication; the word "fornication" is from the Latin fornix meaning "brothel" but originally "arch". Satan's punishment is that he has been cast into a hell that permits inflamed sexual desire while preventing its consummation. Liquid is a common symbol for the feminine and Milton repeatedly refers to the "lake"; Satan lies "chained on the burning lake" , embodying an unsatiated lust that is aflame with bestial burning."

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