Paradise Regained

Paradise Regained depicts only one stage of Jesus’s life as recorded in the Gospels. The Christ of Milton’s brief epic is a young man who, though clearly aware that he has a role to play in a divine plan of salvation, is not primarily depicted as a leader of men or an orchestrator of miracles, as he will become later in his life. Here, Jesus adheres to a philosophical or ethical code based on humility, patience, and self-denial. He may be bound for great achievements, but he (unlike his foil Satan) is not anxious to achieve glory or to impose his will upon the rest of the world.

As the poem opens, Jesus has just been acknowledged as the Son of God in the presence of John the Baptist, his cousin. John is but one of several figures from the four major gospel narratives who appears or is mentioned in Paradise Regained: Mary and the fishermen apostles are given brief yet important speaking roles in Book II. Yet what is most notable about these characters, as they relate to Jesus, is how little direct contact they have with him—a fact that stresses how early in his ministry Christ is and how much isolation and self-reflection he must undergo before taking on the responsibilities of preaching and healing.