8221; (XII, 538). Until the Last Judgement day, man will continue to suffer; “In glory of the Father, to dissolve/ Satan with hie perverted world, then raise/ From the conflagrant mass” (IX 546-548). However, in God’s master plan, man will come out better in the end and these punishments will only make him stronger.When in paradise, Adam and Eve are given knowledge by God. He gives them freedom, happiness, and one rule; not to eat from the tree of knowledge. In a one of Satan’s speeches he makes the point that God is forbidding them knowledge to keep them below him: “To keep them low whom knowledge might exalt/ Equal with Gods” (IV, 525- 26). Adam and Eve are only happy because of their ignorance which is the root of their happiness: “By ignorance, is that their happy state” (IV, 519). God hasn’t allowed them to be truly happy because he has forbid them the knowledge of evil to compare to good. Satan uses this plea with Eve to seduce her and get her to eat the apple, disobeying God. Eve doesn’t understand why God would forbid her knowledge and the genuineness of goodness: “In plain then, what forbids he but to know, / Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise” (IX, 758-59). After she eats the apple she thanks experience for leading her to this great wisdom. It is this desire for knowledge through experience instead to just except what she is told that lead to the fall of man. Although this knowledge through experience results in sin, mankind can now express love and goodness with complete sincerity. They no longer live in the world of “ignorance is bliss” and can more freely make their own decisions because they know both good and evil.After Michael gives Adam all the prophecies of what is to come, both good and bad, as a result of his fall, Adam sums up the spirit of 'the fortunate fall' pretty well in his speech: “O goodness infinite, goo...
