The stated intent of Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost is
The stated intent of Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost is "to justify the ways of God to men". However the real purpose seems to be to justify the Unholy Trinity. Sin and Death and the father that controls them are all God's creations. So the issue becomes why would God allow such evil to exist in the first place? The demons even contemplate this themselves at the beginning of the epic, wondering why God sent them to Hell instead of just killing them. They come to the conclusion that he wanted them to suffer eternally but the demons regarded it as a chance to wreak havoc on the newly created earth and mankind.
The Unholy Trinity of Satan, Sin and Death is supposed to be the direct opposite of the Trinity of God, Son, and Holy Spirit. Sin is the half-woman, half-serpent daughter/lover of Satan and together, they are the creators of Death, who incidentally ended up raping Sin. The names Sin and Death were chosen for obvious reasons; to represent sin and death. It is surprising that Milton did not get more "creative" with the names of his characters, but it is very likely that he did that for a reason. He did not want the reader to have to think about what those two characters represent - he wanted it to be blatantly obvious because he wants man to recognize evil and danger easily. So in a sense, the cliché names are also symbolic because their simplicity represents what the author is trying to express; that once Adam and Eve ate the apple, they were able to tell the difference between good and evil much more clearly, which Milton considers to be a good thing.
This also seems to be a way of justifying why God allowed evil to exist when he had the power to eradicate it. It's the old story of you can't have happiness without sadness, black without white or up without down. Everything must have an opposite in order to appreciate the original thing. Therefore Milton feels that God is justified in allowing the Unholy Trinity to wreak its havoc on earth because it allows man to distinguish between good and evil and to hopefully make the right choices and eventually defeat evil. In referring to the resurrection, the author writes: "By faith not void of works: This God-like act
"Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldest have died,
In sin for ever lost from life; this act
Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength,
Defeating Sin and Death, his two main arms;
And fix far deeper in his head their stings
Than temporal death shall bruise the victor's heel,
Or theirs whom he redeems; a death, like sleep" (Book XII: Lines 427-434)
When Satan first encounters Sin and Death there is hostility between them. Satan is trying to get through the gates of hell to find earth and seduce mankind over to the evil side but Death is obstinate until Satan tells him that the three of them can rule the earth together. Death, of course, finds this idea intriguing and lets Satan through. Death, after all, thrives on the souls of the damned, and in his opinion, the more the better. What is especially interesting here, however, is that when he was in heaven, Satan let his pride get the best of him and ultimately it was his pride and refusal to bow down that got him cast out. So why is he so easily willing to offer Sin and Death a partnership? Wouldn't that get in the way of his massive, all-powerful image of himself? It is as if the sin that got him banished has evolved from pride to wrath, demonstrating that he is willing to go to any lengths necessary to achieve his revenge.
Emphasizing man's ability to choose good over evil is the most significant way in which Milton tries to justify the existence of the Unholy Trinity. The following passage is representative of this:
"Complete to have discovered and repulsed
Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.
For still they knew, and ought to have still remembered,
The high injunction, not to taste that fruit,
Whoever tempted; which they not obeying,
(Incurred what could they less?) the penalty;
And, manifold in sin, deserved to fall" (Book X: Lines 10-16).
Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton associates evil and goodness with choice. Satan made the choice to continue his revenge rather than to quietly accept his punishment, which may have ultimately let him back into the kingdom of heaven. Sin and Death chose to join Satan just as God's son chose to help him by agreeing to be mankind's portal to salvation. Eve chose to eat the apple and Adam chose to join her. So the primary message of the poem is essentially the same as the Bible's message; that although God created us, only we have the power to choose good over evil and therefore to direct our own lives.
