Although Adam and Eve sin by disobeying God, it is clear throughout the poem that the Fall of Man is part of God’s design and that he could easily have prevented it if he had wished to do so. Instead, God chose to bring good out of evil, allowing man ultimately to live in heaven, a “far happier place” than the Garden of Eden.

Apart from being a poet, Milton was a famously learned and curious man. It would be strange if he thought that the acquisition of knowledge by mortals was altogether a bad thing. Paradise contains no violence or lust—but no civilization either, no drama or poetry. There would have been no place in Paradise for Paradise Lost. By the time he has heard the archangel Michael telling him of his descendants in book 12, Adam declares that he now has enough knowledge, but he has also seen the opportunities presented to mankind by the Fall, exclaiming:

O Goodness infinite, Goodness immense!
That all this good of evil shall produce,
And evil turn to good; more wonderful
Than that which by creation first brought forth
Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,
Whether I should repent me now of sin
By me done, and occasioned; or rejoice
Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring.

It is soon after this that Michael tells Adam he has gained wisdom and will always carry Paradise within him, a greater gift than merely living in Paradise. This clearly recalls the Biblical passage (Luke 17:21) in which Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is within you. Without Adam’s fall from grace, there would have been no Bible, no incarnation, and no redemption either.