This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Took this out:
- And within Paradise Lost itself, a comparatively subtle example: Lucifer the proud angel gives birth to Sin through his skull before his fall, when he becomes chief leader of demons. The chief pagan god Zeus gave birth to Wisdom, Athena, in the same way, suggesting pagan wisdom is equivalent with temptation to evil.
Paradise Lost was an attempt to tell the fall of man as a classical epic, so he uses tropes from classical mythology, like invoking the muse when he begins. Also, Sin coming from Satan's head follows the major theme of Satan trying to rationalize his sinfulness.
