In Paradise Lost Book I, Milton uses words and imagery to depict heavenly and evil elements as beyond earthly definition. This is accomplished in the depictions of amorphous sexuality among G-d and the angels, and in the abnormal elements used in the description of hell.
G-d is depicted as a dove creating the world, “…and with mighty wings outspread/ Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss/ and mad’st it pregnant…” (lines 20-22). Milton ascribes both the male act of impregnating and the female act of brooding to G-d, allowing G-d to exist as both sexes. Since humans are restricted to a single sex, requiring the opposite gender for reproduction, these attributes make G-d powerful and un-earthly. The fallen angels, taking the forms of false gods and goddesses, can also change their sex. “…For sprits when they please/ Can either sex assume, or both; so soft/ And uncompounded is their essence pure,/ Not tied or manacled with joint or limb,/ Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,/ Like cumbrous flesh…” (lines 423-428). Here Milton embellishes the limitations of human forms to contrast the freedom of angelic forms.
In Milton’s depiction of hell, G-d sends Satan and the fallen angels “…down/ To bottomless perdition, there to dwell” (lines 46-47). The word “bottomless” forces the reader to imagine things impossible in the real world, creating an air of sinister grandeur to depict hell’s location. Hell is surrounded by fire, “…yet from those flames/ No light, only darkness visible” (lines 62-63). Here the reader is challenged to imagine a fire that exudes no light and forced to create a depiction of “darkness visible”. The fire is ever-lasting, “…a fiery deluge, fed/ With ever-burning sulfur unconsumed” (lines 68-69). The idea of sulfur that continuously burns and is not consumed is contrary to natural laws, adding to the magical and ominous elements of hell.
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