In Paradise Lost by John Milton, the author brings about the idea of sin and repentance. Although God is the parental figure for both Adam and Eve, through temptation and desire they both rebelled and fell into sin. Unlike Adam and Eve, Satan is also a child of God, but he fell when pride and desire for personal power corrupted him. All three of these characters seem to shun God, but like other sinners, they are punished and given the option to repent and seek forgiveness. While Adam and Eve chose to repent, Satan chose to remain prideful and refused to repent. Milton shows that even though people may disobey, if true repentance is present we will always have the chance to be redeemed. Milton not only shows that forgiveness is an option, but if people truly love and respect God they would want the opportunity to be forgiven.
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Milton sets up Adam's story by highlighting his faults and having him fall, face judgement, and find forgiveness. In doing so, Milton shows that no matter what, we will always have the opportunity to repent and be forgiven by God.
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Adam's tragic flaw is first seen through his first speech and the creation of Eve. Milton does this to set up the conflict between Adam and God. Milton makes Adam fall completely head over heels for Eve and at the beginning of Adam's first speech he calls her his, "sole partner and sole part of all [days to come](Milton 4.411)." From the very first moment he saw Eve, Adam felt that: "all higher knowledge in her presence [would] fall[and] degrade (Milton 8.552-553);" because of this, anything that affected her would also affect him, and anything she did he was willing to go along with. While Adam may not have been aware of this flaw, the angel Raphael was, and he warned Adam about it, "Take heed lest passion sway thy judgment (Milton 8.635-636)." Even with this warning Adam let his love and passion get hold of him. He was unable to stay obedient and true to the plan God set before him.