Give a Description of Hell as Milton Presents it in Book-II of "Paradise Lost".

Milton Presents Hell in Book-II of "Paradise Lost":

Paradise Lost by Milton is an excellent piece of writing. It is an epic. In Book-I of this epic, Milton presents a vivid picture of Hell. Hell was created by God after the revolt of the angels. It is a place of torment. It is the gathering place of bad wildness. It is situation of waste and wild. It is the hellish world of horrors. It is just like furnace where Satan and followers have fallen. It was a place where "torture without end afflicted its victims." 

 

In Paradise Lost  Book II Milton gave an elaborate description of Hell. Each of the speakers in the debate has something to say the about the nature of Hell. The assembly has been convened in the hall, named Pandemonium; Belial speaks of the sufferings in hell which the fallen angels have to undergo here. He refers to the "eternal woe."

 

Mammon speaks of the desolate soil and the darkness of Hell. He finds a redeeming feature in Hell. He believes that diamonds and gold lie buried in the soil of Hell. 

 

Beelzebub speaks about the gloom of Hell, about the "corrosive fires" of Hell 

 

Satan says that Hell is a strong prison and a "huge convey of fire", he refers to the nine fold gates of burning adamant. 

 

In Book II, we get a description of four rivers which flow through Hell. There is the hateful river called Styx, there is Acheron, the river of woe. It's water is black and deep. There is a wailing and lamentations river, named Cocytus. Finally, there is the fierce river called Phlegeton. At a long distance from these four Livers there is the river of forgetfulness, the name of which is Lethe. 

 

The figures Sin and Death are an essential ingredient in the apparatus of Hell. The key of the gates of Hell is in the keeping of Sin who had been commanded not to unlock the gates for anyone. As for Death, Hell is the proper abode for this destructive force. As Hell is a region of horrors and tortures, the presence of the two monstrous shapes, Sin and Death, here accords well with the atmosphere of this place.

 

Hell is a place where Nature produces unnatural monstrous, Deformed, abhorrent, and repulsive creatures. In short it is a place which is really fit to be the abode of the angels who had revolted against God and against goodness. As these fallen angels are feeling no remorse at all, their suffering and misery have to be endless.

 

We may also point out here that it was necessary for Milton to describe Hell because Hell is an inseparable part of the story of the scheme of Milton's whole poem. Hell has a symbolic or allegorical significance. Hell is both a state of mind and a place. He Milton says that, Hell is an abode of damned souls along with the fallen angels. A Sinner must be fallen in Hell.