Glen Duncan's novel I, Lucifer can be read as a hellish response to the divinely inspired Paradise Lost. This is especially evident when comparing the separate accounts of the fall of Satan and the Garden of Eden, as well as countless details throughout the stories. These stories are incredibly similar, but unsurprisingly, because of his use of Satan as narrator, Duncan twists the stories to highlight the lack of justice in Satan's treatment. In many ways, I, Lucifer can be considered a sequel to Paradise Lost. A passage in particular suggests this to me: “But let us say that I could repent and that I could obtain by an act of grace my former state. How soon could you remember lofty thoughts? How soon will you say What feigned submission has sworn? Ease would deny the vows made in pain as violent and worthless... Which would only lead me to a worse relapse and a heavier fall. So should I buy an expensive short intermission bought with double smart. (IV:93-102) In this passage, Satan understands that if given a chance for forgiveness, he would simply come back twice as hard, which is exactly what is happening to me, Lucifer. He accepts the trial on earth and rejects it at the end of the month, once again condemning himself and having to face the pain of his fall once again. Although Satan's accounts of his fall, the Garden of Eden, and other biblical stories seem plausible enough, he is still presented as a completely unreliable narrator, through obvious and intentional contradictions. This directly conflicts with Milton's narrator claiming divine inspiration for his work, suggesting a very reliable narrator. Because of this discrepancy in storytelling, I, Lucifer serves as an intriguing foil to the Paradise Lost that continues middle of paper......an abyss with nothing but him in it. To which he responds, “If God got rid of everything except little old me, I would be in exactly the position he was in to begin with.” Rich, don’t you think? Lucifer ends where God began. » (257) Works Cited Blake, William. “The marriage of heaven and hell.” The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. “Ed.” David V. Erdman. New York, NY: Random House, 1982. Print. Duncan, Glenn. Me, Lucifer. New York, NY: Grove Press, 2002. Print. Lewis, C.S. “A preface to Paradise Lost.” Paradise lost. '1st edition'. Gordon Teskey. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2005. Print. Mandel, Oscar. “What’s So Funny?: The Nature of Comics.” Antioch Review. 30.1 (1970): 73-89. Print.Milton, John. Paradise lost. 1st ed. New York, NY: Norton & Company, 2005. Print. Webber, Joan. “Milton’s God.” ELH. 40.4 (1973): 514-31. Print