Which lines from Paradise Lost provide clues to Milton's purpose in writing the epic?

• A. Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit / Of that Forbidden Tree
• B. That, and thus the mind, to know the truth
• C. To justify the ways of God to men
• D. Hail, horrors, Hail

Answer: (C)

The main idea being tested is Milton’s stated purpose for writing Paradise Lost and how the opening lines point to that aim. Milton sets the scene with the subject of humanity’s fall—“Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit / Of that Forbidden Tree”—to show what happened and why it matters. But the deeper impulse driving the poem is disclosed in the famous aim tucked into the opening lines: to justify the ways of God to men. That phrase signals that Milton isn’t just telling a story about rebellion; he’s defending the divine order and providence, explaining how a just and wise God can allow rebellion, sin, and suffering within a created universe.

Context helps here: the epic uses a grand, classical form to address questions people have about God’s justice and the presence of evil. By framing the Fall within a larger cosmic plan and by showing Satan, Adam, and Eve within God’s overarching governance, Milton argues that God’s ways, though mysterious, are ultimately rightful and beneficial in the larger picture.

The other lines point to subject matter or mood rather than to Milton’s stated purpose. The subtitle signals the event of disobedience, not the defend-God aspect. A line about knowing the truth hints at knowledge or epistemology but doesn’t capture the declared aim. The exclamation “Hail, horrors” marks Satan’s entrance and tone, not Milton’s explanatory objective.