Comparison of Daniel Defoe's Roxana. A woman who has "fallen" into sin to Milton's epic "Paradise Lost"

Daniel Defoe's Roxana reveals a fall that is much like the fall in Milton's "Paradise Lost." Defoe utilizes images similar to those that appear in Milton's poem which convey a fall from traditional, tangible worship to a materialization of spirituality that occurs in the abstract space of mind. While both Defoe and Milton convey the abstract power of the mind, Defoe departs from Milton by distinguishing the curse of the fall as one of repetition …

…ends in an abstract space of mind, urging the reader to consider the abstract meaning of events that occurred throughout Roxana's life. Through Roxana, Defoe reminds his reader that although his protagonist sinned, her mind remained the closest place to a paradise before her fall or corruption. Yet, man is cursed to repeat and imitate Eden in vain, the closest imitation to paradise that a fallen world is capable of experiencing is pleasant pain.