Allegory of Sin and Death in Paradise LostThat Milton's Paradise Lost is unsurpassed - and hardly equaled - in English literature is generally accepted by critics and scholars. Whether it may have serious flaws, however, and what they might be, is less certain, because this is where opinions diverge. Of particular interest to some is the allegory of Sin and Death (II. 648-883). Robert C. Fox wonders whether it has not been the subject of much more critical discussion, asking "Are Milton's readers perplexed by this episode and, unable to explain its meaning, prefer to pass it over in silence? Or do they take its meaning to be so obvious that no interpretative comments are necessary?" ("The Allegory" 354). Whatever the answer to Fox's question, his argument is well founded; in a survey of the Modern Language Association's bibliography from 1950 to 1980, one can locate fewer than twenty references specifically devoted to this allegory, and many of these, rather than pursuing the question of its appropriateness and/or its importance within of the complex work, simply investigate its tradition and sources. Merritt Y. Hughes, referring to those scholars who have commented on the allegory, writes that "for two centuries critics agreed that the transition to pure allegory in Sin and Death was a blemish on the poem and an external encrustation recently wonder if it is not part of the structural irony of the whole design" (177). It is this latter view that this article focuses on; the allegory is in fact an integral part of the entire Paradise Lost and not an error of judgment on Milton's part, as some critics believe. It is defensible on two levels, both in terms of structure and in terms of content. Since it is the presence of allegorical figures - abstractions - in the epic that some critics object to, it is necessary to discuss both allegory and epic here. module. Allegory, according to William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibbard, is defined as "an extended metaphor in which objects and people in a narrative... are equated with meanings found outside [it]", using characters who " they are usually personifications of abstract concepts." quality, action and setting representative of the relationships between these abstractions The allegory attempts to evoke a dual interest, one in the events, characters and setting presented, and the other in the ideas they are intended to convey or the meaning they carry." (7-8).