A fine essay, and the Lewis frame is right: Satan's descent from hero to politician to toad to snake is exactly how the poem deflates him. The article arrives, seemingly on its own, at the very insight Stanley Fish built Surprised by Sin upon: that the reader is the one truly tempted. I also admire the reserve with which Milton draws the Son, giving him his fullest presence in an offer made in advance and a triumph foretold rather than enacted. The figure he develops least, and most impersonally, he places in the 1671 volume between Satan and Samson, two refusals he imagines with far greater intensity. Above all I admire what Milton chooses not to show: the crucifixion entrusted to prophecy in Paradise Lost, the resurrection left beyond the pinnacle in Paradise Regained, and redemption figured only by type in Samson Agonistes. I can think of no other Christian poet who so steadily kept the empty tomb just beyond the frame. I find peace in Christ's victory which, in Milton's terms, culminated in Paradise Regained, before His ministry even began. Fantastic article, thank you!