The words, good and evil, right and wrong, have been interpreted with ambiguity throughout the generations by humanity, and the finer details of their ethics are still obscured even to the most intelligent of minds, often leaving us with the few fundamental tenants that seek to preserve the further existence of humankind. Throughout John Milton's Paradise Lost we encounter this constant struggle between good and evil, as the enigmatic and eternal Satan - a character who is perhaps the main hero and protagonist of the epic poem - wages a vain war against the tyranny of God in heaven. Satan, like all angels, is keenly aware of the differences that separate abstract philosophies of what is considered right and wrong. And just like theologians before him, Milton suggests that humanity, just like the angels of heaven, has always possessed the ability to discern good from evil. However, Milton's humanity, unlike the angels of heaven, was given the opportunity to disobey through the hasty act of consuming the fruit grown from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. This leads one to wonder whether humanity's choice of damnation was illusory, and that Eve was destined to eat the fruit of the tree, to be untouched by anything but the divine hand of God, or that all beings under heaven had to answer to God for the actions they took. Although human views on fatalism are open to interpretation, Milton suggests throughout his work that all beings under the dominion of God possess the ability to choose their own destiny and govern their own destiny. This coincides with the views of Rabbi Maimonides and the dialogue of the angel Raphael. Most religions of Jewish origin believe that humanity has been given access to the knowledge of good and evil from every...... medium of paper.. ....ill is a golden thread, which runs through the frozen matrix of fixed events (Heinlein). However, after applying the logic of free will and choice presented by John Milton and Maimonides, the words of the Turkish playwright Mehmet ildan seem more appropriate. “We are not destined by heaven to a particular path; every road is our destiny; every path and every passage is our destiny” (ildan). Ultimately, you decide the life you live. Everything else is simply a joke. Works Cited Heinlein, Robert A. The Rolling Stones. New York City: The Children of Charles Scribner, 1952.ildan, Mehmet Murat. Quotes. October 21, 2009. March 1, 2010. Maimonides, Moses. The guide for the perplexed. Trans. Michael Friedlander. New York City: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2004.Milton, John. Paradise lost. 2nd. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2004.