In Book II of Paradise Lost, John Milton presents an allegory of Sin and Death, two figures who appear at the gate of Hell and express certain thematic concerns developed throughout the poem. This leads to an ironic conclusion as the female form that has emerged full-blown from Lucifer's head expresses her duty to the being that fathered her. That figure is Sin, and the way she describes how she will stand by her father's side and reign is similar to the way Lucifer has described his own time in Heaven and his proposed reign in Hell. As she stands in relation to Lucifer, so Lucifer stands in relation to God. The creation of this figure is thus related to the expulsion of Lucifer from Heaven, and Lucifer is in effect recreating in his new realm the same relations that existed in the old, though now with himself as the central force and with others taking the role of followers.
In the first five books of Paradise Lost, Milton tells the story of how Satan, having been cast out of Heaven, hears of the creation of two new entities in the Garden of Eden, and he and his minions plot how to seduce Adam and Eve away from dedication to God and into sin. The fact of sin also will mean that Adam and Eve are subject to death. So long as they are favored and are living in the garden, they will live forever. They lose their right to immortality when they transgress. In the second book, Milton shows how Satan creates Sin and Death, the two closely related figures who will become the bane of human existence.
Sin is the daughter of Satan, but she will also bear him a son, Death. The three thus constitute a family unit, but it is a family unit that is deliberately counter to that of Adam and Eve to come or the family of God. It is instead a family born in sin and guilt. Death is a product of incest and rape. Death also rapes his mother to produce the hell hounds. Violence is the hallmark of this family. Sin emerges from her father'...