Sample Close Reading PL III.98-102

In this passage, God stresses the free will of Man and the fallen angels. He claims they were "sufficient to have stood though free to fall" (III.99). "Sufficient" indicates that they had good defense against evil, but being "free" allows them to fall. The all-powerful God sounds defensive here, trying to deflect blame from Himself.  He states, "Freely they stood who stood and fell who fell" (III.102). The parallel construction suggests an equality between the two sides, as if freedom were a genuine choice. The constant repetition of words relating to freedom, though, reaffirms the sense of God's defensiveness, as if His statements about freedom somehow remove His power from the equation.

NB: This is presumably not how Milton or God would read the passage, but close reading looks at what the text actually accomplishes/enables for the reader, not the author or characters in the text.