Honors Theses
Advisor
Dr. Teresa Saxton
Department
English
Publication Date
4-22-2026
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
This paper demonstrates that video games expand on a reader’s literary experience and should be characterized as literary artifacts. My thesis research project explores free will and temptation as originally reflected in John Milton’s epic, Paradise Lost, and in Undertale, a 2015 video game where players change the trajectory of the game with their use of free will. Critics of both texts have commented on how the structure of the epic poem and the game place the reader or player in a position to make moral choices. Stanley Fish’s critique of Paradise Lost claims that the reader will fall to Satan’s tempting monologues, which pose his character as a hero. Martyna Bakun notes the slippage between what is human and monstrous, arguing how the player’s actions can be monstrous, emphasizing the autonomy of the player. Building on these studies, this project will use Milton’s epic to read Undertale using narratology, the study of narrative structure, and ludology, the study of video gameplay. I argue that Paradise Lost and Undertale create tension and conflict within the reader and player by instilling unethical thoughts and actions. In the structure of epic and game, Paradise Lost and Undertale contort the reader’s and player’s expectations of reading and playing video games to elicit awareness of their moral choices. However, while Paradise Lost asks its readers to confront their fallen nature, Undertale asks its players to actively engage in their fallen nature. Ultimately, video games can further a reader’s experience by calling the player to become a reader and to not only analyze in-game decision making—as a reader does—but to make and act on in-game decisions that may impact the player.
Permission Statement
This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.
Keywords
Undergraduate research
eCommons Citation
LaBello, Serena Hope, "The Lost Reader: Temptation, Free Will, and Morality in Paradise Lost and Undertale" (2026). Honors Theses. 512.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/uhp_theses/512
COinS
