What is the significance of Milton's mentioning of eclipses in lines 597-599?
[eclipse: "the total or partial obscuring of one heavenly body by another."]
This could go both ways, suggesting that there will be a battle between good and evil, each trying to obscure each other. The devil could be the moon trying to cover God's rays but it can only stay there for so long and not very often.
Since Lucifer was the brightest angel, I believe that he represents the sun which also represents goodness. When an eclipse comes about, the moon covers the sun, obscuring goodness, but it still exists although it is hidden. The moon could represent darkness or evil, which take over Satan when he is plunged into the depths of hell but the goodness inside of Satan is still there. We see this when Satan is given human or sympathetic qualities, such as pride, remorse, courage, and passion (600-605) and Milton also says that the devil's form "had yet not lost all her original brightness," (592) remembering that the light represents good.
Again paralleling the devil to humans, humans also are in a constant battle between good and evil. In situations of murder and crime, the criminal, though presented as completely evil, has goodness inside of them, though it may be obscured.
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