Is Adam the hero of Paradise Lost?

No. The tragic hero of this epic poem is actually Satan.

Confused?

The poem is written about humanity's fall from Paradise and heavily focuses on Satan's role. In the poem we learn about Satan's fall, his "inner" reasoning, and his desire for power. Because the poem is centered around him, he is Aristotle's' nontraditional "tragic hero."

He suffers a fall from high power (he loses his own paradise- Heaven), tries to redeem power (tempting man), and at the end of the story seems to accept his lowly fate (as a snake in Hell).

One of the reasons Satan is projected as the hero is because people can better relate to a sinful character instead of virtuous characters like the Son or God.

Although Adam loses his paradise too, his loss isn't as impressive as losing Heaven.

Also Adam is quickly redeemed and finds forgiveness from God quickly. There also wasn't as much poem devoted to developing the character of Adam, as there was Satan.

However, in an essay, I bet you could argue either Satan or Adam as a tragic hero with enough evidence from the text.