PARADISE LOST: novel and study guide
June 27th, 2009 by admin
Miltonâs Life
Compared to the lives of most of his contemporaries a substantial amount is known about the life of John Milton. This is important, for it has allowed a great deal of critical interpretation of his works to be based on knowledge of his political allegiance or biographical details.Milton was born in London in 1608 to Sara and John Milton, his father a Calvinistic scrivener and composer, originally of Roman Catholic background. Miltonâs early education was conducted at home with private tutors; most important among these was Thomas Young, a dissenting Scotsman, to whom his first acknowledged prose tract is dedicated. At some point between 1618 and 1620 Milton first went to St Paulâs School, where he remained until he went up to Christâs College, Cambridge in 1625. During the years before Milton went up to Cambridge he was in preparation for the ministry. At St Paulâs School Milton would almost certainly have heard sermons given by the Dean of St Paulâs Cathedral, the metaphysical poet John Donne.At Cambridge Milton ran into difficulties with his tutor, and was suspended for a time during 1626. He was known in Cambridge as “The Lady of Christâs”, probably a sobriquet on the poetâs dissociation from the usual social and athletic pastimes. Milton appears to have been known for his intellectual abilities, and indeed was sought out for them. Milton signed the Subscriptions Book in 1632, indicating not only acceptance of his degree, but also the doctrines of the Church of England. This is interesting as at this time of Miltonâs life William Laudâs control over the Church of England and it official doctrines and rites was beginning to cause a stir among the nation, particularly among the more puritanical elements.It is possible that Milton was still intent on pursuing a career in the ministry during the early 1630s. However he did not receive preferment, either collegiate or parochial, and perhaps never sought one; it is also possible that Milton no longer intended entering the ministry, or at least that which was developing under William Laud. Nevertheless, by 1637 Milton seemed set to embark on a poetic career.On April 3rd 1637 Miltonâs mother died, setting in motion the events that would result in him moving away from home, travelling in France and Italy. In 1638 Milton consulted Sir Henry Wotton, former ambassador in Venice, about a trip to the Continent. Some records have emerged from the trip, but most of the information comes from Miltonâs own Defensio secunda (1654). Milton travelled throughout Italy, France and to Geneva, meeting many of the intellectuals and theologians of his time. Milton attests in Areopagitica that he visited the aged Galileo imprisoned by the Inquisition in Florence, reinforcing his commitment to the liberty of the English nation. While on his tour, Milton learned of the deaths of his friend Charles Diodati and sister Anne. Milton began teaching, it would seem, to provide for his orphaned nephews the kind of education he himself had received.Milton became immersed in religious controversy soon after his return from the Continent; taking the anti-Laudian side during the early 1640s. During the period 1645-9 Milton made a retreat to study and tutoring, as well as planning poetic works. Milton emerged in 1649 to defend the Regicide with his first political tract, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. Miltonâs view that sovereign power always resides with the people and can be recalled at any time was the opposite to that expounded in Hobbesâ Leviathan (1651), which argued that people surrender their rights and may not resist established authority.Milton became Secretary for Foreign Tongues to Cromwellâs Council of State in 1649. Though Milton did not have any executive powers, he was the apologist of the Commonwealth regime against Royalist attack in, for example, Eikonoclastes (Miltonâs answer to the Royalist propaganda-piece Eikon Basilike put together from Charles Iâs papers). Milton moved on to rebuke the Frenchman Claude Salmasius (employed by the exiled Charles II) withPro Populo Anglicano Defensio (1651), destroying the formerâs historical arguments. It was during the writing of the Defensio that Milton lost his sight. This was clearly a turning point in his life and writing, since he had to dictate the rest of his works. Another Royalist attack evoked the Defensio Secunda (1654), with all of its attack on Alexander More, is more competent testimony to the achievements of the Revolution and Commonwealth
Book I
“Of manâs first disobedience, and the fruitOf that forbidden tree, whose mortal tasteBrought death into the world, and all our woe,With loss of Eden, till one greater ManRestore us, and regain the blissful seat”(ll.1-5)Miltonâs claim that with Paradise Lost he intends to pursue “Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme” (l. 16) is taken from a line in Ariostoâs Renaissance epic, Orlando Furioso. Rather than a boastful assertion, it emphasizes the seriousness and importance of his undertaking, the attempt to “assert Eternal Providence | And justify the ways of God to men” (ll.25-6). There are several interrelated dimensions to Miltonâs meaning here. Implicitly there is also the context of contemporary political upheaval â the failure of the republican experiment during the 1650s.The opening question Milton poses is an epic convention; Homer and Virgil began by asking the Muses to reveal the gods who had caused the events of the story they intend to discuss. Thus Milton asks,“â¦what causeMoved our grand parents in that happy state,Favored of Heavân so highly, to fall offFrom their Creator and transgress his will”Following convention, for Milton the answer is clear: it was Satan, “Thâ infernal Serpent”, who “with all his host of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring | To set himself in glory above his peers”.Milton describes the entry of the fallen angels into hell and as they cross the Styx, Satan laments on his fall and on his future in hell. After initially being reluctant
| Themes The Creation and ChaosThe world of Paradise Lost was created out of chaos ensphered by Godâs act of turning the pair of golden compasses, and suspended from heaven by a golden chain. Milton did not believe that the universe was created from nothing. Chaos also meant “yawning gulf” and with it came connotations of emptiness and formlessness.The central stage of the poem is the inner tribulations of Adam and Eve, but the cosmic background is of great religious, imaginative and aesthetic importance. The whole Ptolemaic world is only a point in Miltonâs universe. Hanging in Chaos, it looks to Satan like a small star beside the moon. Chaos fills the space between heaven and hell.The discussion of the Creation in Paradise Lost raises an obvious, though still topical in Miltonâs time, theological question: if God foreknew the Fall of man, why did he proceed with the Creation? The answer is partly made in traditional theological terms: that is that the Lordâs ways are incomprehensible to mankind. However, since it is Miltonâs purpose to justify the ways of God to humankind, this does not suffice. Milton has Adam ask“How first began this heaven which we beholdDistant so highâ¦What causeMoved the creator in his holy restThrough all eternity so late to buildIn Chaos, and that work begun, how soonAbsolved⦔(VII.86-94)In the context of Newtonian physics, Adamâs question at first focuses on the process, or mechanics behind the universe, but also on Godâs motives for creating it. Raphael declares,“Immediate are the acts of God, more swiftThan time or motion, but to human earsCannot without process of speech be told,So told as earthly notion can receive.”(VII.176-9)In Dante this problem is non-existent; space, time and movement are only present as a means of talking about spiritual truth. Milton answers the question of how the universe works inside the answer to why God made it.Raphael is clear that the universe mankind inhabits is not only made in chaos, it is also in part made from it. Chaos is insufficient for the process of creation, and in itself is not wholly good for that purpose; in Book VII we are told of the “black tartareous cold infernal dregs | Adverse to life” which must be “downward purged” before the universe can come into existence. “Tartareous” is a word that Milton twice used to allude to hell (II.858; VI.54). The raw material that constitutes chaos is made up of the four elements: earth,air, wind,fire Characters God Miltonâs God has been especially controversial; the presentation of the deity is never doubtful (as a Puritan, why would Milton do so?). Despite the radical polarities of their beliefs, the angels, humans and devils all believe in God, he is very real, and his existence is never questionable.Milton asserts in Book I (ll. 24-6) that he will attempt a theodicy in Paradise Lost. The declared purpose is to justify the ways, or justice, of God to Miltonâs contemporaries. Milton seeks to explain the workings of divine will and the existence of evil in the world.Miltonâs God exemplifies eternal providence. He foresees â cf. Latin pro (before) videre (to see) â and provides everything:“for what can scape the eyeOf God all-seeing, or deceive his heartOmniscient, who in all things wise and just”(X.5-7)Milton had little concern with metaphysical speculation of the Scholastic philosophers. But in justifying Godâs ways Milton was forced into theology, and hence, he could not refrain from making controversial assertions about God.Foreknowledge of events did not mean that God caused them. Man, like angels, was made capable of falling from grace â God knew that he would fall but did not make him fall. Free Will allowed the freedom to follow or ignore Godâs calling, for both angels and mankind. Thus, foreknowledge does not equate with predestination. Milton did not adhere to the Calvinist concept of predestination, but allowed for the working of Free Will (though God foreknew the outcome, nonetheless). Manâs pre- and postlapsarian liberty depended upon following the God-given power of reason, which must govern his will. Raphael echoes Miltonâs own thought when he advises Adam that no man should relinquish his God-given freedom to any other man, rather he should preserve his liberty to serve God. For Milton this held for both the spiritual and the worldly (especially pertinent in the sphere of political forms).When Abdiel returned to Heaven after his encounter with Satan, God characterised the fallen angels as those who “refuse | Right reason for their law.” Justifying his own ways, God declares in Book III that both acts of reason and acts of will are forms of choice. In heaven there are no illusions or disguises, it is a realm where false appearance is derided, yet the overall reality is overwhelming. Milton sought to disclose the mystery of heaven with rational lucidity. God is presented within the fountain of spiritual light, an attempt at a logical explanation of the workings of divine justice. The representation of perfection, of the heavenly domain and its deity, presented the ultimate challenge to the artist of Miltonâs time. To some extent Miltonâs depiction is lacking. The artistic dilemma Milton faced was overwhelming: how to present the omnipotent, immutable, immortal and infinite God in heaven, supreme perfection. Both Miltonâs presentation of heaven and his characterisation of God have undergone critical attack.Aesthetic difficulties are encountered when Miltonâs God appears as a character confronting the evil of Satan. Though God the Father wins the theological debate in Book III, it is to the detriment of His image of majesty, grandeur and mercy. Furthermore, though His arguments follow when interpreted along Miltonâs own theological outlook, further interpretation leads to divine paradoxes or contradictions of faith. Criticisms of the anger Miltonâs God shows have overlooked the attempt of the poet to combine the wrathful Father of the Old Testament with the merciful of the New Testament.Satan |