Justifications in Paradise Lost Essay Example For Students

Justifications in Paradise Lost Essay The opening of Paradise Lost features the author stating his intent, his reason for creating. John Milton seeks to â€Å"justify the ways of God to men. † The very notion is a huge undertaking, but is that Milton’s only reason for his grand retelling of Satan’s exile from heaven, it is possible that Paradise Lost is in some passages, autobiographical in nature? Paradise Lost may also serve in allegorical form as Milton’s confession of hubris, via his portrayal of Satan as an epic anti-hero and possible avatar of Milton himself. John Milton had planned Paradise Lost for a long time, even before the advent of Cromwell’s Commonweath, but how much is autobiographical and who does Satan, the epic anti-hero represent over the 12 volumes? Milton’s characterization of God, poses other questions, Milton may be drawing parallels with himself and Oliver Cromwell in his depiction of God as aloof and detached. Perhaps it is as simple as the allegory for losing the possible paradise that Cromwell’s commonwealth could have delivered, but ultimately failed, coupled with the loss of his vision. Chapter One Commonwealth Lost Milton, a formidable critic of the state, launched many impassioned speeches against King Charles I prior and during the English Civil war. A fortnight after Charles’s beheading, Milton produced a pamphlet, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, in which Milton advocated the taking of the Kings Head and deconstructed the notion of ‘The Divine Right of Kings’. He asks that the populace trust their government, but not be afraid to question its decisions. He asserts that Tyrants should be overthrown for the good of the people, rather than advocating Charles’s execution itself. He defended the right for the government to carry out the act, rather than the act itself. Milton’s case was not that Charles I was guilty as charged, but that Parliament had the right to prosecute him. 1 Milton laid out in the pamphlet a vision, his vision, for this new era for England; he defends the act of beheading and lays out groundwork for the future. In some interpretations, he describes his own interpretation of a ‘paradise’ state. And surely they that shall boast, as we doe, to be a free Nation, and not have in themselves the power to remove, or to abolish any governour supreme, or subordinat, with the government it self upon urgent causes, may please thir fancy with a ridiculous and painted freedom, fit to cozn babies; but are indeed under tyranny and servitude; as wanting that power, which is the root and source of all liberty, to dispose and Å“conomize in the Land which God hath givn them, as Maisters of Family in thir own house and free inheritance. Without which natural and essential power of a free Nation, though bearing high thir heads, they can in due esteem be thought no better than slaves and vassals born, in the tenure and occupation of another inheriting Lord. Whose government, though not illegal, or intolerable, hangs over them as a Lordly scourge, not as a free government; and therfore to be abrogated. How much more justly then may they fling off tyranny, or tyrants; who being once deposd can be no more the privat men, as subject to the reach of Justice and arraignment as any other transgressors. It is then something of an irony that Milton became one of the foremost critics of Cromwell’s Commonwealth. The new regime could be just as intolerant of free speech or any form of dissent as the previous. In November 1644, prior to the Kings execution in 1649, Milton published Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England. It is a powerful defence of free speech, while also demonstrating that Milton may have perceived that his ‘Paradise’ is already on its way to being ‘Lost’. For books are not absolutely dead things, but do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous Dragons teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. Yet on the other hand unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a Man as kill a good Book; who kills a Man kills a reasonable creature, Gods Image; but he who destroys a good Book, kills reason itself, kills the Image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the Earth; but a good Book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. Milton believed that writing, the construction of a book was as an extension of the author himself, and as Man was created by God, a book is a manifestation of the divine. By censoring a book, you are, by proxy, censoring God. Cromwell’s government had set up a board of censorship, requiring all printed works to be approved before publication, The Licensing Order of 1643. Milton was not a complete libertarian, but was appalled by the very notion of censorship, resulting in a 24-line poem entitled on the new forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament that ends with the damming line â€Å"New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large. † In 1660, the Restoration bought the return of the Monarchy, Charles II, at the invitation of Government, resumed the throne. The Commonwealth, Milton’s somewhat tarnished ‘Paradise’ of state had ended, a grand experiment lost. One of the restored King’s first acts was to execute or imprison those who had contributed to his father’s beheading. Milton, blind and without government position was imprisoned. His incarceration and blindness caused his contemporises to debate as to whether his misfortunes were a punishment from God due to his criticism of the state, both before and after the war, or as the consequence of his undying devotion to the divine. In both instances, his peers concluded that God, either through wrath or benignity had caused his eyesight to fade. Milton’s fellow poet and contemporary, Andrew Marvell was also a politician, serving with Milton under Cromwell, who did succeed in his efforts to free Milton from prison, but even that boon was indicative of what could be considered Milton’s fall from grace. He was part of those who â€Å"reigned† in a heaven that eventually devolved into a personal hell, not just for Milton but those who felt that Cromwell was simply another variation on tyranny, King in all but name. He has arrogated to himself despotic authority and the actual sovereignty of these realms under the mask of humility and the public service. Obedience and submission were never so manifest in England as at present, their spirits are so crushed.. yet they dare not rebel and only murmur under their breath, though all live in hope of the fulfilment one day of the prophecies foretelling a change of rule ere long. 4 The portrayal of God in Paradise Lost, is something of a kingly figure, a moral monarch, yet a detached one, removed from the basic needs of the populace, a deity who focuses on the big picture, rather than minutia. In the wake of Cromwell’s death, Milton wrote nothing of the man he supported and served in Government. An oddity, as Milton considered Cromwell a friend and the best hope for England despite his criticism. The possibility exits that, rather than write about Cromwell in name; Milton transposed Cromwell’s facets into Paradise Lost and amalgamated them into the portrayal of God. In this way, Milton not only consolidates his faith in the divine even with its flaws of detachment and rigidity to its creations, but also his faith, in his friend, Cromwell. God’s absence from the main thrust of the action in Paradise Lost, serves as allegory for Cromwell, who fought for the people, created a metaphoric Eden on the streets, before ascending to power, isolated from the needs of a people who no longer had direct access as Cromwell symbolically picks up the keys to Heaven. Milton sets out to â€Å"justify the ways of God to men,† but it is plausible he is also justifying the ways of Government, Tyrant Kings and would be Kings to the people, every flaw, and virtue embodied in the biblical pantheon. Chapter two: Gattaca EssayAnd what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free; th Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure; and, in my choice, To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven . 8 Milton’s Satan is an accomplished liar, who manipulates and abuses language itself to further his own needs, The Tempter as Milton refers to him is a gifted orator who advocates in the famous line, that being free in Hell, is superior to being chained in Heaven. This is despite the fact that, the angels have lost their home, their positions and in being denied God, their light. Satan actively advocates that his fallen flock should ‘hail horrors’ as virtue as they are now seen as ‘fiends’. Despite his words of manipulative comfort, Satan can never forget the Paradise he lost, which to Satan is a reality that endures, for Milton the Paradise of the Commonwealth did not endure, yet its possibilities linger in Milton’s memory. Once the realities of living in Hell are fully realised to Satan he feels no comfort, and confronts his own impossible desires to return to Heaven. Satan’s desire for vengeance, even an impossible one, reveals some of Milton’s own thought process towards The Royal Bloodline. At first, Satan believed that God sat upon his throne via ‘old repute and custom’ (639-640). After his failed rebellion, he discovers that God Merely hid his strength and Satan has deceived himself. Milton is reluctantly confessing to pride through Satan’s realisation, his own and Cromwell’s. Satan at this point represents an amalgamation of Milton and Cromwell in a similar fashion to God and the Son. Milton uses Satan, not just as a physical shape shifter, but also as a twisted reflection of the ideologies of the Angelic characters, combined with their real world counterparts. Satan, ironically is literally Devil’s advocate. The fourth book of Paradise Lost reveals the heart of Satan, encapsulating both he and Milton’s view on free will, harking back to Areopagitica. The lines, sixty-six through to eighty, argue against predestination. Milton, via Satan’s voice, great orator, and wordsmith combined, accepts the consequences of his own actions. Author and character share a moment of clarity, while giving meaning to each other. The duality of Milton, speaking through his character, not only to himself, his character and to his audience is evident here. Through the imagery evoked during the soliloquy, the argument for free will is debated and given life by Milton’s use of enjambment and end-stopped lines. The cadence gives the reader a sense of frantic energy, but also a sense of intense melancholy. Enjambment suggests that the individual aspects of the debate are designed as a form of seclusion, while stimulatingly elevating Satan’s grudges against God. Satan begins with a question; â€Å"Hadst thou the free will and power to stand? † The question, once again contains a duality, perhaps a trinity. The question is not just from Milton, but also to Milton, and to Satan doubting himself; thirdly, the question is aimed at the reader. The design of using end-stops in the formation of the question renders it absolute, even if the answer is not. The question is a solid object, the answer, individual to the reader, who focuses solely on the question itself. This allows the topic of free will, and Satan’s doubt over having it, a major component of Book four. Naturally, the eloquent Satan answers his own question in the following line, where â€Å"Thou Hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse, But Heav’n’s free love dealt equally to all? † (67-68) It is interesting to note, that Milton begins this answer, with a spondee, stretching the syllables just as Satan stretches for his answer, ironically in the form of another question. Satan, for all his cunning, is bewildered, and the use of enjambment, spondees and end-stops emphasis this within a powerful character moment. Eventually, Milton allows Satan to answer the question in full. Be then his Love accurst, since love or hate, To me alike, it deals eternal woe. 9 The end of the enjambment signals not just the answer, but also Satan’s realisation that while he reigns in Hell, it is still a hell. Milton’s use of enjambment here is another example of duality; it emphasizes the notion that God’s love and the love of God can be regarded as a curse. Conclusion: Paradise Lost is an inordinately complex feat of work, incorporating classical myths, overt biblical allusions, epic yet flawed heroes and for all its density, remains hugely accessible. Milton hid his own personal history and that of his country in a time of upheaval. It stands as a remarkable piece of epic poetry that rivals the Greco-Roman canon, social history as well as a confessional satire. Milton in the pages of Paradise Lost has split himself into three, a poet’s trinity. Milton creates; he is the God of his writing and all the character he deems to inhabit, he is also the ‘word’, for in the naming of things, he creates. Finally, he is ‘The Son’ as in the writing of Paradise Lost, in all its multiple interpretations and hidden confessions, he seeks to unify and heal. The choice of Satan as his main device to confess is an intriguing one. It suggests that, while Milton is the God of his world, he may well be Satan in the physical world and seeks redemption, vengeance, and acceptance. This suggests that Milton and the entirely of humankind are infinitely complex, much like God, but in tandem, unable to understand themselves completely, nor the actions of God. In Book Seven of Paradise Lost, he admits to only having a mortals ability to comprehend the world and the actions of God. Standing on Earth, not rapt above the Pole, More safe I Sing with mortal voice, unchangd To hoarce or mute, though falln on evil dayes, On evil dayes though falln, and evil tongues;10 It is not an admission of failure, but rather a declaration of misunderstanding and of not being able to fully understand, not just God but the evil of the worlds and to paraphrase, of good men who do nothing, mute, silent on evil days. Yet, he is safe with his mortal voice. Milton’s exists in elements of all the characters spotlighted, but Satan stands as his prominent avatar, his main mode of confession. The similarities in deed and character are too numerous to discount. Milton, through the avatar of Satan is warning the reader of several issues that, arguably he faced himself. Despite the religious fervour, he appears to show in his nightly dictation from the holy muse, he warns against fanatical devotion to a cause and asks the reader to engage in critical thinking, without losing sight of their faith. He advocates free will, alongside the acceptance and the malleability of your actions. Satan may have fallen, but in similar fashion to Milton, he exploited his new situation, moulding it to his needs. Milton also emphasises, that free will, still exists, even after you have dealt with the consequences of your actions. In Satan’s case, he chooses vengeance, alongside acceptance. Milton chooses acceptance, but also a form of vengeance in the construction of Paradise Lost. Despite the fall, Satan is still Satan, and Milton is still Milton, flaws and all, defiant to the last verse. Bibliography: Entire text of Paradise Lost online at: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_1/text.shtml Entire text of Areopagitica Online at: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/areopagitica/text.shtml Hawkes, David, John Milton: A Hero of Our Time. (London and New York: Counterpoint Press, 2009). Hill, Christopher. Milton and the English Revolution. (London: Faber, 1977). Milton, John,  Ed. Don Wolfe Complete Prose Works of John Milton.  Vol III. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962) Wilson, A. N. The Life of John Milton. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983). Rosenfeld, Nancy. The Human Satan in Seventeenth-Century English Literature: From Milton to Rochester. (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008). Corns, Thomas N, John Milton: the Prose Works. (Twayne: New York, 1998)