John Milton Essay

John Milton published the first edition of Paradise garbled in 1667. This epic poetry introduces a series of supernatural themes. It is the retelling of the Biblical story of Adam and Eves first sin. The basis of the text is Christian deity specific exclusivelyy, Protestant Christian Theology. What is unique, even controversial, about Miltons method of proselytizing the Christian message, is non so much the use of the epic poem structure per se, (which is traditionally reserved for classic and pagan subject matter), but that he introduces the archenemy of deity as a sympathetic character.This is a repugnant concept for Miltons Christian audience. In fact, John Dryden (the first literary critic to comment on Paradise Lost) in 1697 criticized the poem for having the baddie take center stage and obliterate the admirer (p. 214). However, it will be argued instead that Miltons use of this technique is to play up the cunningness of deuce and our own willingness to accept the tale as probable. This sentiment is echoed by Stanley Fish who claimed that the poem tempts the reader in the same way that Satan tempted Adam and Eve.In the remainder of this essay, allows II and III will be examined to office the ways Milton compares and contrasts, God, Satan, Heaven and inferno to amplify his subversive technique of casting Satan as the sad hero of Paradise Lost. In Book II of Paradise Lost, Satan is introduced to the reader as a rationale character that is capable of questioning Gods authority and judgment. For example, the debate in Hell is one of the great set pieces of Paradise Lost. In this scene, Satans appeal is in his use of classic political rhetoric he states that both his and that of his fallen Angels rebelliousness and pride, are justifiedwith what eyes could we Stand in his presence humble, and receive Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne With warbled hyms, and to his nobleman sing Forced hallelujahs, while he lordly sits Milton constructs this profane polemic by utilizing the heroic epic genre to introduce Satan in a countercultural way. He not only disturbs literary conventions but religious conventions too. Such a representation of a heroic Satan as a tragic Prometheus figure challenges the discourse of traditional Judeo-Christian notions of injustice and subordination.However, Milton lived during the dawn of the Renaissance a time when science began to question religious dogmas. Satan, therefore, is all the more expansive to the skeptical Seventeenth Century audience, because he too, like the new Renaissance man, uses logic and rationalism to argue against accepted ideas and the status quo. In this way, Milton Paradise Lost can be viewed as highly controversial in the way he subverts the literary conventions and religious dogma by transposing a pagan literary technique on Christian revelation. But these techniques are not meant to subvert Christianity.Likewise, Milton is not attempting a Dan Brown type revision of Ch ristian theology. Instead, what Milton aims in achieving is to highlight Satans imperfect logic (even scholasticism) from Gods omnipotence. Thus, whilst Miltons Satan is eloquent in speech, he is forever fallen. In contrast, Miltons God remains highly mysterious and beyond logic he also reigns triumphant and glorified in Heaven. In the opening of Book II, Satans rhetoric reaches a climax in The Council meeting held in Pandemonium (Hell). A debate is being held as to whether or not to attempt convalescence of Heaven.Instead, another proposal is accepted. That proposal is to seek revenge against God. And through this revenge, Milton establishes Satan as a forlorn figure, as Satan alone undertakes the voyage to shape the prophesized world were he can enact his revenge as a tragic hero. Whilst on his travels, he encounters Sin and Death. They are his offspring and guard the supply of Hell. They also serve as a profane inversion of Gods Trinity a technique Milton often uses to help fa cilitate the tell apart and comparing of God and Heaven with Satan and Hell.Arguable, this strategy of parody and subversion is effective in showing the reader that despite all his oratory powers and intelligence, all that Satan is ultimately capable of performing is an imperfect imitation of God and his Kingdom. This comparison serves to accentuate Satans tragic status and also his futile pride. Another way Milton recasts Satan as a tragic hero, is through his depiction of Satan as a solitary character. For example, Milton notes that Satan explores his solitary shoot (II. 647) alone to Eden.In contrast, God is supported by his Son in Book III. For example, God sees Satan flying towards this world and foretells the success of his evil flush to tempt man. God explains his purpose of grace and mercy toward man, but mandates that justice must be met nonetheless. His Son, who sits at his right hand, freely offers to sacrifice himself for mans salvation. This causes the angels to cel ebrate in songs of praise. In contrast, this imagery accentuates the tragic and solitary nature of Satans banishment.A status further highlighted when he passes by the stairs of heaven on his way to earth The stairs were then let down, whether to dare The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate His sad expulsion from the doors of bliss (III. 523 -525). In this way, Milton portrays God as some kind of celestial joker, dangling the stairs of heaven to Satan. This concept is of course an antithesis to the traditional precepts of God as merciful and benevolent. However, this scene does help Milton to engineer a sympathetic response from the reader towards Satan.And thus, Miltons recasting of Satan as the tragic epic hero is complete. Another way Milton casts Satan as the tragic hero of Paradise Lost is through contrasting the depiction of Hell with Heaven. So, whilst Satan sits high on a throne of Royal State exalted (II. 1-5), Satans throne is made of Barbaric tusk (II. 4). God, however, sits on a heavenly throne in Heaven A place that is immersed with precious stones (like diamonds) and light. Even Heavens pearly gates (liquid pearl III.519) are contrasted to the pearls of Hell (Barbaric pearl II. 4). Nothing in Hell can ultimately compete with Gods creation. Milton continues to compare and contrast God and Satan in Book III. For example, in Book III, the infernal trinity, that is, Satan, Sin and Death are introduced as a perversion of Gods original Trinity. In this way, Milton parallels Book II and Book III of Paradise Lost to show no only that Satans dominion is an inversion and parody of Heaven, but more importantly, that imitation is the bloom of Satans intelligence.So, not only is Hell unlike Heaven as it has flames, ice, whirlwinds, and volcanoes. Hell is deathlike and desolate like a Desert Soile (II. 270)). In contrast, Heaven is a living Sapphire (II. 1050). Moreover, Miltons grotesque depiction of Hell as a place of death is reiterated by the paradoxical phrase, animateness dies, death lives (II. 624). Hell, therefore, is a place of contradiction, even moral confusion. Heaven in contrast is adorned with precious stones and metal of diamond and gold. It is a place of felicity and a place of light, since God is light (III.3-5). Through harnessing literary devices (which had been traditionally reserved for virtuous pagan characters and by sagacious philosophers of ancient Greece), Milton ingeniously highlights the limitations of Satan and indeed humanity itself to understand God. Thus, the invocation in Book I, that is, to justify the ways of God to Man, is indeed Miltons inside joke For it is not Miltons role to justify God to humanity, but rather it is the readers responsibility to overcome temptation and see Satan as the villain described in the Bible.Thus, apart from creating a poem of dramatic appeal, it appears that Miltons introduction of Satan as a hero in the epic poem format was an attempt to accentuate Satans irreparably fallen state (as indeed our own human folly in being suggestible to following humanist rationalism at the expense of Christian theology). In Paradise Lost, Satan is a tragic hero forever lost in spite of his attempts to overthrow Gods creation. According to Milton, Satans transgression is to think himself equal to God. And it is this transgression that makes his rhetoric ultimately hollow.References 1. Dryden, John. Virgil and the Aeneid. Dramatic Essays. Ed. William enthalpy Hudson. London E. P. Dutton, 1921. 2. Fish, Stanley. How Milton Works. New York Harvard University Press, 2001. 3. Fish, Stanley. Surprised By Sin. London St. Martins Press, 1967. 4. Greenblatt, Stephen et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eight Edition. New York W. W. Norton & Company, 2006 5. Milton, John. Paradise Lost A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Gordon Tesky. London W. W. Norton, 2004.