Allegory in the “Paradise Lost” by John Milton Essay (Critical Writing)
Introduction, allegory in paradise lost, works cited.
Paradise Lost is a classic poem written in the late 17 th century by English poet John Milton. It was first published in 1667 in 10 books and revised in 1674, this second edition being redivided into 12 books with slight revisions all through the books. A great deal of Paradise Lost was written after Milton had lost his eyesight, and was written down for him.
The poem is a rendition of the fall of man as written in the Bible The author’s purpose, as stated in the book, is to expound on the conflict between man and God. Milton incorporates a number of literary styles in the book, however, this paper will focus on allegory as used in the book.
Brightness and Light
Allegory is used in many instances throughout the book. He uses brightness and light to signify God’s presence. The audience never really gets to see God throughout the book; the only thing the author says about Him is that He is very bright, or that He is a huge light, hidden away in some far off place.
Milton uses a number of ways to illustrate a person’s virtue, and one of them is by showing how ‘bright’ they are. For instance, Satan mentions the ‘bright confines’ of Heaven (Milton, Book, 2.395), and the author writes that “God is light,/ And never but in unapproachèd light/ Dwelt” (Milton, Book 3.305). Various sections of the book mention God’s “glorious brightness” (Milton, Book, 2.395, Milton, Book 3.375).
Many sections of the Paradise Lost refer to angels as bright creatures. For instance, the author writes that the angels “Stood thick as stars” (Milton, Book 3.61) in reference to the brightness of the stars. Adam sees Raphael coming from the east and imagines it is another sunrise (Book 5.309-311), illustrating the brightness of Raphael (similar to that of a rising sun).
Milton uses allegory to illustrate Satan’s position before and after his banishment from Heaven. He writes that Satan was “Clothed with transcendent brightness” (Milton, Book 1.86) and “didst out-shine/ Myriads” (Milton, Book 1.86-87). \Following his fall from Heaven, Milton writes that “his form had yet not lost/ All her original brightness” (Book 1.591-592), making the audience guess that Satan had lost some of his brightness due to his sin, indeed, Raphael confirms this by saying that that Satan was “brighter once” (Milton, Book 7.132).
This poem is about the banishment of Adam and Eve from Paradise after they tae the forbidden fruit, regularly known as the ‘Fall’, hence, pictures of falling objects abound the book. When we first meet Adam and Eve, they are newly fallen both morally (having defied God’s command) and literally (thrown out of Heaven).
Satan’s first statement is “Awake, arise, or be forever fallen” (Milton, Book 1.330). Milton uses fallen (or fall) to signify sin or to go against God’s commands.
It is essential to note that in Paradise Lost, the characters make themselves fall; no force that throws any of the fallen character out of Heaven. Indeed, in Book 3, Milton writes that God created Adam “Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall” (Book 3.95-96). And later, God does not push Satan and other rebel angels out of Heaven, rather, they throw themselves. Milton writes, “headlong themselves they threw/ Down from the verge of Heav’n” (Book 6.864-865).
Besides these two falls, the author uses numerous linked images. Considering that an object that has fallen is no longer erect, Milton writes that “man’s woe” (Book 11.632) begins with “man’s effeminate slackness” (Book 11.634).
He implies that Adam was femininely negligent when he listened to his wife and ended up eating the forbidden fruit, hence his fall. Instead of standing up as a man, he allowed Eve to influence his thinking and disobeyed God’s command (Stone, pp. 38).
The Scales in the Sky
As Satan gets ready to battle Gabriel when he is found in Paradise, God makes an image of a pair of golden scales to show in the sky. On one face of the scales, God puts the results of Satan’s desertion of the war, and on the other, He puts the results of Satan staying to battle Gabriel (Frye, pp. 12).
The face that illustrates him staying to battle the angel flies away, symbolizing its weightlessness and irrelevance. The scales signify the fact that God and Satan are actually not on opposite sides of a battle; God is all-powerful, and Satan and Gabriel depend on Him. The scales compel Satan to recognize the futility of fighting against God’s angels again.
Adam’s Flowery Headdress
The wreath that Adam made for Eve (Milton, Book 9.86-87) has different meanings. First, it signifies his affection for her and attraction to her. Just as Adam is about to give the wreath to Eve, he is shocked on realizing that she has eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, this makes him drop the wreath to the ground.
This signifies that his love for Eve is fading. His view of her as a companion has been destroyed. The fallen wreath signifies the loss of love (Wheat, pp. 154).
Frye, Northrop, The Return of Eden: Five Essays on Milton’s Epics, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965. Print.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. In The Norton Introduction to Literature. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays, eds. Portable 10th ed. New York: Norton, 2011. Print.
Stone, James W. “Man’s effeminate s(lack)ness:” Androgyny and the Divided Unity of Adam and Eve, Milton Quarterly 31 (2): 1997. 33–42.
Wheat, Leonarf F. Philip Pullman’s His dark materials–a multiple allegory : attacking religious superstition in The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe and Paradise lost, Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2008. Print.
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Psychoanalysis and the Authoritarian Word in John Milton’s Paradise Lost
2019, BA Thesis English Language and Culture
John Milton’s Paradise Lost does not by definition call for a psychoanalytic approach as Freud’s theory was non-existent until the late nineteenth century, and so Paradise Lost was not meant to be read through a psychoanalytic lens. However, this thesis aims to explore the presence of psychoanalysis and in addition, the authoritarian “Word” in Milton’s Paradise Lost by means of Freudian and Lacanian angles. Concepts such as the Name-of-the-Father, the Mirror Stage and the Oedipus complex are of significance for this thesis’s overall argument as they amplify the emerging psychoanalytic groundwork of Milton’s epic. This thesis argues that the Word is asserted to God as he represents the Law in Lacan’s concept of le nom du père which in turn confirms an Oedipal relationship between him and Satan. Consequently, the Begotten Son is Satan’s rival in this structure as the Son is promoted over Satan as the new king of Heaven, which sets Satan’s psyche deterioration in motion. Moreover, Adam and Eve find themselves in the process of Lacan’s Mirror Stage as they are consciously awakened by seeing themselves for the first time for who they are in relation to God. Building on previous works from, for example, Micheal Bryson, Rob Weatherill, and Roberta C. Martin, a statement has been created which provides the foundational structure for this research; I argue how Milton’s Satan has a conflict with authority and God’s authorship, and explain that this is due to the combination of Satan’s ineptitude to integrate the Name-of-the-Father and that this, in result causes an unstable hierarchy and a deteriorating separation of the Self.
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Thesis statement. The poem Paradise Lost is an epic encounter that illuminates the significance of the disobedience of man to God. The poem's emphasis on God, Satan, angels, and other godly creatures is of importance for man to understand God's actions. The poem validates Christianity and offers relevance to the Christian religion.
I. Thesis Statement: The hierarchy in the scale of Nature has been broken by Satan, Adam, and Eve in Paradise Lost which has led to disorder and chaos in an otherwise orderly world. II. Satan has ...
Full Poem Analysis. John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, relies on the underlying structure of ancient epics to portray the Christian worldview as noble and heroic, arguing that God's actions, for people who might question them, are justified, hinting that humankind's fall serves God's greater purposes. In his retelling of Adam and ...
He explains in Paradise Lost his belief that God the Father existed with the Holy Spirit, another part of the Trinity, who wandered about the "vast abyss" (I. 21 ). But, Milton explains, God the Son had not yet been created. God the Father creates him afterward, and appoints him as his second-in-command.
Essays and criticism on John Milton's Paradise Lost - Paradise Lost, John Milton (Literary Criticism (1400-1800)) ... As Hill remarks, "between the two statements I have quoted, ...
Introduction. Modern criticism of Paradise Lost has taken many different views of Milton's ideas in the poem. One problem is that Paradise Lost is almost militantly Christian in an age that now seeks out diverse viewpoints and admires the man who stands forth against the accepted view. Milton's religious views reflect the time in which he lived and the church to which he belonged.
Introduction. Paradise Lost is a classic poem written in the late 17 th century by English poet John Milton. It was first published in 1667 in 10 books and revised in 1674, this second edition being redivided into 12 books with slight revisions all through the books. A great deal of Paradise Lost was written after Milton had lost his eyesight ...
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Introduction to. Paradise Lost. Milton first published his seminal epic poem, Paradise Lost, in 1667. A "Revised and Augmented" version, which is the one read more widely today, was published in 1674, with this following introduction. In it, Milton explains why he has chosen to compose his long poem in English heroic verse without the use ...
Paradise Lost, epic poem in blank verse, one of the late works by John Milton, originally issued in 10 books in 1667 and, with Books 7 and 10 each split into two parts, published in 12 books in the second edition of 1674.. Many scholars consider Paradise Lost to be one of the greatest poems in the English language.It tells the biblical story of the fall from grace of Adam and Eve (and, by ...
Department of English. Western Kentucky University. This thesis is a comparative study of the Medieval influence on the creation of John. Milton's Paradise Lost, and the purpose of this thesis is to establish Paradise Lost as a. poem designed to correct what Milton saw as the errors of the Medieval theological.
PARADISE LOST Thesis submitted by Benjamin Myers BA (Hons 1) in September 2004 ... Newton Paradise Lost: A Poem, in Twelve Books, ed. Thomas Newton. 2 vols. London, 1749. ... arguing that Milton's view of the Trinity "is in agreement with the creedal statement of ...
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Title: Paradise Overcome: A Secular Interpretation of Paradise Lost Author: Pauliina Arvidsson Supervisor: Ronald Paul. Abstract: P.B. Shelley wrote that John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost "contains within itself a philosophical refutation of that system of which, by a strange and natural antithesis, it has been a chief popular support ...
AA contemporary essayist holds that the 'True theme is Paradise itself '; that the profound value and interest of the epic resides in its poetic realization of the ideal of. pastoral literature in the portrayal of the Eden bower.3. Another contemporary believes that Paradise Lost is an allegory dealing with the political, religious, and social.
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This thesis will explore the rich variety of classical rhetorical figures and devices for the sake of demonstrating how speech plays an important part in the building of the characters of John Milton's Paradise Lost. If overlooked, important facets that add to the stylistic richness of the poem may be lost.
Title: Polysemy in John Milton's Paradise Lost Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Thomas Martin Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2009 This is a study of the polysemous language in John Milton's Paradise Lost. Unlike some of his seventeenth-century contemporaries, Milton did not harbor a mistrust
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Paradise Lost, by John Milton, and Order and Disorder, by Lucy Hutchinson, are early modern poetic retellings of the creation story, as recounted in the Book of Genesis. These retellings detail an account of the path humanity undertook to fall from the grace of God and the understanding of what must be done in order for humanity to once again ...
A Study of Paradise Lost and Supernatural By: Kimberly Batchelor A thesis presented for the B.A. degree Honors in The Department of English University of Michigan ... The specification of God and fate in the second definition shifts the statement to a rejection of predestination. Predestination is an ideology in which a person's final destiny ...
and evil in both Paradise Lost and the non-fictional world. This thesis will explore the intertextual relationship between Paradise Lost and Frankenstein by first exploring the characters of Satan and God in Paradise Lost in order to gain insight onto what exactly is being alluded to in Frankenstein. Then this thesis will explore Victor and the ...