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Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of English
Assignments
Name:- Rathod Neha R.
Class:- M.A. Sem-1
Roll No:- 33
Email Id:- neharathod108@gmail.com
Year:- 2015-2016
Paper No:- 1
Topic:- Milton’s Paradise lost
Introduction:-
Born Dec. 9, 1608, London, Eng.—died Nov. 8,
1674, London), English poet, pamphleteer, and historian, considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare.
Milton is best known for Paradise Lost, widely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English. Together with Paradise Regainedand Samson Agonistes, it confirms Milton’s reputation as one of the greatest English poets. In his prose works Milton advocated the abolition of the Church of England and the execution of King Charles I. From the beginning of the English Civil Wars in 1642 to long after the restoration of Charles II as king in 1660, he espoused in all his works a political philosophy that opposed tyranny and state-sanctioned religion. His influence extended not only through the civil wars and interregnum but also to the American and French revolutions. In his works on theology, he valued liberty of conscience, the paramount importance of Scripture as a guide in matters of faith, and religious toleration toward dissidents. As a civil servant, Milton became the voice of the English Commonwealth after 1649 through his handling of its international correspondence and his defense of the government against polemical attacks from abroad.
Paradise Lost ( Book IX )
John Milton ( 1667 )
Major Theme in Paradise Lost :-
Modern criticism of Paradise Lost has taken many different views of Milton’s idea 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. He was not always completely orthodox in his ideas, but he was devout. His purpose or theme in Paradise Lost is relatively easy to see, if not to accept.
Milton begins Paradise Lost by saying that he will sing , “Of Man’s First Disobedience” (I,1)so that he can “assert Eternal Providence,/ And justify the ways of God to men” (I,25-26). The purpose or theme of Paradise Lost then is religious and has three parts:
1) Disobedience
2) Eternal Providence
3) Justification
Of God to men.Frequently, discussion of Paradise Lost center on the latter of these three to the exclusion of the first two. And, just as frequently, readers and those casually acquainted with Paradise Lost misunderstand what Milton means by the word justify, assuming that Milton is rather arrogantly asserting that God’s action and motives seem so arbitrary that they require vindication and explanation.
However, Milton’s idea of justification is not as arrogant as many readers think, Milton does not use the word justification in its modern sense of proving that an action is or was proper. Such a reading of justify would mean that Milton is taking it upon himself to explain the propriety of God’s actions – a presumptuous undertaking when one is dealing with any deity. Rather, Milton uses justify in the sense of showing the justice that underlies an action. Milton wishes to show that the fall, death, and salvation are all acts of a just God. To understand the theme of Paradise Lost then, a reader does not have to accept Milton’s ideas as a vindication of God’s actions ; rather the reader needs to understand the idea of justice that lies behind the actions.
CHARACTERS LIST
Main Characters
Satan :-
The major figure for many readers is Satan, Partially because he is strong-willed, partially because he is introduced early in the poem, partially because his speeches are so rhetorical and dramatic, and partially because some of the idea he is arguing are on the surface receptive .what the writings of those who advance Satan to heroic stature medicate however is that they are not reading Books I and II carefully to discern the picture of Satan being presented. He does not deteriorate as the poem progresses he is a liar and self-deceiver from the beginning, he warps ideas and colors opinion by pejorative (but not honest ) language; he shows intemperance illogicality , wrath and deceit. Milton dose present his material with the focus appropriate for the substance and context ,so that Satan and his cohorts looked at in Hell, appear giant figures engaged in colossal action and idea.(For analogy without infernal implications we might compare the importance to us of say a school election when we are in school and the refocus which will come as we move out into the larger world.) However,Milton has not been deceitful in creating this impression,for the two similes (of the bees and the fairies ) which end Book I should make clear the discrepancy between Satan’s point of view and the relative view encompassing all elements in all worlds.
Adam :-
The crux for the interpretation of Adam’s character is his succumbing to the allurement of Eve. Adam falls because of uxoriousness, his love for Eve and her appeal to him. This fall in Book IX has been prepared for in Book VIII, as we have seen. Aside from this concern, the character of Adam has not elicited argument. Probably because he tends to meld into the texture of the poem and dose not stand out from it. His moral realizations in the last two books somewhat tend to characterize him as native and impressionable, but more of their effect is philosophic than dramatic.
Eve :-
The character of Eve is created largely in Book IX although we have been prepared for what happens there in Books IV and V. what we discern is a narcissistic personality, weak- willed and easily pliable of mind, one who thinks in terms of herself and her own needs. The effects of the fall, the despair of Book X with its possible suicide, and the discussions leading to hope because of the prophecy concerning Eve’s progeny are significant in themselves rather than for the development of an attitude toward her Eve all investigators have concluded, presents a better opinion of women than was usual in seventeenth century Puritanism. She is not presented as a mere possession of man to do his bidding without question she is not merely childbearer and housekeeper. Eve is not interested in such mental excurisions as the cosmology of Book VIII (she would rather hear any of this from Adam )and she sleeps through the visions of the future. But though mentally inferior to Adam and though concerned with love for Adam. Rather than for God , she is nonetheless presented as an individual who has feelings and personality wrongly disposed though they may be .
God :-
Primarily as a result, first, of the popular advancement of Satan as hero and secondly of the nonacceptance of Milton’s theology, the God of paradise Lost has in the twentieth century been criticized as harsh, vindictive, and unjust. This attitude develops because of the secaration of the godhead between Father and Son as speaking characters, because of the position of the Father as a kind of observer of the action, all of which he has foreseen, because the fallen angels cannot ever change the position according to the Father’s words in Book III, and because of the feeling that Adam and Eve could not a void falling . God the Father, of necessity ,has to enunciate the law under which the action takes place. Any individual in authority runs a like risk of antagonism, e.g. the school official who must warn against plagiarism and pass a harsh judgment when plagiarism has occurred. God lays down the rules of the game played in the arena of life. The son – who the erities forget is also God – presents love and mercy, and this emphasizes contingently the Father’s statement of rules and judgment when the rules are broken. The Son’s judgment in Book X is acceptable to God’s critics because Satan has been so degenerated in their eyes by this time and because Adam and Eve are shown mercy.
Other Characters
Sin:- The daughter of Satan
Death:- Death is Satan’s son and grand son. God says that both of them will be sealed in Hell after judgment day.
Beelzebub:- The devil second in rank to Satan. His name the term of “lord of the flies in the Bible.
Belial:- In the Bible , Belial is synonym for devil or an adjective meaning wickedness or destruction.
Mammon:- In the Bible he presented as a king but in Paradise Lost, he is called the “ Least erected “
Moloch:- He argues at the council for total war against God.
Mulciber:- Fallen angel who is the chief architect for pandemonium.
Michael:- He is loyal to God. He helps Adam by the story of biblical history of the world through the birth of Jesus.
Raphel:- Raphel was angel of man. He sent to earth to warn Adam and Eve not to Disobedience of God.
Garbriel:- In the Paradise Lost he is the angel who guards the gate of Eden.
Abdiel:- Host of Satan who plans to rebel and returns to God.
Zephron:- An assist Gabriel in guarding eden.
Ithuriel:- He capture satan whispering in Eve’s ear.
Urania:- Milton transforms her into Christian inspiration or the holy spirit.
Urie:- One of the seven archangels. He is tricked by Satan disguised as a cherub.
Style
Critics and fellow poets have paradise Milton’s poetic skill even when they have reacted adversely to his theology or to his personality or to specific parts of Paradise Lost. For example J.H.R Master man in his history of seventeenth century literature sees many weaknesses in the epic, but then he calls Milton’s poetry “the utmost measure of attainable excellence in metrical form.” It is difficult to define where in the greatness of poetry as of music lies, but some simple facts about Milton’s prosody should be noted.
Paradise Lost is written in blank verse, that is unrhymed iambic pentameter. (In other words the lines have five feet each foot usually consisting of two syllables with the accent on the second syllable.) In order to have the sound reflect the sense, or for variety and effectiveness, Milton frequently substitutes spondees (feet of two accented syllables) and irochees (feet of two syllables, with the first syllables stressed, the following unstressed) for the more regularly employed iambs. The use of blank verse, unbroken by set stanzas, permits the author to develop his ideas briefly or at length unhampered by a predetermined pattern.
Milton as a well-educated man of the seventeenth century wrote in Latin with almost as much ease as in English. It is not surprising, then that his choice of words (his diction) seem to our modern ears to be highly Latinized. One interesting point rises here. As Professor Frank Patterson, Milton’s great modern editor, used to tell his classes, Milton presumably expected his reader to have in mind the original Latin words as well as the later English word derived from it. Accordingly he hoped that through these connotations words with a Latin source would have added values or bring more vivid pictures to mind. For example, in Book I, line 46 when Satan was hurled from Heaven with “hideous ruin,” the Latin word ruina, meaning “a falling down” adds to the picture value. Or when in Book VI, line 619, Satan mockingly speaks of the use of gunpowder against the angels as having a “quick result” the Latin source of the words result gives a picture of the victims “ leaping back” One other influence of Milton’s Latin scholarship should be noted his frequent inversions in word order these do not surprise the ear of anyone accustomed to Latin sentence structure.
To emphasize his points and to appeal to the aesthetic senses of his readers, Milton uses many references, metaphors, and similes. (see the comment on Book I for a discussion of his Homeric similes.) For his comparisons he usually drew upon the Bible and upon classical mythology and literature. He lived in a period when a man of any education was far better acquainted with the Bible and the classics than most people are today. But even in his own day Milton was exceptionally well read remember that he devoted his life to study until after he was thirty. (It is obviously unfair to accuse him of making a deliberate display of his learning.)
From time to time Milton has passages with many proper names, usually of gods or places. One excellent critic, J.A. Symonds, said that these lists are “magnificent for their mere gorgeousness of sound.” Later critics have pointed out that these lists serve a more specific purpose at various points. C. S. Lewis , for instance , claims the sound of these “splendid, remote, terrible, voluptuous, or celebrated things” suggests the richness and variety of the world and so gives us a needed background for the action.
A minor device that Milton again and again uses effectively is to add a second adjective (or qualifying phrase) to an already modified noun. He speaks of “heavy days and cruel.” the “upright heart and pure,” “a sad task and hard.” Here Milton is showing and making good use of another side of his culture. T. H. Prince a modern critic, has shown this was common usage in the Italian poetry of Dante and Petrarch, two of the English poet’s favorite authors.
In noting these obvious points about Milton’s prosody, the reader should not forget Milton’s prevailing genius, what one of his earlier (James Prendeville) called one of the rarest perfections of poetry : the perfect “assimilation of the sound and the sense.”
Compare and contrast the character of Adam and Eve created by John Milton
By the creation of God Adam and Eve live together in the garden of Eden. They don’t know about the tree of knowledge.
Adam is a strong, intelligent and rational character. In fact, before the fall , he is as perfect as a human being can be. He understand his ideas and views , he also know that what is good or not . But he loves eve a lot. After fall his conversation with Michael during his visions is significantly one sided. He also ate the fruit of knowledge given by Eve.
Eve is a sinner character she is a created by Adam’s rib. She is beautiful , wise, and able. She is superior to Adam only in her beauty but the Satan as the serpent will use her innocents and fall her into guilt.
Milton is quick to note, however.
“ yet went she not as not with such discourse delighted , or not capable of her ear of what was high ,such pleasure she reserved.”
The fall of man ,then ,turns evil into good and that fact shows the justice the ways of God’s actions or in Milton’s terms “ justifies the ways of God to Men.”
Many questions are arising in our mind that if the God know everything about what will happen then why he created good human beings against Evil. Somewhere we think that God also responsible for this thing happened by Adam and Eve. It the God also become sinner in one or other way. His making of stepparent , sending him to Eden garden whispering talk with Eve trapping into plan created by satan these whole things the God knows verywell then how he creates evil if they make mistake then Eve and Adam are the common and innocent human beings.
Milton’s reality and seeds of imperfect world by God
The purpose of any of the religious book to teach ways of God to Men. What is man and God repetition and why do people suffer, why there is pain in life of human beings. If god has created the world why he created evil also it was also a god mistake. If God has created the world why he created imperfect world Evil. God has tp play minimum role to play in his life . In reality there is nothing but their creations of their own.
Here we can see that how Milton creates entire things and what was his ideas towards his epic. How does God deals with human beings where been he can care human beings or not. God is perfect he knows everything he makes the perfect world then why he creates the evil? There is something which is not controlled by God also. The question is that why evil was not controlled by God? Why we can see imperfect world? These all show that at that time Evil are not controlled by God also “ God is good ,God is judge god never makes any error”
God is not perfect at that time also otherwise the Evils can’t enters into perfect world. God makes mistake by making evils. So we are the Adam and Eve sinner? They don’t know about the fruit and ate by planning of serperent to trap both of them. Eve ate fruit because of Satan overcoming talks and Adam ate this fruit because of he loves Eve. So this that they are sinners then why should God not ? Who make evils ?
Religious Background
Throughout Paradise Lost Milton repeatedly states the main religious lets underlying the poem: The fundamental sin of both the fallen angels man was pride. (pride is here used in the theological sense of putting trust in oneself rather than in God, and all other sins stem from it this other use of pride should not be confused with its modern usage as a nonym for normal self esteem.) Both Adam and Eve manifested this sin of pride when they disobeyed God’s command not to taste the fruit of the Tree Knowledge. Again and again Milton stresses that obedience to God’s commands is basic to all virtue.
Milton believed that men have free will free will has to be governed reason. Eve allowed flattery to overcome her weaker, feminine reasoning powers; Adam allowed passion (his love Eve) to overcome his stronger, masculine reasoning powers. Both sinned and had to repent and to dept God’s punishment as just before they could hope for forgiveness and ronlemption. Having repented and acknowledged God’s justice, they could be forgiven, but they still had to pay the penalty for their acts – in their case, expulsion from the Garden of Eden and after suffering, Death. By the great paradox of Christianity, however, Death for true believers is the beginning of Eternal Life.
Much has been written about whether or not Milton was a Puritan. How orthodox he was in his religious beliefs is another question often caused. The answers, of course, depend upon the definitions of terms.
In the larger sense of the words Milton may be called Puritan that is he believed that man should seek the closest possible relationship with his maker, unhampered by rites and formal prayer. On the other hand, most puritans of the seventeenth century were Calvinists, and so believed in destination. Milton certainly was not a Calvinist; no man ever was firmer is his belief in free will and the power of reason. (Consideration of Milton’s obvious love of learning and music is beside the point here. Contrary to popular notions, many educated Puritans made no objection to anything cultural or aesthetic as long as, by it, man was led toward God rather than away from the Creator.
Most of Milton’s basic teaching in Paradise Lost is completely orthodox Christian doctrine. The possible exception is his presentation of the Trinity, a very complex point, and one in which terms have to be defined clearly, the changing definitions of words considered, and the necessity of presenting ideas graphically remembered. The reader of Paradise Lost should always keep in mind that Milton did not expect his descriptions of happenings in Heaven and his reports on conversations between God and His Son to be taken as literal truth, any more than he wanted the building of pandemonium in Hell to be regarded as other than symbolic. He carefully explains (see especially Book V 563-577) that all has to be reduced to terms understandable to man, that spiritual facts can be represented only in material terms.
"To evaluate my assignment, click here"
Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of English
Assignments
Name:- Rathod Neha R.
Class:- M.A. Sem-1
Roll No:- 33
Email Id:- neharathod108@gmail.com
Year:- 2015-2016
Paper No:- 1
Topic:- Milton’s Paradise lost
Introduction:-
Born Dec. 9, 1608, London, Eng.—died Nov. 8,
1674, London), English poet, pamphleteer, and historian, considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare.
Milton is best known for Paradise Lost, widely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English. Together with Paradise Regainedand Samson Agonistes, it confirms Milton’s reputation as one of the greatest English poets. In his prose works Milton advocated the abolition of the Church of England and the execution of King Charles I. From the beginning of the English Civil Wars in 1642 to long after the restoration of Charles II as king in 1660, he espoused in all his works a political philosophy that opposed tyranny and state-sanctioned religion. His influence extended not only through the civil wars and interregnum but also to the American and French revolutions. In his works on theology, he valued liberty of conscience, the paramount importance of Scripture as a guide in matters of faith, and religious toleration toward dissidents. As a civil servant, Milton became the voice of the English Commonwealth after 1649 through his handling of its international correspondence and his defense of the government against polemical attacks from abroad.
Paradise Lost ( Book IX )
John Milton ( 1667 )
Major Theme in Paradise Lost :-
Modern criticism of Paradise Lost has taken many different views of Milton’s idea 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. He was not always completely orthodox in his ideas, but he was devout. His purpose or theme in Paradise Lost is relatively easy to see, if not to accept.
Milton begins Paradise Lost by saying that he will sing , “Of Man’s First Disobedience” (I,1)so that he can “assert Eternal Providence,/ And justify the ways of God to men” (I,25-26). The purpose or theme of Paradise Lost then is religious and has three parts:
1) Disobedience
2) Eternal Providence
3) Justification
Of God to men.Frequently, discussion of Paradise Lost center on the latter of these three to the exclusion of the first two. And, just as frequently, readers and those casually acquainted with Paradise Lost misunderstand what Milton means by the word justify, assuming that Milton is rather arrogantly asserting that God’s action and motives seem so arbitrary that they require vindication and explanation.
However, Milton’s idea of justification is not as arrogant as many readers think, Milton does not use the word justification in its modern sense of proving that an action is or was proper. Such a reading of justify would mean that Milton is taking it upon himself to explain the propriety of God’s actions – a presumptuous undertaking when one is dealing with any deity. Rather, Milton uses justify in the sense of showing the justice that underlies an action. Milton wishes to show that the fall, death, and salvation are all acts of a just God. To understand the theme of Paradise Lost then, a reader does not have to accept Milton’s ideas as a vindication of God’s actions ; rather the reader needs to understand the idea of justice that lies behind the actions.
CHARACTERS LIST
Main Characters
Satan :-
The major figure for many readers is Satan, Partially because he is strong-willed, partially because he is introduced early in the poem, partially because his speeches are so rhetorical and dramatic, and partially because some of the idea he is arguing are on the surface receptive .what the writings of those who advance Satan to heroic stature medicate however is that they are not reading Books I and II carefully to discern the picture of Satan being presented. He does not deteriorate as the poem progresses he is a liar and self-deceiver from the beginning, he warps ideas and colors opinion by pejorative (but not honest ) language; he shows intemperance illogicality , wrath and deceit. Milton dose present his material with the focus appropriate for the substance and context ,so that Satan and his cohorts looked at in Hell, appear giant figures engaged in colossal action and idea.(For analogy without infernal implications we might compare the importance to us of say a school election when we are in school and the refocus which will come as we move out into the larger world.) However,Milton has not been deceitful in creating this impression,for the two similes (of the bees and the fairies ) which end Book I should make clear the discrepancy between Satan’s point of view and the relative view encompassing all elements in all worlds.
Adam :-
The crux for the interpretation of Adam’s character is his succumbing to the allurement of Eve. Adam falls because of uxoriousness, his love for Eve and her appeal to him. This fall in Book IX has been prepared for in Book VIII, as we have seen. Aside from this concern, the character of Adam has not elicited argument. Probably because he tends to meld into the texture of the poem and dose not stand out from it. His moral realizations in the last two books somewhat tend to characterize him as native and impressionable, but more of their effect is philosophic than dramatic.
Eve :-
The character of Eve is created largely in Book IX although we have been prepared for what happens there in Books IV and V. what we discern is a narcissistic personality, weak- willed and easily pliable of mind, one who thinks in terms of herself and her own needs. The effects of the fall, the despair of Book X with its possible suicide, and the discussions leading to hope because of the prophecy concerning Eve’s progeny are significant in themselves rather than for the development of an attitude toward her Eve all investigators have concluded, presents a better opinion of women than was usual in seventeenth century Puritanism. She is not presented as a mere possession of man to do his bidding without question she is not merely childbearer and housekeeper. Eve is not interested in such mental excurisions as the cosmology of Book VIII (she would rather hear any of this from Adam )and she sleeps through the visions of the future. But though mentally inferior to Adam and though concerned with love for Adam. Rather than for God , she is nonetheless presented as an individual who has feelings and personality wrongly disposed though they may be .
God :-
Primarily as a result, first, of the popular advancement of Satan as hero and secondly of the nonacceptance of Milton’s theology, the God of paradise Lost has in the twentieth century been criticized as harsh, vindictive, and unjust. This attitude develops because of the secaration of the godhead between Father and Son as speaking characters, because of the position of the Father as a kind of observer of the action, all of which he has foreseen, because the fallen angels cannot ever change the position according to the Father’s words in Book III, and because of the feeling that Adam and Eve could not a void falling . God the Father, of necessity ,has to enunciate the law under which the action takes place. Any individual in authority runs a like risk of antagonism, e.g. the school official who must warn against plagiarism and pass a harsh judgment when plagiarism has occurred. God lays down the rules of the game played in the arena of life. The son – who the erities forget is also God – presents love and mercy, and this emphasizes contingently the Father’s statement of rules and judgment when the rules are broken. The Son’s judgment in Book X is acceptable to God’s critics because Satan has been so degenerated in their eyes by this time and because Adam and Eve are shown mercy.
Other Characters
Sin:- The daughter of Satan
Death:- Death is Satan’s son and grand son. God says that both of them will be sealed in Hell after judgment day.
Beelzebub:- The devil second in rank to Satan. His name the term of “lord of the flies in the Bible.
Belial:- In the Bible , Belial is synonym for devil or an adjective meaning wickedness or destruction.
Mammon:- In the Bible he presented as a king but in Paradise Lost, he is called the “ Least erected “
Moloch:- He argues at the council for total war against God.
Mulciber:- Fallen angel who is the chief architect for pandemonium.
Michael:- He is loyal to God. He helps Adam by the story of biblical history of the world through the birth of Jesus.
Raphel:- Raphel was angel of man. He sent to earth to warn Adam and Eve not to Disobedience of God.
Garbriel:- In the Paradise Lost he is the angel who guards the gate of Eden.
Abdiel:- Host of Satan who plans to rebel and returns to God.
Zephron:- An assist Gabriel in guarding eden.
Ithuriel:- He capture satan whispering in Eve’s ear.
Urania:- Milton transforms her into Christian inspiration or the holy spirit.
Urie:- One of the seven archangels. He is tricked by Satan disguised as a cherub.
Style
Critics and fellow poets have paradise Milton’s poetic skill even when they have reacted adversely to his theology or to his personality or to specific parts of Paradise Lost. For example J.H.R Master man in his history of seventeenth century literature sees many weaknesses in the epic, but then he calls Milton’s poetry “the utmost measure of attainable excellence in metrical form.” It is difficult to define where in the greatness of poetry as of music lies, but some simple facts about Milton’s prosody should be noted.
Paradise Lost is written in blank verse, that is unrhymed iambic pentameter. (In other words the lines have five feet each foot usually consisting of two syllables with the accent on the second syllable.) In order to have the sound reflect the sense, or for variety and effectiveness, Milton frequently substitutes spondees (feet of two accented syllables) and irochees (feet of two syllables, with the first syllables stressed, the following unstressed) for the more regularly employed iambs. The use of blank verse, unbroken by set stanzas, permits the author to develop his ideas briefly or at length unhampered by a predetermined pattern.
Milton as a well-educated man of the seventeenth century wrote in Latin with almost as much ease as in English. It is not surprising, then that his choice of words (his diction) seem to our modern ears to be highly Latinized. One interesting point rises here. As Professor Frank Patterson, Milton’s great modern editor, used to tell his classes, Milton presumably expected his reader to have in mind the original Latin words as well as the later English word derived from it. Accordingly he hoped that through these connotations words with a Latin source would have added values or bring more vivid pictures to mind. For example, in Book I, line 46 when Satan was hurled from Heaven with “hideous ruin,” the Latin word ruina, meaning “a falling down” adds to the picture value. Or when in Book VI, line 619, Satan mockingly speaks of the use of gunpowder against the angels as having a “quick result” the Latin source of the words result gives a picture of the victims “ leaping back” One other influence of Milton’s Latin scholarship should be noted his frequent inversions in word order these do not surprise the ear of anyone accustomed to Latin sentence structure.
To emphasize his points and to appeal to the aesthetic senses of his readers, Milton uses many references, metaphors, and similes. (see the comment on Book I for a discussion of his Homeric similes.) For his comparisons he usually drew upon the Bible and upon classical mythology and literature. He lived in a period when a man of any education was far better acquainted with the Bible and the classics than most people are today. But even in his own day Milton was exceptionally well read remember that he devoted his life to study until after he was thirty. (It is obviously unfair to accuse him of making a deliberate display of his learning.)
From time to time Milton has passages with many proper names, usually of gods or places. One excellent critic, J.A. Symonds, said that these lists are “magnificent for their mere gorgeousness of sound.” Later critics have pointed out that these lists serve a more specific purpose at various points. C. S. Lewis , for instance , claims the sound of these “splendid, remote, terrible, voluptuous, or celebrated things” suggests the richness and variety of the world and so gives us a needed background for the action.
A minor device that Milton again and again uses effectively is to add a second adjective (or qualifying phrase) to an already modified noun. He speaks of “heavy days and cruel.” the “upright heart and pure,” “a sad task and hard.” Here Milton is showing and making good use of another side of his culture. T. H. Prince a modern critic, has shown this was common usage in the Italian poetry of Dante and Petrarch, two of the English poet’s favorite authors.
In noting these obvious points about Milton’s prosody, the reader should not forget Milton’s prevailing genius, what one of his earlier (James Prendeville) called one of the rarest perfections of poetry : the perfect “assimilation of the sound and the sense.”
Compare and contrast the character of Adam and Eve created by John Milton
By the creation of God Adam and Eve live together in the garden of Eden. They don’t know about the tree of knowledge.
Adam is a strong, intelligent and rational character. In fact, before the fall , he is as perfect as a human being can be. He understand his ideas and views , he also know that what is good or not . But he loves eve a lot. After fall his conversation with Michael during his visions is significantly one sided. He also ate the fruit of knowledge given by Eve.
Eve is a sinner character she is a created by Adam’s rib. She is beautiful , wise, and able. She is superior to Adam only in her beauty but the Satan as the serpent will use her innocents and fall her into guilt.
Milton is quick to note, however.
“ yet went she not as not with such discourse delighted , or not capable of her ear of what was high ,such pleasure she reserved.”
The fall of man ,then ,turns evil into good and that fact shows the justice the ways of God’s actions or in Milton’s terms “ justifies the ways of God to Men.”
Many questions are arising in our mind that if the God know everything about what will happen then why he created good human beings against Evil. Somewhere we think that God also responsible for this thing happened by Adam and Eve. It the God also become sinner in one or other way. His making of stepparent , sending him to Eden garden whispering talk with Eve trapping into plan created by satan these whole things the God knows verywell then how he creates evil if they make mistake then Eve and Adam are the common and innocent human beings.
Milton’s reality and seeds of imperfect world by God
The purpose of any of the religious book to teach ways of God to Men. What is man and God repetition and why do people suffer, why there is pain in life of human beings. If god has created the world why he created evil also it was also a god mistake. If God has created the world why he created imperfect world Evil. God has tp play minimum role to play in his life . In reality there is nothing but their creations of their own.
Here we can see that how Milton creates entire things and what was his ideas towards his epic. How does God deals with human beings where been he can care human beings or not. God is perfect he knows everything he makes the perfect world then why he creates the evil? There is something which is not controlled by God also. The question is that why evil was not controlled by God? Why we can see imperfect world? These all show that at that time Evil are not controlled by God also “ God is good ,God is judge god never makes any error”
God is not perfect at that time also otherwise the Evils can’t enters into perfect world. God makes mistake by making evils. So we are the Adam and Eve sinner? They don’t know about the fruit and ate by planning of serperent to trap both of them. Eve ate fruit because of Satan overcoming talks and Adam ate this fruit because of he loves Eve. So this that they are sinners then why should God not ? Who make evils ?
Religious Background
Throughout Paradise Lost Milton repeatedly states the main religious lets underlying the poem: The fundamental sin of both the fallen angels man was pride. (pride is here used in the theological sense of putting trust in oneself rather than in God, and all other sins stem from it this other use of pride should not be confused with its modern usage as a nonym for normal self esteem.) Both Adam and Eve manifested this sin of pride when they disobeyed God’s command not to taste the fruit of the Tree Knowledge. Again and again Milton stresses that obedience to God’s commands is basic to all virtue.
Milton believed that men have free will free will has to be governed reason. Eve allowed flattery to overcome her weaker, feminine reasoning powers; Adam allowed passion (his love Eve) to overcome his stronger, masculine reasoning powers. Both sinned and had to repent and to dept God’s punishment as just before they could hope for forgiveness and ronlemption. Having repented and acknowledged God’s justice, they could be forgiven, but they still had to pay the penalty for their acts – in their case, expulsion from the Garden of Eden and after suffering, Death. By the great paradox of Christianity, however, Death for true believers is the beginning of Eternal Life.
Much has been written about whether or not Milton was a Puritan. How orthodox he was in his religious beliefs is another question often caused. The answers, of course, depend upon the definitions of terms.
In the larger sense of the words Milton may be called Puritan that is he believed that man should seek the closest possible relationship with his maker, unhampered by rites and formal prayer. On the other hand, most puritans of the seventeenth century were Calvinists, and so believed in destination. Milton certainly was not a Calvinist; no man ever was firmer is his belief in free will and the power of reason. (Consideration of Milton’s obvious love of learning and music is beside the point here. Contrary to popular notions, many educated Puritans made no objection to anything cultural or aesthetic as long as, by it, man was led toward God rather than away from the Creator.
Most of Milton’s basic teaching in Paradise Lost is completely orthodox Christian doctrine. The possible exception is his presentation of the Trinity, a very complex point, and one in which terms have to be defined clearly, the changing definitions of words considered, and the necessity of presenting ideas graphically remembered. The reader of Paradise Lost should always keep in mind that Milton did not expect his descriptions of happenings in Heaven and his reports on conversations between God and His Son to be taken as literal truth, any more than he wanted the building of pandemonium in Hell to be regarded as other than symbolic. He carefully explains (see especially Book V 563-577) that all has to be reduced to terms understandable to man, that spiritual facts can be represented only in material terms.
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