Paradise Lost, John Milton | Introduction
Paradise Lost John Milton
The following entry presents criticism of Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (published in ten books in 1667; enlarged into twelve books in 1674). For discussion of Milton's complete career, see LC, Volumes 9 and 43.
INTRODUCTION
The story of the Fall of Man is known to many people not so much through the Bible as through John Milton's Paradise Lost. Milton's epic presents a version of Genesis that has become part of biblical lore, to the extent that many Christians who have never read the work nonetheless base their understanding of the Creation and the Fall on Milton's additions and elaborations. The poem's tremendous influence aside, the sheer breadth of Milton's undertaking and the unparalleled beauty of his verse have made Paradise Lost one of the most significant works in the English literary canon, and poets from his own era to the present have cited Milton as a major influence.
Biographical Information
Milton's greatest poem was first published not long after his fortunes had sunk to their lowest level. As a religious and political dissenter, Milton had been a supporter of the Commonwealth government of Oliver Cromwell. He had been strongly critical of King Charles I, whose execution marked the Interregnum period during which Milton acted as the Secretary for the Foreign Tongues for the Council of State and wrote several political tracts opposing the former monarchy. Among them was Eikonoklastes (1649), an answer to Charles I's Eikon Basilike, a work purportedly written the night before his execution, in which Charles depicted himself as a royal martyr. Although he became totally blind in 1652, Milton continued his duties as Secretary, hiring Andrew Marvell in 1653 to act as his assistant. Upon the death of Cromwell in September of 1658, however, the Commonwealth government became unstable. By mid-1659, Milton had gone into hiding. Parliament began pursuing his arrest, and his books—A Defense of the English People (1651) and Eikonoklastes especially—were burned publicly. Milton moved from house to house that year until he was captured and imprisoned for approximately two months. Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, and although Milton was pardoned, his personal life remained troubled: his marriage to his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, in 1663, infuriated his daughters from his first marriage, who may have attempted retaliation by disposing of his books. He escaped the plague of 1665 by leaving London, but the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed his father's house. He had, however, finished Paradise Lost in 1664, according to some sources, and succeeded in publishing it in 1667; his contract with the printer Samuel Simmons is the earliest surviving author's contract. The poem was published again in a slightly expanded second edition in 1674, with prefatory poems by “S. B.” and Marvell. Thanks in large part to Paradise Lost, recognition of Milton's skill and talent as a poet had grown considerably by the time of his death that year.
Plot and Major Characters
Paradise Lost tells a story that is among the most familiar in Judaic and Christian cultures: the story of the Fall of humanity in Eden. The central figures in the poem include God, Jesus, Satan, Adam, Eve, and the archangels Raphael and Michael. Book 1 begins as Satan awakes in hell, having lost his rebellion against God in heaven. He awakens his followers; begins to plot revenge against God by corrupting God's newest creation, Man; and convenes a council of the fallen angels. Book 2 recounts the proceedings of this council, during which Satan volunteers to search out earth and this new creation. He escapes hell, passing through the gate guarded by Sin and Death, crosses the vast gulf between hell and heaven, and comes to the edge of the universe. In Book 3 God, who sees all, is aware of Satan's plan and creates a remedy for Man's imminent fall: the Son (Jesus) will come to earth and conquer death. In the meantime, Satan makes his way toward earth, deceiving the angel Uriel, who guards the way. Uriel directs Satan to earth. In Book 4 Satan finds Eden. There he sees Adam and Eve and listens to them talk. The couple recall their creation and their first meeting, and Satan burns with grief and jealousy. That night, in the shape of a toad at Eve's ear, Satan influences her dreams as she sleeps. However, he is discovered by angels guarding Paradise and departs. Book 5 opens with Eve relating her dream to Adam. In the dream, Satan, appearing as a good angel, leads Eve to the forbidden tree, eats the fruit, and encourages her to do the same. Later, the angel Raphael comes to talk to Adam and warns him of Satan's plans. In response to Adam's questions, Raphael relates the story of the war in heaven. This narration concludes Book 5 and continues through all of Book 6. In response to further questions from Adam, Raphael recounts the story of the Creation in Book 7. In Book 8 Adam in turn tells Raphael about what he recalls since his creation and the creation of Eve, the partner whom he requested from God, and they discuss the nature of human love. Book 9 presents the downfall first of Eve then of Adam. Satan sneaks back into the garden and hides inside a serpent. The next morning, as Eve is working in the garden, he goes to her and convinces her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, although she knows God has forbidden it. Knowing she has done wrong, and unable to bear being separated from Adam, she convinces him to eat the fruit too. From that moment, lust and anger define their relationship. In Book 10 the Son comes to judge Adam and Eve, who refuse to take responsibility for their actions. They are to be expelled from Eden. Eve will experience pain in childbirth and must submit to the will of her husband; Adam must labor for his food. Both will know death. Sin and Death are pleased with Satan's success and make plans to come live on earth, building a bridge between earth and hell in order to ease the path between them. Satan returns to hell to celebrate with the other fallen angels, but they are all turned into snakes. God reorders the heavens and earth, bringing about harsh weather and climates. Adam and Eve are despondent, and Eve considers suicide before Adam relents in his anger. They decide to ask God for forgiveness and are glad that they are still together. In Book 11 the Son is moved by their remorse and intercedes for them with God. God forgives them but insists that they leave Paradise, sending Michael to guide them out and instruct them on proper living. Beginning in Book 11 and continuing into Book 12, Michael shows Adam a vision of the future, telling the stories of Cain and Abel, Abraham, Moses, David, and other Old Testament figures. He also reassures Adam that the Son will come and conquer death by taking on Adam's punishment himself. Michael also tells Adam that although they must leave Paradise, God is everywhere on earth and will be near them. Michael then leads Adam and Eve to the gates of Paradise, and they set off in the world together, hand in hand.
Major Themes
Milton's stated purpose in Paradise Lost was to “justify the ways of God to man.” Central to this project was defining the nature of obedience, free will, and just authority. Satan provides a foil for God, setting up an illegitimate kingdom in hell that contrasts with the natural and just rule of God in heaven. Satan's arguments are often compelling: he claims the angels have liberty in hell, if not comfort, and he opposes the hierarchies of heaven. The contrast compels readers to judge the true nature of liberty and the true source of authority, and encourages them to distinguish between genuine freedom and mere lawlessness or chaos, while firmly asserting humanity's free will with respect to God. Among the hierarchies of greatest interest to Milton in Paradise Lost is that found in marriage. As some critics have noted, Milton spends a large amount of time establishing and reinforcing an idea that almost no one in his age would have seriously contested: the inferiority of women to men. The extent to which the poem actually portrays women as inferior has long been a matter of debate, but it clearly states, more than once, that women must be in a mediated position: Eve relates to God through Adam; she is in the background when Adam talks to the angels; she is expected to follow Adam's lead. Nonetheless, despite the repeated stress on Eve's lower position with respect to Adam, the poem also describes in detail the ideal nature of wedded love as ordained by God. In long passages discussing love and marriage, Milton portrays the model relationship as an equal partnership of shared labor. God creates Eve to provide Adam with a companion worthy of him, after Adam complains that the beasts are not enough. While she is not Adam's equal in reason, she has merits he lacks, and enough reason to be fit for mutual conversation and work. Among the most fascinating of Adam and Eve's conversations are those in which they discuss their creation and self-recognition. The development of selfhood and the recognition of others as distinct from the self is a crucial part of Milton's creation story. In particular, Eve's awakening and subsequent introduction to Adam is a model for the gradual human development of self-awareness.
Critical Reception
Milton's poetic contemporaries were generally awed by his achievement. John Dryden, the leading poet of Restoration society, remarked that in Paradise Lost Milton had outdone any other poet of his time: “This man has cut us all out, and the ancients too,” he was reported to have said. Some scholars have verified Dryden's assessment, suggesting that the decline of the epic genre was the direct result of Milton's supreme achievement, making any further efforts in the epic impossible and superfluous. Although in many ways Milton was very much out of step with his contemporaries—religiously, politically, and artistically—his accomplishment in Paradise Lost was readily acknowledged, and his stature as a poet only increased through the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth, perhaps reaching a peak during the Romantic era. Romantic poets, including John Keats, William Blake, and Percy Shelley, celebrated Milton's genius and drew heavily from his influence. By the early twentieth century, however, some literary scholars began to question Milton's talent. Inconsistencies in the poem became a target for the criticism of such luminaries as F. R. Leavis and T. S. Eliot. Milton's artistry and reputation was already established, however. Criticism of the later twentieth century falls generally into three broad schools: political readings of the work, stylistic readings, and thematic interpretations. Scholars take for granted that Paradise Lost reflects Milton's frustration with the failed Revolution. Joan Bennett has argued that Milton's depiction of Satan has strong connections to Charles I, linking his exploration of tyranny in Paradise Lost to his prose writings on the tyranny of the monarchy. More broadly, historian Christopher Hill has suggested that the Fall of Man was for Milton analogous to the collapse of the Commonwealth government, each constituting a failure of humanity to choose the right path. Criticism on the form of Paradise Lost has investigated Milton's innovations with the epic: Mary Ann Radzinowicz has detailed the poet's adaptation of psalm genres to the epic form, and Barbara Kiefer Lewalski has found that Milton appropriated a wide variety of genres to create the multiple voices of his characters, particularly in the difficult task of characterizing God. Among the studies of the major themes in the poem, scholarship on Milton and women has been dominant. Opinions on Milton's misogyny or feminism have varied widely, with some scholars declaring that Milton was obsessed with the inherent wickedness of women, and others finding Milton to be a true champion of women's worth. More nuanced readings of Paradise Lost have acknowledged Milton's insistence on women's subordination while also observing how the poem portrays women as independent humans with free will. Diane Kelsey McColley's study of Eve in Paradise Lost was among the first important studies attempting to strike a balance in the interpretation of Milton's depiction of the first woman. Other critics, such as Maureen Quilligan, have noted that much of the movement of the poem depends upon Eve and her use of free will. And, as Linda Gregerson has argued, Milton's narration of Eve's coming to selfhood makes Eve, and not Adam, the model for human subjectivity.
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