Intestine War and the Smell of Mortal Change: Troping the Digestive Tract in Milton's Paradise Lost (original) (raw)
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Rethinking Digestive Ontology and Narrative Theodicy in John Milton's Paradise Lost
Rethinking Digestive Ontology and Narrative Theodicy in John Milton's Paradise Lost, 2019
This thesis reconsiders the common critical consensus that John Milton was a monistic materialist. What underlies this consensus is the digestive ontological model presented by the archangel Raphael in Book V of Paradise Lost. I discuss the authority, applicability and function of Raphael’s digestive ontology with due consideration for the emphatic fallibility of Miltonic angels. Raphael’s digestive ontology—according to which every form of creation engages in digestion—relies on his authority alone and has no divine sanction. Details within the epic indicate that his digestive ontology fails to thoroughly account for the operations of the prelapsarian universe, particularly prelapsarian human bodies. Furthermore, certain striking resemblances between Raphael’s digestive ontology and Satan’s discourse demand us to hold its function more suspect. This thesis argues that closer scrutiny of Raphael’s role is mandated by the dissonances he creates in Paradise Lost. I conclude that Raphael’s digestive ontology and his unreliability as a narrator reveal a body of evidence that urges readers to find the fallible Raphael, not the infallible God, accountable for the Fall. The complexity of his epic project necessitates this maneuver by Milton. As a narrative theodicy, Paradise Lost has to tackle the epistemological crises the problem of evil causes, as well as the conflicting imperatives of narrative and theodicy. Therefore, the ultimate importance of Raphael’s digestive ontology is not determined by how much it proves that Milton was a monistic materialist but by how much it contributes to Milton’s poetic theodicy.
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The Falls of Satan, Eve, and Adam in John Milton’s Paradise Lost: A Study in Insincerity
Christianity & Literature
This article examines the falls of Satan, Eve, and Adam in Milton’s Paradise Lost, arguing that these characters demonstrate neither sincere theology nor genuinely sincere behavior in their initial transgressions and continued unrepentant behavior. In analyzing matters of sincerity concerning these characters, this article interacts with numerous voices in the history of Paradise Lost criticism, particularly those critics who, advocating a Romantic understanding of sincerity against traditional Christianity, have defended the decisions of Satan, Eve, and Adam to transgress against God’s commands. This article also examines Adam and Eve’s sincere repentance later in Milton’s epic.
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The Old English Genesis and Milton's Paradise Lost: the characterisation of Satan
The aim of this study is to determine whether and to what extent the English poet John Milton may have been influenced in the composition of Paradise Lost by the Old English poem known as Genesis B. The paper will examine similarities and differences in the characterisation of Satan and of the temptation of Adam and Eve in both poems. The comparison between two of the illuminations of the Junius 11 ms. and the corresponding passages in Paradise Lost will be part of the analysis.
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SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: The Sublime, Sympathy, and Tragic Heroism in John Milton’s Paradise Lost
2019
The aim for this thesis is to analyze and show how the intertwining of the notion of the sublime according to pre-Milton critic Longinus and post-Milton critic Edmund Burke and the notion of sympathy according to Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Blake could be seen as amplifying the argument of Satan being the tragic hero of Paradise Lost. The rhetorical sublime by Longinus focused on grandeur of style, and the natural sublime by Burke focused on the limits of reason and obscurity are both present in Paradise Lost and show how Satan could be seen as a sublime character through the elevation of the reader. Sublime imagery is further used to enhance the feeling of sympathy, as interpreted by Burke, for Milton’s Satan. God’s tyrannical nature, Satan’s tyrannical duality, and ultimately his fall to Hell show misfortune in Satan’s character and this misfortune instigates the reader to put themselves in place of Satan. By analyzing works by Longinus, Edmund Burke, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake, and a close reading of Milton’s Paradise Lost, I conclude that both notions of the sublime and sympathy are intertwined and amplify Satan as the tragic hero of Paradise Lost.
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“Free to fall”: The Temptation of Satan’s Rhetoric in Paradise Lost
John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost has inspired debate among readers over the last several centuries. Chief among the topics of dispute is that of Milton’s intention in creating Satan as an almost-heroic figure with whom readers can sympathize. Indeed, in Books 1 and 2 of Paradise Lost, Satan initially seems like the antithesis to the monarchy which Milton, in his personal and political lives, despised. It is altogether tempting to view Satan as a new-fangled Achilles; however, Satan’s image as a heroic figure is continually undercut by the binary oppositional holy and demonic rhetoric used throughout the poem. Satan’s politically-driven rhetoric of Books 1 and 2 is undoubtedly alluring, especially for contemporary readers who have become well-versed in political oratory. However, while Satan’s theological rhetoric is captivating, Milton’s provision of choice in the reader being “Free to fall” alongside Satan parallels the choices made by Adam and Eve; yet, unlike Adam and Eve, the reader is armed with knowledge of evil and is aware of Satan’s deceptive nature (3.99). Milton’s intention with Satan, therefore, is to not only portray the devious nature of the arch-fiend but to have him serve as a functional demonstration of choice between holy reason and its demonic parody. This paper provides a deconstructive analysis of the way in which Satan, like all human beings, is grappling with the meaning of God’s language.
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