Justifying the Ways of God in Milton's Paradise Lost
Through Paradise Lost, Milton ?justifies the ways of God to men?, he explains why man fell and how he is affected by the fall. He shows that although man had a fall it was a fortunate fall, ?felix culpa?. As a result of the fall there are bad outcomes that man and women will endure but it was a fulfillment of God?s purpose. In creating man, God gave him free will; he created him a perfect being but ?free to fall?. In God?s plan man will fall by his own fault. This allows God to show mercy on man and allow man to chose to be obedient and to love God by his own choice and to eventually end up in a better place. If man had not fallen then there would be no coming of Christ the savior, and no redemption, which are apart of God?s plan. When Christ dies for man, he begins the process of redemption leading to the Last Judgement Day and to a new earth and heaven. Although mankind will suffer consequences, they will find grace and mercy through God?s glory and through experience and knowledge they will be able to express sincere love and know true happiness.
Milton begins this epic poem by telling men what is going to happen to man through God?s prophecy. God speaks of the fall and the ultimate outcome. When God created mankind he gave them free will, this free will is what allowed them to fall. God gave them free will because without freedom there would be no evidence that man?s love is genuine: ? Not free, what proof could they have giv?n sincere? (III, 103). God allows Satan to rally his troops and continue on his battle against heaven: ?And high permission of all-ruling-Heaven/ Left him at large to his own dark designs? (I, 212-13). God does this because Sat...
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...ghest victory? (XII, 568-69). Finally Adam expresses that he will never leave Paradise because he will always have it within him: ?but shalt possess/ A paradise within thee, happier far? (XII, 586-87). Adam takes what he can from the fall and makes it to his best ability, a fortunate one. Eve has had the pain of child birthing put on her as a punishment. She takes this a makes it a good thing: ?I carry hence; though all by me is lost,/Such favor I unworthy vouchsafed,/ By me the Promised Seed shall all restore? (XII 621-23). Eve is saying that isn?t even worthy of this gift, ?favor?, creating her own felix culpa out of herfall. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and for that there were punishments, however they both turned it around and made it the best as possible.
Works Cited:
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1975.
...to mankind in Paradise Lost - one of the fundamental concepts in Christianity and vital to Milton's objective to "justify the ways of God to men" (1, 26) - the gods in the Aeneid are continually reminding Aeneas that he cannot afford to be distractive by the temptresses that are women because the future of Rome lays in his hands. Milton's God, on the other hand, allows Eve to fall and her blatant transgression caused the loss of paradise and all of creation has to experience the consequences of original sin. In Paradise Lost Eve was expected to submit to her ultimate authority, Adam. Rather, it is Adam in Book IX who submits to Eve's unreasonable discourse on separation. Indeed, the implication of a man (as a superior being) succumbing to feminine wiles and passion is an intense concept which - for both Virgil and Milton - threatened the very basis of their society.
Milton’s theodicy is shown as a way to explain why if God is all loving, why he lets bad things happen to us. His basic concept is that because Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, many consequences came after. For example children dying of cancer. Many times in our lives things happen that we don’t think are good necessarily, but good things come from bad things. The choices we make have consequences and, but sometimes we are given trial for, what we believe, is no particular reason. This has been the question from the beginning. Milton decided to write this because it is on everyone 's mind, and he wanted to challenge Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey. Milton was successful, in that, his book is well known, but The Iliad and The Odyssey are still the basis of human thought. Everyone in their lifetimes wants to accomplish something that will help them to be more successful than they are now. This was Milton’s thought process. Who wouldn’t want to write a book and have it be considered the basis of human thought and maybe even the book people associate with our nation? Most people would, this is why Milton tried and somewhat had a success. The
The fall of mankind with Adam and Eve caused an imbalance in the relations between God and mankind. To achieve salvation, this inequity had ...
Without the freedom of choice, a person's actions are not sincere or meaningful. As a part of God's ultimate plan, he gives the angels in Heaven and Adam and Eve free will in their actions. By doing so, God heightens his own power because his following is strong and faithful. Satan's character, on the other hand, gains followers out of fear. As a result, he does not attain the same power that God does, which helps to support the thesis that true power can only be gained with free will. Milton also adds depth to this concept by connecting the power of knowledge to free will.
The attention Milton gives to each character, and their specific personality, allows us to interpret their actions as consciously chosen deeds within the larger framework of the poem. Great detail is given to the idea of "creation". Beyond that of the creation of the world in Book I, there are many instances where the act of creation itself becomes an act of endowing power on some object or person. The most obvious example would be the creation of Adam and Eve by God. By creating the pair, God, desires them to glorify His ways through their praises and deeds. He gives them enough power over their destiny to choose to worship Him as the Almighty. The fact that they have free will is important to God because they choose to give Him praise despite any outside temptation. There is one obvious drawback to this kind of power. They chose to follow Satan’s beguiling words. The fact that they had the free will to follow Satan’s words meant that their decision was cosmically more important because it was arrived at through conscious thought. We can see this idea of power demonstrated throughout Paradise Lost. The dual relationship between the beneficial act of bestowing power at the time of creation and the negative side of the free will to use that power freely, shows up within every character. Instances of creation appear in every book, and can be associated with every character. Some of the first appearances of the word "author" are connected with the idea of creation. In Book III, the throngs of assembled angels say,"Eternal King, the Author of all being/Fountain of light, thyself invisible/..." (III, 376-7) Here God is portrayed as the great originator of everything in all of creation. To be the "author" of something is to be the creator, much the same way as Milton himself is creating the world of the poem. In virtually every instance the act of "authoring", is associated with images of primacy and legitimacy. The ultimate act of creation, that of shaping the physical world itself, brings about another reference to this idea.
Paradise Lost is an epic poem portraying John Milton’s theological standpoints. The theme is knowledge and the fall of man. Milton uses his poem to state some of his theological beliefs and his personal reflections. Milton wrote Paradise Lost in the 17th century but uses influence from classic poets. Milton’s epic is an extremely important piece of literature. The excerpt used in this commentary takes on the subjects of sin and the punishment with regards to the atonement from God’s point of view. Milton’s states many of his own theological opinions but wants the reader to know that God is justified in everything that he does, and also wants them to know that man has free will.
Milton held strongly antipathetic views with regard to tyrannical authorities. He created numerous pamphlets to protest the regime of unjust rulers such as King Charles I. Blake suggested that Milton’s opposition to tyranny was also applicable to the authority of God. Both Satan and Milton expressed similar rebellious sentiments. In Paradise Lost, Satan speaks of God’s unjust rule, which parallels Milton’s philosophy regarding tyrannical princes and kings of his day. For example, Satan says to his followers that “All is not lost; the unconquerable Will / And study of revenge, immortal hate / And courage never to submit or yield” (106-108).
...lects a political standpoint, a hierarchy of social status, and the issue of authority and free will. By subtly voicing his political opinion within the characters and situations he develops a modern day understanding of government throughout the epic. In addition he portrays the importance of social status that is still influential in today’s society as well as at that time. The use of God and His role presents a scope of free will and authoritative actions that are consistent in the structure of society as well. Although Milton introduces in an obvious biblical sense at first, he provides indirect representations of social order that can still prove relevant today. Breaking down these interpretations, Milton satisfies a substantial modern idea other than religion. Paradise Lost repeatedly directs us back to the importance and influence of structure in our society.
From the beginning of book 1 the war in heaven seems more than a simple, finished event. In reality, we have the authorized formal side presented: the war was ambitious, impious, proud, vain, and resulting in ruin. Satan’s first speech implies that there was another side-even after we have partly discounted the personal tones of the defeated leader who speaks of the good old lost cause, “hazard in the Glorious Enterprise.” That too is a formal side, presented by the losing actor in the drama. Then Satan goes on, to reveal, before he can pull himself together in defiance, something more:
Milton describes the relationship between Satan and God and Satan’s pride got in the way therefore casting Satan out of his original home. In Paradise Lost Satan we see how Milton will describe Satan as the relatable under dog in the poem and the democracy he creates will set up the possibilities of how the demons would come up to plan the fall of man to displace Adam and Eve from there home.
There have been many different interpretations of John Milton's epic, Paradise Lost. Milton's purpose in writing the epic was to explain the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Although the epic is similar to the Bible story in many ways, Milton's character structure differs from that of the Bible's version. Through-out the epic Milton describes the characters in the way he believes they are. In book II of Paradise Lost, Milton portrays Satan as a rebel who exhibits certain heroic qualities, but who turns out not to be a hero.
In Paradise Lost, Milton uses the creation story as a strategy to explain man’s free will. Through this story, Milton recognizes that in the same instance free will and reason facilitates us to obey God, it is also a challenge to control against our selfish desires. Free will promotes one’s innate selfish desire causing them to disobey God. Most Christian denominations understand free will from the fall of man. The fall of man illustrates the original ...
Although the epic poem centers around the story of the fall of man, it is interesting that Milton intertwines in this story the fall of Satan from heaven and the consequences it has not only for Satan himself, but for Adam, Eve, and the world as a whole. Milton allows the reader to see the fall from the point of view of Satan, God, as well as Adam and Eve. Because Milton gives insight into these characters feelings regarding the fall, it is no surprise that he uses “eternal providence” in conjunction with the stories of Satan, Adam, and Eve. The providence being described here is the knowledge of good and evil. However, ev...
In his epic poem Paradise Lost, John Milton presents Satan as a complex and multifaceted figure. As Jeffrey Burton Russell describes in The Prince of Darkness, Milton’s goal in writing this epic poem was to “justify the ways of God to men” (Russell, chap.12, p.15). With this in mind, it is easy to interpret the character of Satan as a mere foe, the evil at the opposite of God’s goodness, and to see God as the obvious protagonist of the poem. Things in Milton, however, are not quite as black and white, and while the justification of God’s actions is at the centre here, it is the character of Satan who drives the poem forward, as a protagonist should.
John Milton's great epic poem, Paradise Lost, was written between the 1640's and 1665 in England, at a time of rapid change in the western world. Milton, a Puritan, clung to traditional Christian beliefs throughout his epic, but he also combined signs of the changing modern era with ancient epic style to craft a masterpiece. He chose as the subject of his great work the fall of man, from Genesis, which was a very popular story to discuss and retell at the time. His whole life had led up to the completion of this greatest work; he put over twenty years of time and almost as many years of study and travel to build a timeless classic. The success of his poem lies in the fact that he skillfully combined classic epic tradition with strongly held Puritan Christian beliefs.