While Phillip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, does examine the “big ol’ metaphysical questions,” – the great Miltonic questions of free will, love and obedience among others – it is also about the act and art of reading. Or as Shelley King describes it, he focuses on the “process of textual interpretation and the role it plays in the framing of metaphysical questions within a culture” (106). The fantasy worlds of His Dark Materials are as shaped by the history and interpretations of texts as ours. The first book, The Golden Compass is an extension of Paradise Lost, leaving the reader in just as much moral confusion by the end as Milton did. As the series continues, it further amplifies a “latent” orthodoxy of Milton; creating a Satanist reading that intends to (and succeeds in) overthrowing God. All texts follow a model of literary history, drawing from and commenting on those that came before them; simply put, new texts focus and amplify the resonance of old texts. In order to do this, Phillip Pullman creates a close relationship between his trilogy and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Through an intimate relationship with his source text, Pullman explores methods of reading text, writing a varying text, and the nature of repeated stories, to cast His Dark Materials as a response to, and cognate of Paradise Lost. Pullman’s series is an unfaithful retelling of Paradise Lost, itself an unfaithful version of The Bible, and that is what makes its retelling a fruitful endeavour.
Published between 1995 and 2000, Pullman’s trilogy is comprised of The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Set across a multiverse, the reader is first introduced to Lyra, a young girl living in an alternate universe Europe that is...
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...Eds. Laura Lunger and Gregory M. Colon Semenza. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2006. Print.
King, Shelley. “’Without Lyra we would understand neither the New nor the Old Testament’: Exegesis, Allergory and Reading The Golden Compass.” His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Phillip Pullman’s Triology. Eds. Millicent Lenz and Carole Scott. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005. Print.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1993. Print.
Pullman, Phillip. The Golden Compass. New York: Knopf, 1995. Print.
---. The Subtle Knife. New York: Dell-Laurel Leaf, 1997. Print.
---. The Amber Spyglass. New York: Knopf, 2000. Print.
Shohet, Lauren. “His Dark Materials, Paradise Lost and the Common Reader.” Milton in Popular Culture. Eds. Laura Lunger and Gregory M. Colon Semenza. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2006. Print.
Paradise Lost is John Milton’s epic poem about the battle between Satan and God. The poem is quite controversial due to the fact that this was written during the time period that the Catholic Church was facing major corruption. People were already having concerns about God and what was right from the Catholic Church; because of this and many other textual reasons Paradise Lost has a very controversial relationship with Christianity.
Upon completion of this novel, a clearly prevalent and outstanding motif is that of religion and biblical reference. The frequent references to religion come in varied forms from that of biblical role-playing, to that of the fate of our current society. Another related argument that occurs can be the relationship of biblical role-playing and character domination. When all are combined appropriately, a very strong and prominent key motif in this novel is produced. Mary Shelley might have used religion reference as a method of showing us how something that happened during the creation of the earth can be related and brought to us via modern day fantasy creations. It is important for us to realize this connection because it will help us to understand an important deeper meaning of this work.
Babb, Lawrence. The Moral Cosmos of Paradise Lost. [East Lansing]: Michigan State UP, 1970. Print.
Pullman's first novel from the His Dark Materials collection, The Golden Compass has many imaginary and realistic modern-day aspects of the world he envisions; such as Daemons, Dust, and the Alethiometer. The Golden Compass takes place in an alternate universe with definite similarities to that of our own Earth. Slight differences, however, define this innovative and beautiful world Pullman has created for his audience. A key difference between the two worlds is the existence and association of Daemons with Humans. These otherworldly creatures known as Daemons are the window to a person's soul. They expose you for who you really are as a person in the world. Daemons are representation of the emotional and mental state of a person, especially the humans' ‟ souls" which can communicate with their "owners”. Ultimately, revealing their true inner self, intentions and a way of life. Daemons are important throughout the entire novel, because it gives us a look under the mask of each main character presented to us in the novel. This relationship between daemon and human can be observed heavily through Lyra, the main protagonist and her daemon; Pantalaimon and Lord Asriel and his daemon; Stelmaria the Snow Leopard and finally, Mrs. Coulter with her daemon, The Golden Monkey. Daemons associated with different lifestyles and mindsets of their owner. They not only help their predestined owner with various tasks and devising plans, as shown from Lyra, but as well are an external representation of themselves that understand the owner's motives and thinking shown by Mrs. Coulter.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Shakespeare II.i.166-67). So Hamlet tells Horatio when he marvels at the spectre of the ghost. Hamlet is telling his friend that science and natural philosophy can only account for so much. A point comes when humans cannot rationalize or prove certain events. In Paradise Lost , Raphael tells Adam similar sentiments when Adam questions him on the nature of the universe in Book VIII. However, Raphael goes on to warn Adam not to ponder deeply things that he can never know fully. This type of curiosity and desire for learning only leads to sin.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. Vol. A. gen
Scholars have shifted from the notion that the Bible differs from other ancient Near Eastern literature, cultures, and religions. If this were so, the Bible would be considered a myth. In this chapter Oswalt gives descriptions to what a myth is and gives insight into whether it is acceptable to label the Bible as a myth. Since the 1960s, scholars have been stating that the attributes of the Bible and its contemporary belief system have more in common to a myth even though the data used to make these claims have remained the same.
Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton uses various tools of the epic to convey a traditional and very popular Biblical story. He adds his own touches to make it more of an epic and to set forth new insights into God's ways and the temptations we all face. Through his uses of love, war, heroism, and allusion, Milton crafted an epic; through his references to the Bible and his selection of Christ as the hero, he set forth a beautifully religious Renaissance work. He masterfully combined these two techniques to create a beautiful story capable of withstanding the test of time and touching its readers for centuries.
Loewenstein, David A Student Guide: Milton-Paradise Lost, 2nd Edition Cambridge University Press, 1993, Second Edition 2004.
Milton, John. ‘Paradise Lost.’ 1674. Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 2000, 1: 1817-2044.
MacCaffrey, Isabel. "Satan’s Voyage". Modern Critical Views: John Milton . Bloom, Harold, ed. Chelsea House Publishers: New York, 1986.
Carey, John. “Milton’s Satan.” The Cambridge Companion to Milton. Ed. Dennis Danielson. ???. 1989. 131-145. Print.
Milton. New York: Norton, 1957. Elledge, Scott, ed., pp. 113-117. Paradise Lost: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources.
Northern Light`s is the first novel of Philip Pullman`s trilogy. his dark materials was published in 1995. One of the most original elements of Pullman’s trilogy is the daemons. Within Lyra’s world, ever single human has a daemon, observable version of the soul that takes on an animal form. In creating the daemon, Pullman draws on feudal traditions in which witches and wizards have animal “familiars,” creatures active with some unreasonable spirit who can carry messages from the witch or wizard to the world beyond. In this essay , I will discuss the theme of growing up through the novel , and I will focus theme for main the character is lyra
Reichert, John. Milton's Wisdom: Nature and Scripture in Paradise Lost. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press. 1992