Thursday, Nov 8 (9:25)
by Kadie Huey
In the beginning of class Professor Seaman began to refer back to book two before starting with book three and four. She started the discussion around line 500 where Milton is making direct reference to human kind and comparing them to devils. He is explaining that even devils hold together, and post fall humans did not. This is a contemporary critique of human life. He talks about humans as raping the earth and taking everything out of it that they can. He suggests that humans are worse than devils post fall. In Line 637 he alludes to the association between and man and devil through a simile, comparing the devil sneaking into Eden on a mission and humans going out for exploration in search of trade. Milton is creating a parallel between the characteristics of human kind and the acts of Satan.
Next, Professor Seaman goes into background information on the formation of Sin and Death, who Milton personifies in Paradise lost. Sin was born from Satan’s head when he is still in heaven. This explains that evil did not come from God, it is in direct affiliation with Satan. Once Satan creates Sin, they have sex and Death is born from Sin. Death rapes Sin and the children continuously go back inside of Sin. In line 699 Death is speaking. Death insists he is the king of Hell, because he is God’s gatekeeper. In Line 856 Sin speaks, she denies God and relinquishes herself entirely to Satan. Satan, Sin, and Death are a representation of the anti-holy family; they are the opposites of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Although it would seem that Satan represents Joseph in this scenario, he also is referred to as the anti-Christ. In Line 1002 Night is speaking. Night is chaos, and Satan must get permission to pass through chaos in order to reach heaven. In class Professor Seaman showed us a picture of “Milton’s cosmos” that can be seen on OAKS. It showed Heaven on top, the world hanging from heaven, so it is connected but not apart of it, and then night and chaos below it all.
Then we move on to Book three, where we move into Heaven. God, Jesus, and all the Angels are making a plan. Adam and Eve haven’t even fallen yet, but God knows it will happen so he must make a plan. God does not force the fall, he just knows it will happen, because he gave humans free will. God did not want to receive false or forced love and faith, so he gave humans the option to love him. He does not blame humans for falling, but believes it is Satan’s fault for putting the ideas in their heads. At this point Satan is still contemplating what he is going to do, he may still want forgiveness and return to Heaven, but he fears in God’s eyes it is too late. Although Satan never actually seeks forgiveness it is still a thought. God can forgive humans for falling because of two reasons: he loves them the most, which is what made Satan angry, and they did not fall by their own accord but by Satan’s. Satan can never be forgiven because it was by his own doing that he fell. Also, he is unworthy of grace because he created sin.
In the very beginning of Book three Milton is talking about himself as an epic hero. He is the narrator and he is the one going back and forth between Heaven, Earth, and Hell. He is an epic hero because he went to hell and he was able to return, but he also associates himself with the devil, it seems as though in Line 13 it could be Satan speaking, when it is actually the narrator. Milton also addresses the holy light. Through the light all of creation was made. In line 46 he discusses the book of knowledge and how you can understand God. He receives nightly visits from the light that inform him and enlighten him. In line 52 and 55 he talks about how the light is within him. He is lite from the inside by the holy spirit, and he can see God through the light. This all sets up the sacrifice God gives up through his one and only son Jesus Christ.
We then go to God’s perspective and we can see Satan below. Milton really emphasizes freewill here, he is showing that Satan has it also. God has complete power, he still allows for freewill, but his plan will always follow through. We have individual choices, because that is freewill, but his plan will always follow through. In line 134 it is God’s will that mercy will shine brightest in the end. Then God lays out what has to happen, there must be a punishment, and Jesus will accept that punishment for all of mankind. Jesus steps up to take away the burdens of humans. We see this in book four.
In Book four we see Adam and Eve pre fall. They are beautiful, wonderful creatures. They are in awe of themselves and the world God has created for them. They are innocent and childlike, and they can also be considered slightly ignorant. Adam has many traits that we can associate back to Jesus. He is completely submissive to God. In line 312 God is speaking to Jesus. He tells him that he will become human but this doesn’t diminish him as divine. Once he has sacrificed himself he will reign in Heaven as God and Man for eternity. He will also have a close relationship and bond with mankind.
Also in book four we see Satan acknowledging the idea of Grace but he does not pursue it. Instead of taking the stairway to Heaven, he heads down to earth and even receives directions from other angles. In lines 8 through 59 Satan is blaming God for his fall from heaven. God made everything he did everything and he made Satan the way he is. Satan is using God as a scape goat when everything is actually his fault. In line 37 Satan keeps seeing God and continuously curses the sun, but he still has a yearning for God. In line 74 Satan starts to recognize himself as evil, and he knows that he is hell and everything that makes up hell.
Starting at Line 180 Satan enters Earth, but he doesn’t do it the proper way because he feels as though he must do everything unconventionally. There is only one gate but he refuses to enter it. In line 183 Satan is compared to a wolf preying on innocent sheep and also a thief, because he is there to steal away mankind’s love for God. When Satan arrives in Eden he immediately lands on the Tree of Life. This is an insult to God, because Satan is belittling the significant of the tree by using it as a look out and devising death upon it. This shows that everything Satan touches turns into something evil. The tree of life emphasizes the divine, while the Tree of Knowledge emphasizes human kind.
We get a clear view of Adam and Eve through Satan’s eyes. Adam looks like God, he is man. Eve serves Adam, she is not equal, because Adam directly associates with God, while Eve associates with God through Adam. Eve is more vulnerable than Adam, she already has some flaws associated with falling. Adam has hair above his shoulders because he does not fear his nakedness, while Eve has hair to her waist, covering her breast. Eve is not as pure as Adam.
Thursday, Nov 8 (10:50)
by Carly Corthell
Overview:
Today, we discussed Books 3 and 4 of Paradise Lost beginning on page 946. We focused on God’s emphasis of the importance of human choice in his conversation with Jesus from lines 115 onward. Here, God argues that although he sees all, he doesn’t predetermine the fate of the humans but rather allows them free will, and therefore, those who are damned chose that fate themselves. He further explains that his allowance of free will enabled human love for him to be genuine rather than forced. God unhappily acknowledges that because of their wrongful actions, he is now required to judge each human instead of trusting in their goodness.
We then analyzed the relationship between God and Jesus in which Jesus is portrayed as humble and submissive to his Father, especially from lines 144 to 166. Here, he uses words like sovereign, goodness, and glory, which show his worship of God.
We then focused on God’s discussion with Jesus about Jesus’ decent to Earth in human form. In lines 303-304 God tells Jesus that he will still be godly, will still hold the same level of divinity, although he is in human form. We also focused on lines 313-316 in which the focus is Jesus bringing with him back to heaven Man’s spirit and then ruling as both God and Man.
Then, we moved on to analyze Book 4 on page 951. We revisited the idea that Satan brings Hell with him wherever he goes in line 20-21: “The Hell within him; for within him Hell…” Satan shows signs of regret around line 40 where he acknowledges that God didn’t deserve what happened, and that heaven was good and easy. But then, immediately following Satan’s point of weakness, he grows back into his power-hungry and egotistical self around line 57 where he says that he could have been happy subservient to God had he been created lesser. But instead, he was created great and therefore it’s not his fault he can’t serve God happily. Satan continues his rollercoaster of emotion in line 77 where he acknowledges that his situation could get even worse, as he has become Hell himself.
We analyzed lines 188-192 in which Milton uses a metaphor of a merchant and a thief to describe how God didn’t just leave Adam and Eve unprotected, but that Satan continues to find loopholes. Satan continues his rebellion and spitefulness by jumping high over the wall into Paradise rather than just using the door. He lands on the tree of life, another example of how Satan is constantly misusing God’s creation and ignoring the value of it.
We finished the class by discussing the way in which Eve is positioned as after-the-Fall. She’s created as already less perfect than Adam in that she must be veiled (304) and unequal to Adam. She’s created as vain from the moment of her birth, in which she sees and falls in love with her own reflection.
Key Terms:
post-fall: referring to after the fall of Adam and Eve and therefore the human race
Noteworthy Quotes:
“As if predestination over-ruled / their will disposed by absolute decree / or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed / their own revolt, not I” (3.114-117).
“Nor shalt Thou, by descending to assume / Man’s nature, lessen or degrade Thine own” (3.303-304).
“The Hell within him; for within him Hell…” (4.20)
“O, had His powerful destiny ordained / Me some inferior angel, I had stood / Then happy” (4.58-60).
“Or as a thief, bent to unhoard…” (4.188-192).
“She, as a veil, down to the slender waist / Her unadorned golden tresses wore / Dishevelled…” (4.304-305)