— a literary research essay
Published in 1667, a blank verse written by John Milton titled Paradise Lost is an epic poem set in biblical times that include God, Satan, Adam and Eve as the main characters of the story. As it was published in the 17th century, Paradise Lost by John Milton is considered as a neoclassical literature. This period was influenced by changes in culture and consciousness. Moreover, the Neoclassical Age, also known as The Age of Reason in English Literature, can be divided into The Restoration Age, between the 1660 to 1700, This period begins after the Commonwealth has ended and the monarchy has been restored. It was during the reign of Charles II (1660–1685) that he returned to England and ascended to the throne, as well as during the brief reign of James II (1685–1688), Charles’ younger brother, who took over the throne after Charles II died in 1685. During this period, Milton had a strong influence on the Restoration Age. Paradise Lost was one of his most important works during this time period.
One of the characteristics of literary works in this period is rejection of puritanism. Puritans were a group of English Protestants who sought to reform the church and ruled England after the Commonwealth overthrew Charles I. Puritans faced difficulties after Charles II ascended to the throne in 1660. They were persecuted, and their beliefs were mocked. Milton’s poem is regarded as a biblical story, following the puritan's ideology that became popular in this period. However, the theology underlying Paradise Lost is overlooked. Nonetheless, the book’s portrayal of the Puritan dream, as well as the beautiful melody with which it is expressed, must not be missed. Though Milton has been mocked for disregarding the current scientific trend, the poem is realistic and based on myth. However, his distinct style left an unforgettable impression. Milton excels at rhyme in his shorter poems and blank verse in his longer ones. He adopts a style that reaches a high point in Paradise Lost. It was made possible due to the neoclassical era’s influence. The tone of the age’s literature is immensely broad, ranging from the deconstruction of political and religious uniting goals to everything in between. Milton came to popularity as a poet as a result of the neoclassical elements in Paradise Lost. Thereby, the Neoclassical Age came to an end, paving the way for the varied other ages in English history.
Paradise Lost tells a common biblical story of Adam and Eve’s fall from God’s grace as a result of their disobedience. This epic poem begins with Lucifer, who became Satan after being cast into hell because he was unable to accept God’s supremacy and prompted a rebellion against His divine authority. Lucifer was eventually thrown into hell, in which they lay in a burning lake, after a devastating war with His Angels. Then Lucifer emerges from the blaze, intent on striking retribution on God by trying to destroy his most current creation in the Garden of Eden. On the other side, the devils constructed a sophisticated palace called Pandemonium, where Satan held a meeting to decide on their rebellion.
Satan disguised himself as a sleeping serpent and approached Eve, flattering her into tasting the fruit of Knowledge. Eve gave it to Adam, who was initially horrified, but ate it out of his love for Eve. The couple experienced lust for the first time shortly after eating the forbidden fruit. God brought about significant changes on Earth. He changed the everlasting spring with the changing seasons, he brought about violence and misery, and he expelled Adam and Eve from Eden. They made their way from the heights of heaven to the lonely plains below. They metaphorically fell from the initial bliss of God’s grace to their current state of mortality, remorse, shame, and suffering.
The sin that caused man’s fall has been explored in Paradise Lost. Disobedience to God, led by Eve’s disobedience, is the primary cause of the fall. Her passion overpowered her reason. Her sin is viewed as a fear of loneliness, as well as the surrender of his God-given reason for passion. Adam immediately decides to share Eve’s fate out of love. Milton believes that God was justified in exposing Adam and Eve to evils and allowing them to reason freely; only this defines humans as supreme creatures. God was also considered as being correct to punish Adam and Eve. The goal of Paradise Lost is thus to claim everlasting providence and justify God’s way to men. However, Eve being the only female and human character in the poem, shows Milton’s portrayal of her is considered sexist. The tale of Adam and Eve has resulted in the establishment of so-called gender roles that have pervaded society as the community of God. Man is regarded as the superior figure in the conduct of the feeble, subordinate sex female. Many factors must be considered when interpreting the gender roles depicted in Paradise Lost. Milton, for example, is reproducing God’s word, so he cannot be held entirely responsible for how women are portrayed. Furthermore, Milton’s representation of a woman as a figure of inferiority, subversive temper, sinner, and ignorant fool is not only intentional misogyny on Milton’s part, but also biblical.
Throughout the poem, the author of Paradise Lost is emphasizing the inferiority of women. It is either the author is a misogynist or he is trying to bait the audience’s perspective to see that the female gender role is inferior. How Milton emphasizes the inferiority of women depicted by Eve is shown by the word choices in Paradise Lost, such as when Raphael said to Adam that he needs to “warn thy weaker” when he refers to Eve. Even the whole concept of why Eve was created from the perspective of men, thus his perfection far excelled hers, according to what Raphael said. Furthermore, in both Milton’s epic and the Bible, Eve is revealed as a flawed character with traits such as narcissism, carelessness, and temptress. Eve gazes at her own reflection for an extended amount of time, giving the impression of vain narcissism by showing Eve’s excessive love towards herself. When Raphael tells Adam the story of the fall, she appears careless and begins to wander around the garden. The physical features of Eve can pursue the characteristics of Eve in front of Adam’s dominant powerful feature. It is also very effortless for Eve to interact with the story through Adam’s words. One of Eve’s major flaws is that she is the tempter for Adam, and after being persuaded by Satan to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
The emphasis of how the only woman character in Paradise Lost is being seen as inferior reflects on how the woman actually is seen in real life society. But when it is being looked into more carefully Milton portrays Eve as a remarkable woman, a good character of high standing, who exhibits human appetites such as curiosity, desire, and ambition. These characteristics enable Milton’s audience to identify with Eve as a heroic character, eliciting sympathy when she endures unfortunate experience. Eve is also portrayed as a smart and honest character, shown when both Eve and Adam stated the reason for their actions. While Adam starts a sequence of narratives trying to explain himself, Eve concisely interprets the reason behind her action, telling that the snake had fooled her and admits that she ate the forbidden fruit. Eve courageously agrees to take God’s punishment completely on herself because she recognizes that the Fall occurred as a result of her mistake, and her ultimate punishment is to be permanently placed beneath Adam in the hierarchy.
Milton’s portrayal of women has many different perspectives. Eve is portrayed as the absolutely vital woman, against whoever all women are judged, and she is portrayed as the vulnerable creature who, in the end, became the turning point for man’s fall. Milton subscribes to Christian ideological views on gender and sexual hierarchy. The story of Adam and Eve predates Milton’s time, and the bible’s treatment of the feminine has permeated society, causing audiences to adhere to gender stereotypes formed since biblical times. For at the time of creation and for the majority of origins, one was regarded weak if he possessed female characteristics such as submissiveness, meekness, docility, and so on. Milton deemed her feminine qualities to be inferior. In another case, she is regarded as weak if she’s too trusting. However, Milton hints at women’s inner strength while portraying Eve’s control over Adam. These two different perspectives, showing Milton’s duality in portraying women, was given through Paradise Lost is how society actually pictures women, in which women are seen as inferior at the same time equal to men. In our society nowadays, it is left to each individual to decide how they view women. But by taking it back to origin, not only in Milton’s epic poem but also in the bible, Adam asked God to give him an equally perfect partner to spend the rest of his life with. In conclusion society is meant to entirely accept women as an equal being, one that is just as perfect as men.
References:
Neoclassical Poetry — literatureessaysamples.com. literatureessaysamples.com. (2022). Retrieved 7 June 2022, from https://literatureessaysamples.com/neoclassical-poetry/#:~:text=The%20literature%20of%20the%20age%20is%20extremely%20diverse,various%20other%20ages%20in%20the%20history%20of%20English.
Paradise Lost by John Milton: Summary and Critical Analysis. Bachelorandmaster.com. (2022). Retrieved 7 June 2022, from https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/paradise-lost.html#.Yp-UTBpBy02.
