The Ever Wandering Constraint
“Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 6:9 NKJV) in this text from the Bible wandering is constrained to a negative meaning but, in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, constraint is found and broken throughout the poem. Milton uses constraint as a major thematic element throughout his poem. In this essay we will be examining the characters of Adam and Eve with their personal constraints and as they related to each other, Satan’s contempt of constraint and constant trying to be rid of constraint, and as well as illustrating the lack of constraint upon the poem itself in the way it is written and the way the word wander changes without constraint throughout the poem.
Two of the main characters in Milton’s Paradise Lost that experience constraints are Adam and Eve. We will look at Eve’s role in Paradise Lost first just as she was the first to eat the fruit. Eve was constrained by both Adam and Eden, and she represents our free will. Eve began the book unconstrained, “Dishevell’d but in wanton ringlets wav’d” (4.306) However, her vanity was a constraint of sorts, when she was first created she looked first at herself “Of sympathy and love: there I had fixt/Mine eyes till now, and pin’d with vain desire,” (4.465-466) this reminds one of Ovid’s Narcissus and how his vanity led to his ultimate demise. Eve was discontented by her constraint within Eden and by Adam’s idea of what she should be. Eve chose to eat the fruit possibly to free herself from the …show more content…
The theme of constraint is throughout the poem through the characters, storyline, and words. Satan’s character seeks to abandon his constraint but instead finds himself in many more constraints than he ever imagined and never able to forget what he gave up. As my English Professor said, Freedom is never without
“Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 6:9 NKJV) in this text from the Bible wandering is constrained to a negative meaning but, in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, constraint is found and broken throughout the poem. Milton uses constraint as a major thematic element throughout his poem. In this essay we will be examining the characters of Adam and Eve with their personal constraints and as they related to each other, Satan’s contempt of constraint and constant trying to be rid of constraint, and as well as illustrating the lack of constraint upon the poem itself in the way it is written and the way the word wander changes without constraint throughout the poem.
Two of the main characters in Milton’s Paradise Lost that experience constraints are Adam and Eve. We will look at Eve’s role in Paradise Lost first just as she was the first to eat the fruit. Eve was constrained by both Adam and Eden, and she represents our free will. Eve began the book unconstrained, “Dishevell’d but in wanton ringlets wav’d” (4.306) However, her vanity was a constraint of sorts, when she was first created she looked first at herself “Of sympathy and love: there I had fixt/Mine eyes till now, and pin’d with vain desire,” (4.465-466) this reminds one of Ovid’s Narcissus and how his vanity led to his ultimate demise. Eve was discontented by her constraint within Eden and by Adam’s idea of what she should be. Eve chose to eat the fruit possibly to free herself from the …show more content…
The theme of constraint is throughout the poem through the characters, storyline, and words. Satan’s character seeks to abandon his constraint but instead finds himself in many more constraints than he ever imagined and never able to forget what he gave up. As my English Professor said, Freedom is never without